EIGHT LOCAL PANERA BREAD BAKERY-CAFES MAKE $31,188 DONATION TO CHILDREN’S FRIEND

CUMBERLAND, RI, June 17, 2009 — Panera Bread announces that eight local bakery-cafes assisted in the generation of an annual donation to its Operation Dough-Nation® partner, Children’s Friend & Services based in Providence, RI.  The check, totaling $31,188.31, was recently presented at the 7th Annual Children’s Friend “Walk For Children” to David Caprio (right), Executive Director of Children’s Friend, by (left to right) Wendy Kopp, Marketing Director of Panera Bread/Howley Bread Group; Jim Ramaglia, Massachusetts District Manager for Panera Bread/HBG; Sean Noel, Rhode Island District Manager for Panera Bread/HBG; Bahjat Shariff, Vice President of Operations for Panera Bread/HBG; and Patrice Wood, Anchor for WJAR-TV10 in Providence.  Participating bakery-cafes were Newport, Wakefield, East Greenwich, Warwick, Cranston and Smithfield RI and Seekonk and North Attleborough, MA. The donation also included Panera Bread’s commitment as a presenting sponsor of the Children’s Friend “Walk For Children”, held on May 30th at Roger Williams Park in Providence, including $6,900 raised through a special Post-it campaign which engaged customers to donate and display “Walk” stickers throughout the cafes.

Operation Dough-Nation® is a program committed to ensuring that purchases at Panera Bread feed back into the community.  Cash donations made in each bakery-cafe by customers were increased through various matching programs by Panera/HBG and are donated to local organizations.  Children’s Friend & Services, with offices on 153 Summer St. in Providence, RI, works to promote the well being and healthy development of vulnerable children across the state by providing flexible, effective and culturally relevant services that support and strengthen families and communities.

All Panera Bread locations are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and offer a variety of menu items, including breads and bagels, breakfast sandwiches, creative lunch and dinner sandwiches, hand-tossed salads, homemade soups and espresso beverages.  Panera Bread-Via Panera also caters and delivers its full menu to offices and parties of 5 or more.

All the participating Panera Bread bakery-cafes are owned by one of Panera’s top franchises, the Howley Bread Group, LTD of Cumberland, RI.  The franchisee owns and operates a total of twenty bakery-cafes in: Greater Hartford/Eastern, CT (Bristol, Canton, Enfield, Foxwoods, Glastonbury, Manchester (2), Newington, Waterford and West Hartford); Southeastern, MA (North Attleborough, North Dartmouth, Plainville and Seekonk); and RI (Cranston, Warwick, East Greenwich, Newport, Smithfield and Wakefield) markets.  For more information, please visit www.panerabread.com.