A Panera Bread restaurant in Miami Beach, Florida on November 8, 2017.
Joe Reddell | Getty Images
The parent company of Panera Bread announced on Tuesday that CEO Jose Dueñas has resigned, effective immediately.
The leadership change is the latest challenge facing the company’s plans to eventually go public after several years of snags.
Panera Brands Chief Financial Officer Paul Carbone will serve as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent replacement to lead the company, which includes Panera Bread, Einstein Bros. and Caribou Coffee.
Dueñas is scheduled to serve as special counsel until the end of March. He will take over as CEO of Panera Brands in July 2023 after four years leading bagel chain Einstein Bros.
JAB Holding, the investment arm of the Reimann family, acquired Panera Bread for $7.5 billion in 2017, took it private, and then formed Panera Brands through a number of other acquisitions.
JAB has been trying to get Panera back on the market for years. Back in 2022, Panera canceled its deal with Danny Meyer’s special purpose acquisition company, citing market conditions.
In the same announcement naming Dueñas as its newest CEO in 2023, Panera said the leadership change was in preparation for an eventual initial public offering. A few months later, in December 2023, the company secretly filed for an IPO.
It’s been a tough year for the restaurant industry as the company has yet to go public amid lawsuits over its caffeinated Charged Lemonade, and the IPO market is sluggish in 2024.
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