Panera Bread is abandoning its scratch baking operations, confirming plans to close all remaining fresh dough facilities over the next 18 to 24 months as it completes a major shift in how its bread products are made, National Restaurant News reports.

The fast-casual restaurant chain will transition to a par-baked model, where bakery items arrive partially baked from external artisan bakeries and are finished in on-site ovens, the outlet said. This change marks the final phase of a more than year-long transition away from the company’s traditional fresh dough approach.

Brooke Buchanan, Panera’s chief corporate affairs officer, said the change is designed to ensure product availability throughout the day.

“The hardest thing for our team members is to say, ‘No, we’re out of that product,

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