Panera Bread to lay off hundreds as it ends fresh dough production nationwide

Panera Bread will permanently shut down its fresh dough production facilities in areas with underperforming locations as part of its nationwide effort to move away from baking bread from scratch in its cafés.

According to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications notice earlier this month, a production facility in Brentwood, Missouri, plans to close by Sept. 12, with all 72 employees set to lose their jobs as a result.

As of June 24, four locations across the U.S. have already shut down operations, per Nation’s Restaurant News.