Case Study: Panera Bread achieves a 10-day pandemic pivot and data-driven agility with TIBCO EBX

How its innovative culture of data curation let Panera Bread turn its business model on its head in 10 days

Panera Bread faced a sudden business-model challenge in 2020: when COVID lockdowns hit it needed to turn 2,000 cafes into Panera Grocery storefronts and manage orders across apps, delivery partners and unique local menus in just 10 days. Years earlier Panera’s Panera 2.0 rollout had exposed a “data swamp” of spreadsheets, disparate systems and misaligned menu/inventory data, so the company sought a scalable master-data solution. To modernize its global data management, Panera partnered with TIBCO EBX.

Using TIBCO EBX as its global data management system, Panera democratized data ownership, automated ETL and workflows across IT, supply chain, chefs and stores, and integrated external suppliers and distribution partners. The result: Panera launched Panera Grocery in 10 days, implemented real-time analytics (including “auto stockouts”) and predictive replenishment, consolidated management of some 135,000+ price/item records, and reduced the team handling changes from 33 people to five while processing about 3,000 changes per week—delivering faster, more accurate customer experiences and operational agility.

Panera Bread

John Meister

Chief Information Officer