Old HB, Inc., known as Hostess Brands from 2009 to 2013 and established in 1930 as Interstate Bakeries Corporation, was a wholesale baker and distributor of bakery products in the United States. Before its 2012 closure and liquidation, it owned the Hostess, Wonder Bread, Nature's Pride, Dolly Madison, Butternut Breads, and Drake's brands.
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.
Atlanta Bread Company is a privately owned American chain of bakery-café fast casual restaurants with 18 locations in 4 states. Its headquarters are in Smyrna, Georgia, a suburb northwest of Atlanta. Offerings include bakery items, pasta, salads, sandwiches, soups, and specialty drinks.
Pain au chocolat, also known as chocolatine in the south-west part of France and in French speaking parts of Canada, couque au chocolat in Belgium, or chocolate croissant in the United States, is a type of Viennoiserie pastry consisting of a cuboid-shaped piece of yeast-leavened laminated dough, similar in texture to a puff pastry, with one or two pieces of dark chocolate in the center. The chocolate usually has a slight bite to the texture.
Associated British Foods plc (ABF) is a British multinational food processing and retailing company headquartered in London, England.
Goodman Fielder is an Australian manufacturer, marketer and distributor of bread, smallgoods, dairy products, margarine, oil, dressings and various food ingredients. Its main operations are in New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and New Caledonia, with over 40 manufacturing sites. The company employs over 5,000 people, and has more than 120 brands.
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.
George Weston Limited, often referred to as Weston or Weston's, is a Canadian holding company. Founded by George Weston in 1882, the company today consists of the Choice Properties real estate investment trust and Loblaw Companies Limited, Canada's largest supermarket retailer, in which it maintains a controlling interest. The company is majority owned by Wittington Investments, Ltd Canada, a holding company that the Weston family are the controlling share holders in. Retail brands include President's Choice, No Name and Joe Fresh. The former Weston Bakeries division, which owned the brands Wonder, Country Harvest, D'Italiano, Ready Bake and Gadoua, was sold off to FGF Brands in 2022.
John Riccitiello is an American business executive. Previously, he was chief executive officer, chief operating officer and president of Unity Technologies, Electronic Arts, and co-founded private equity firm Elevation Partners in 2004. Riccitiello has sat on several company boards, including those of the Entertainment Software Association, the Entertainment Software Rating Board, the Haas School of Business and the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
James Alan Skinner is an American business executive. He was the executive chairman of Walgreens Boots Alliance. He was the vice chairman and CEO of McDonald's Corporation.
Vie de France Co., Ltd. is a Japanese bakery chain owned by Yamazaki Baking. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo.
Lambertus Johannes Hermanus "Bart" Becht is a Dutch businessman. An executive with more than 35 years of business experience working with consumer brands, Becht is the former Chief Executive Officer of Reckitt, which he led from 1995 to 2011 and former Partner at JAB Holding Company, which he joined in 2012. Becht announced his retirement from JAB in 2019.
Donald Thompson is an American engineer and business executive who was the president and chief executive of McDonald's Corporation from 2012 until 2015. He announced on January 28, 2015, that he would retire from the company and leave his position on March 1, 2015, and was succeeded by Steve Easterbrook, the senior executive vice president and chief brand officer. He is currently the CEO of Cleveland Avenue, an investment group and accelerator that focuses on building new food, beverage, and restaurant concepts, which he founded in 2015. Cleveland Avenue has invested in Beyond Meat and Taste 222, among other food industry companies, and Thompson has served as a member of the board of directors at Beyond Meat since October 2015.
John C. Lechleiter is an American businessman and chemist. He served as president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board of directors of Eli Lilly and Company from April 2008 to December 2016.
General Host Corp. was a New York-based food and food-related company. It was also the owner of Frank's Nursery & Crafts until the company's bankruptcy in 2004.
Blaine Hurst is an entrepreneur, businessman, and restaurateur. Currently, Hurst is President and Chief Executive Officer of Panera, LLC. Hurst was named Chief Executive Officer of Panera effective January 1, 2018, following the chain's acquisition by JAB Holdings in July 2017 for roughly $7.5 billion, and served as its President since December 2016.
Tzurit Or is an Israeli-born pastry chef. She is the founder of the Tatte Bakery & Café located in the Greater Boston area and Washington, D.C.
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.
