Panera Bread Utilizes a Differentiated Case Study

3. Panera is doing well financially. Its revenues and profits have been growing steadily for the past five years. The gross margin is 61.4% and its net margin is 7.46%. Panera is liquid, with a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt to equity ratio of 0.52. Inventory turns over 13 times per year. The ROA is 14.9%, the ROE 22.93% and the ROC 19.3% (MSN Moneycentral, 2012). In general, these figures are positive and moving in the right direction. There are no red flags in the Panera Bread financial statements that would indicate that the company is not performing well.

4. The chains that are the closest rivals to Panera are Subway, which is much larger and smaller sandwich companies like Quizno's and Boston Market.In terms of immediate market share, the closest rivals are lower-end companies like Chick Fil a and Arby's. Panera Bread also must compete against coffee-centric companies like Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts.

5. Panera is doing well, and has no major strategic issues. It needs to focus on defending its current market share, and it needs to continue to grow. Finding ways to grow while maintaining the company's successes is going to be one of the key success factors for Panera. The company will also want to continue to improve its operations in order to improve its margins, which are already fairly healthy for the industry. Building economies of scale will be important to long-term cost management, so the company should focus on growth as its.....