Panera Bread facility in Orlando to close in July, a loss of 114 jobs
A Panera Bread “fresh dough facility” in Orlando will close in July, resulting in all 114 employees losing their jobs.
The company’s facility on Parkline Boulevard will close on July 25, according to an email the company sent to Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and the Florida Department of Commerce. The email was sent under a federal law that requires employers to give 60 days notice about “plant closings and mass layoffs.”
The letter did not say why the facility was closing but said the closure is expected to be permanent.
The online Restaurant Business website reported in April, however, that Panera would be closing nine remaining “fresh dough facilities” as it changed the way it “produces its bread, long a core ingredient for Panera.” The company had previously announced closures of dough facilities in California, Kansas and North Carolina, resulting in hundreds of layoffs, it said.
Under its new plan, instead of mixing dough in its facilities and then shipping it to individual cafes to be baked into loaves each morning, Panera will use “third-party bakers” to make the dough using Panera recipes, the site reported. The dough will then be “par-baked and frozen to be finished in the cafes,” Restaurant Business said.