Panera Bread was established in 1981 by Louis Kane and Ron Shaich under the name Au Bon Pain Co.

In 1987, St. Louis Bread Company was established as a community bakery with a sourdough starter from San Francisco, aiming to make fresh bread accessible to all. This marked the beginning of what would later become Panera Bread.

In 1991, Panera became a publicly traded company on NASDAQ, with shares reaching $13.25 on its IPO day.

In 1993, Au Bon Pain Co., Inc. purchased Saint Louis Bread Company, which eventually underwent a re-staging and was renamed as Panera Bread.

By 1997, the concept's name was changed to Panera Bread, signifying its potential to become one of the leading brands in the nation.

In May 23, 1999, the company formerly known as Au Bon Pain Co. was rebranded as Panera Bread.

In 2000, Panera Bread moved its headquarters to Richmond Heights, Missouri.

In 2005, Panera Bread secured the 37th position on Bloomberg BusinessWeek's list of 'Hot Growth Companies', achieving $38.6 million in earnings with a notable 42.9 percent increase in profits.

Au Bon Pain was acknowledged as one of Business Week's '100 Hot Growth Companies' for its exceptional growth and performance.

In 2007, Panera Bread purchased a 51% stake in Paradise Bakery & Café, a Phoenix metropolitan area-based concept with over 70 locations in 10 states, predominantly in the west and southwest, for $21.1 million.

In October 2008, Panera Bread expanded into Canada, opening locations in Richmond Hill, Thornhill, Oakville, and Mississauga in the Greater Toronto Area.

Panera Bread was once again acknowledged as one of Business Week's '100 Hot Growth Companies' for its sustained growth and success.

In November 2010, Panera Bread relocated its headquarters to Sunset Hills while vacating its Richmond Heights headquarters and Brentwood, Missouri offices.

In 2011, a former employee filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against Panera Bread, claiming he was fired unjustly. The lawsuit alleged discriminatory practices in employee placement and termination. Panera denied the allegations and settled the lawsuit in 2012.

On March 28, 2012, Ron Shaich and Bill Moreton were appointed to share the title of CEO at Panera Bread.

In May 2014, Panera introduced 'Panera 2.0', a set of integrated technologies for digital ordering, payment, and operations. This included tablet kiosks with iPads for fast ordering and payment, as well as mobile app ordering.

On March 23, 2016, Panera Bread opened its 2,000th location in Elyria, Ohio.

As of September 27th, 2016, Panera Bread has expanded to a total of 2,024 shops across 46 states in the United States.

On December 7, 2016, credits were given for the information provided about Panera Bread's history and expansion.

A retrospective look at significant events and achievements in the history of Panera Bread, the bakery-café chain, over the years.

On July 18, 2017, Panera was acquired by JAB Holding Co., marking the end of its 26-year run as a public company. The acquisition was a significant milestone for Panera, which had been the best-performing restaurant stock over the last two decades.

On November 8, 2017, Panera Bread founder Ron Shaich announced his resignation as CEO, with Blaine Hurst taking over. Shaich continued as chairman of the company.

In January 2017, Panera Bread declared that its food menu would be free of artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, and preservatives. This move aimed to provide healthier options to customers.

In March 2019, Plaintiff Brianna Tabler filed a class action lawsuit in California against Panera, accusing the company of false advertising and fraud by not disclosing the presence of synthetic biocide glyphosate in their products. Despite Panera's claims of using natural ingredients, Tabler argued otherwise.

In October 2019, Judge Lucy Koh granted a motion to dismiss the class action lawsuit filed by Brianna Tabler against Panera. However, Tabler later filed an amended complaint in November 2019, leading to further legal proceedings.

On July 30, 2020, Brianna Tabler filed a motion to voluntarily dismiss the class action lawsuit against Panera, effectively closing the case that involved allegations of false advertising and fraud.

On October 28, 2020, Panera announced the addition of pizza to their menu to provide more dinner options for customers.

In August 2021, Panera announced a merger with Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bros. Bagels, forming Panera Brands.

On September 10, 2022, Sarah Katz, a student, died after consuming a 'supercharged' lemonade drink from Panera with high caffeine content. Her death led to a lawsuit against Panera for misleading labeling and description of the drink.

In October 2023, following a lawsuit over a death related to Panera's Charged Lemonade, the company changed the labeling of the drink to include caffeine content warnings and the need for moderation.

In December 2023, Dennis Brown died after consuming Panera's Charged Lemonade, becoming the second reported death linked to the drink. The incident raised concerns about the safety of the beverage.

On March 23, 2024, Panera Bread experienced a nation-wide system outage that affected its website, mobile app, and internal systems. Employees faced issues with viewing schedules, tracking inventory and orders, and monitoring hours worked. Customers were unable to redeem coupons and rewards due to 'essential maintenance and enhancements' being performed.

Starting on March 26, 2024, Panera's online systems began slowly becoming available to employees and customers after the nation-wide system outage. This gradual recovery allowed for smoother operations within the company.

By March 27, 2024, all systems at Panera Bread appeared to be functioning normally after the recent nation-wide system outage. Operations resumed without any major disruptions.