Panera Bread Co. reported net income of $44.1 million in its fiscal second quarter ended June 26, up 24 percent from $35.7 million during the same quarter of 2011, mostly because of higher sales at its bakery cafes.
In the second quarter, company-owned comparable net bakery cafe sales increased 7 percent, franchise-operated comparable net bakery cafe sales increased 5 percent, and system-wide comparable net bakery cafe sales increased 6 percent compared to the second quarter of 2011.
President and co-CEO Bill Moreton said in a statement that the second quarter was the ninth out of the last 10 quarters where earnings growth has exceeded 20 percent. “Our strong comparable sales growth in the quarter of 7.1 percent is the direct result of our past and current investments in the quality of our food, marketing, operations and customer experience,” he said in the statement.
The company opened 17 new bakery cafes during the quarter, and its franchisees opened 16 new bakery cafes. In March, it purchased almost all the assets and certain liabilities of 16 bakery cafes from its Raleigh-Durham, N.C., franchisee. The company’s revenue also increased in its second quarter. It reported revenue of $530.6 million, up 18 percent from $451.1 million in the same quarter a year earlier.
