• Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Wednesday, November 10, 2010 10:33 AM

Panera Bread executive chairman and founder Ronald Shaich tells Ben Steverman the company's strategy for dealing with the recession essentially has been to keep on keeping on as opposed to most competitors, who purportedly said to themselves, " 'We need to pull costs out.'

"As a consumer, if you walk into [competitors'] restaurants, the lines are longer, the waits are longer. You have a table next to you with dirty dishes," he says. "That is the effect of increasing labor productivity. It has to come out of somewhere."

Then there are big ideas that have taken years to develop, such as a new lettuce program -- "It's the same salad you're going to get at the Four Seasons" -- that has increased Panera's business in that category by 30%. Or a loyalty program it has been testing for two-and-a-half years. Finally, Shaich pans the whole concept of "fast casual."

"I've never, ever heard of a guest wake up in the morning and say, "I want to go to a fast casual." These arbitrary definitions just drive me nuts. I have competitors who think fast casual is the color of your light fixture." Panera's same-store sales rose 9.9% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2010 and 6.9% in the third quarter.

Read the whole story at Bloomberg BusinessWeek »