Panera Bread will permanently shut down its fresh dough production facilities in areas with underperforming locations as part of its nationwide effort to move away from baking bread from scratch in its cafés.
According to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications notice earlier this month, a production facility in Brentwood, Missouri, plans to close by Sept. 12, with all 72 employees set to lose their jobs as a result.
As of June 24, four locations across the U.S. have already shut down operations, per Nation’s Restaurant News.
Panera says affected employees will receive a severance package as well as outplacement services.
The Missouri location is the latest in a series of closures the company has undertaken in the last year as it transitions to a new model for how it makes its baked goods. Panera says it plans to shutter all of its remaining fresh dough facilities within the next two years.
