Hungry for breakfast and still in your pajamas? Panera Bread is coming to the rescue as its mobile app will now handle orders for breakfast delivery. As the following Forbes article reports, the fast-casual restaurant will be rolling out its morning mobile pay and delivery on a nationwide basis.
If you are craving a Panera baked egg soufflé, you no longer have to leave the house to get one in the morning. Panera Bread announced its expansion of delivery services to include breakfast in 231 cities. The company previously offered delivery for lunch and dinner.
Panera Bread has plans to increase the number of cafes that offer this service by the end of the year. It will continue to contribute to the growing market for home food delivery and online ordering.
Blaine Hurst, CEO and president of Panera Bread, told Fortune, “Delivery has been one of our largest growth initiatives at Panera in the last 10 years. 2019 is the year of breakfast at Panera. Between delivery and product and execution, you’ll continue to see a focus on breakfast.”
Hurst explained that customer requests for breakfast delivery encouraged Panera Bread to expand its previous services. In May 2018, the company unveiled its national delivery service, which included lunch and dinner. Consumers could receive orders at their homes, businesses and college campuses. On Thursday, Panera Bread expanded delivery to include breakfast at 381 participating cafes, and it has plans to increase this number to 411 by the end of the year.
Last year, Panera Bread decided to go all-in on digital commerce, not just with mobile order and pay, but also with its own delivery resources. Unlike many others in the restaurant segment that utilize third party delivery services such as Grubhub, Postmates, or Uber Eats, Panera hired 20,000 drivers to handle its in-house take-out needs. This strategy is paying off as it can now offer breakfast to round out its all day delivery service. U.S. food delivery continues to grow at double digit rates so restaurants see an appetizing addressable market. This will mean an aggressive competitive battle for hungry diners’ takeout meal spending with tasty profits for the winning restaurants.
Overview by Raymond Pucci, Director, Merchant Services at Mercator Advisory Group