Panera Brands Planned IPO With Shake Shack Founder Danny Meyer as Investor

This is an English adaptation of a FoodBud historical article originally published on November 17, 2021.

Panera Brands, the group combining Panera Bread, Caribou Coffee, and Einstein Bros, announced on November 9, 2021 that it planned to file an S-1 for an IPO.

On the same day, USHG Acquisition Corp. (HUGS) and Panera Brands signed an agreement under which HUGS would become a cornerstone partner of Panera Brands. HUGS is a special purpose acquisition company backed by affiliates of Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG).

Danny Meyer's Role

Danny Meyer, chairman of HUGS and founder of Union Square Hospitality Group, planned to invest directly in Panera Brands and become lead independent director on Panera Brands' board.

Meyer opened his first restaurant brand, Union Square Cafe, in 1985. Over the following three decades, USHG built a portfolio that included several well-known New York restaurant brands, such as Gramercy Tavern, The Modern, and Maialino.

Meyer and USHG also co-founded Shake Shack, which went public in 2015. At the time of the article, Meyer was still chairman of Shake Shack's board.

Background on Panera Brands

Panera Brands was formed in early August 2021. At the time of the announcement, the company had not yet disclosed the number of shares to be issued or the IPO price range.

After the planned listing, a Panera Brands subsidiary was expected to partner with HUGS, which had raised about $290 million.

JAB acquired Panera Bread in 2017 for $315 per share, valuing the company at about $7.5 billion. Panera Bread was then listed on Nasdaq. In 2021, JAB combined Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bros with Panera Bread under Panera Brands.

Store Footprint

At the time, Panera Brands had nearly 4,000 stores across 10 countries.

• Panera Bread had 2,120 stores across 48 U.S. states as of June 30, 2021.
• Caribou Coffee operated 713 stores across 10 countries.
• Einstein Bros operated more than 1,000 stores in the United States.

Note: IPO plans, financing figures, valuation references, and store counts are historical figures from the November 17, 2021 source article.