Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Quick-casual restaurant [1] |
Founded | December 1995 Golden, Colorado, U.S. |
Headquarters | Lakewood, Colorado, U.S. |
Products | Bagels, pastries, coffee |
Parent | Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, Inc. [1] |
Website | EinsteinBros.com |
Einstein Bros. Bagels is an American chain of bagel cafes. In the 1990s, the company bought out several retail bagel chains from regions around the US which lacked bagel traditions. After filing for bankruptcy in 2000, the company was bought out by New World Coffee. It became part of Panera Brands in August 2021.
Einstein Bros. was created by the chain restaurant corporation Boston Chicken (now Boston Market) in 1995, as a way to market breakfast foods. The chain is now owned by Panera Brands. [1] [2]
Boston Chicken, Inc. originally formed the Einstein and Noah Bagel Corporation as Progressive Bagel Concepts, Incorporated (PBCI) in March 1995, when it purchased four retail bagel chains, all located in regions of the United States that did not have longstanding bagel traditions. These companies included Offerdahl's Bagel Gourmet (Fort Lauderdale), Bagel & Bagel (Kansas City), Baltimore Bagel (San Diego), and Brackman Brothers, Incorporated (Salt Lake City). Each found that their stores were similar in that they offered both original and new bagel flavors in wealthy neighborhoods where the customers had relatively little previous exposure to bagels. [3]
Noah's Bagels was founded in 1989 by Noah Alper on College Avenue in Berkeley, California. [4] In 1996, the chain of 38 stores was sold to Einstein Bros. for $100 million. [5]
New World Coffee was founded in the early 1990s by Ramin Kamfar, an investment banker who left his finance career to open a coffee shop. [6] It bought Manhattan Bagel out of bankruptcy in 1998. [7] The combined company purchased Chesapeake Bagel Bakery in 1999 when that chain had 89 stores, giving Manhattan approximately 350 locations. [8]
In 2000, Einstein Bros. filed for bankruptcy, having loaned too much money to franchisees. [6] After it declared bankruptcy, New World Coffee, which had earlier attempted an unsuccessful hostile takeover, bought the company out of bankruptcy for $190 million. [9]
In 2014, Einstein Noah Restaurant Group was acquired by JAB Holding Company and BDT Capital Partners. [10]
On August 5, 2021, Einstein Bros. announced that it had merged with Panera Bread and Caribou Coffee to form Panera Brands. [2]
Boston Market Corporation, known as Boston Chicken until 1995, is an American fast casual restaurant chain headquartered in Newtown Township, Pennsylvania. Since 2020, it has been owned by Engage Brands, LLC, a company of Rohan Group. Frozen meals and side dishes are sold nationally under the Boston Market brand name.
Panera Bread is an American chain of bakery-café fast casual restaurants with over 2,000 locations, all of which are in the United States and Canada. Its headquarters are in Sunset Hills, Missouri. The chain operates as Saint Louis Bread Company in the Greater St. Louis area, where it has over 100 locations.
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Bruegger's Enterprises, Inc. is a restaurant operator and subsidiary of the Luxembourg-based company JAB Holding Company. Bruegger's and its wholly-owned subsidiary Threecaf Brands Canada, Inc., are franchisers and operators of Bruegger's bakery-cafés, and Michel's Baguette.
Caribou Coffee Company is an American coffee company and coffeehouse chain. It was founded in Edina, Minnesota, in 1992. As of September 2023, the company operates over 750 locations worldwide. It is headquartered in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.
Au Bon Pain is an American fast casual restaurant, bakery, and café chain headquartered in Richardson, Texas, which operates 175 locations in the United States, Thailand, and Taiwan. The company is currently owned by AMPEX Brands.
CBC Restaurant Corporation, doing business as Corner Bakery Cafe is an American chain of cafes that specialize in pastries, breads, breakfast dishes, gourmet sandwiches, homemade soups, salads, and pasta. Corner Bakery Cafe is considered to be a part of the fast casual market segment of the food service industry, offering a somewhat higher quality of food and atmosphere than a typical fast food restaurant, and offering limited table service.
Dunn BrothersCoffee is a franchise company of coffeehouses founded in St. Paul, Minnesota, in December 1987 by brothers Ed and Dan Dunn. As of October 2024, Dunn Brothers Coffee has 48 locations in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin.
Marvellous Mmmuffins, also known as mmmuffins, was a Canadian restaurant chain that sold coffee and muffins. It was established in 1979 and granted its first franchise in 1980.
Big Apple Bagels is an American franchised chain of bakery-cafes based in Deerfield, Illinois. Coffee, along with a variety of other related products are sold. The products are sold as three different brands: Big Apple Bagels, Brewster's Coffee, and My Favorite Muffin.
Paradise Bakery & Café is a Scottsdale, Arizona-based chain of bakery–café quick casual restaurants predominantly located in the western and southwestern United States. It was independently established in 1976; as of 2009, it is wholly owned by Panera Bread. As of early 2012, it operates 60 stores in 9 states.
JAB Holding Company is a German conglomerate, headquartered in Luxembourg, that includes investments in companies operating in the areas of consumer goods, coffee, luxury fashion, animal health, and fast food, among others.
Ann Willoughby is an American graphic designer and founder of Willoughby Design Group based in Kansas City, Missouri.
Tatte Bakery & Café is an American-Mediterranean gourmet fast-casual bakery and café founded by Israeli-born Tzurit Or. Tatte operates 39 locations, most in the Boston area, with the remainder in the metro D.C. region.
Ronald M. Shaich is an American businessman, entrepreneur, investor, and best-selling author who co-founded and built Au Bon Pain Inc., and later, founded Panera Bread, both of which he served as CEO and chairman. Under Shaich's leadership, from 1997 to 2017, Panera Bread was the best-performing public restaurant stock, performing two times better than Starbucks, six times better than Chipotle, and performing 44 times better than the S&P 500 with 25% annualized returns. Shaich sold Panera Bread for $7.5 billion in 2017.