Panera Bread Company: Environment, Opportunities, Threats

CASE STUDY: PANERA BREAD COMPANY
External environment: Opportunities and Threats
The Panera Bread Company is a well-established international brand which offers fast casual dining experience. The restaurant targets customers who want high-quality food and services. The restaurant's management structure allows their esteemed customers to make payments after ordering, but they still have a chance to enjoy the meal in cozy, distinctive design and decorated world-class restaurant. Panera creates its unique consumer culture and avoids the direct competition from other fast foods restaurant by adopting the competitive advantages of the fast food chain as well as the casual eatery (Helbling, 2016). The restaurant has been stable despite the recession since it has got a more flexible culture of changing prices of its services. This has been achieved by offering the customers healthy food with good value, contrary to other restaurants that only offers affordable food with no heath concern. This paper will, therefore, explore the opportunities and threats of Panera as well as its strengths and weakness.
External Environment: Opportunities and Threats
Natural environment
Based on the natural environment, the restaurant relies entirely on its dough facilities for the supply of fresh dough. In other words, an extreme weather condition that could result in potential supply disruption could otherwise compromise the smooth running of the business operation. The second threats from the natural environment are the change in customer's food preferences as well as the entry of substitute products. The company has to remain vigilant on how to control the above external challenges in the event they arise.
Societal Environment Analysis
Despite the fact that the company has been able to carve out a fairly good niche for itself within the restaurant industry, there are some societal, environmental threats which have to be analyzed. The Economic environment is one of these factors has to do with the current economic recession (Gamble, Peteraf, & Thompson, 2015). It has reduced general sales and income for all companies across the world. Inflation on the other hands has compelled the restaurant to increase menu prices to accommodate increased production cost.
The second factor is the political and legal environment. Since the Panera operates through its franchise-operated bakery-cafes. For these franchise bakery-cafes to operate, they to be subjected to series of local and federal agencies for licensing. Obtaining these licenses in some states may be political. Similarly, in some countries, political tensions and conflicts may disrupt the supply of commodities. Technological environment is also another threat to ensure that there is a fresh and healthy supply of food commodities to the consumers. Finally, the sociocultural environment may also pose threats to Panera due to change in customers' preferences and food choices.
Task Environment
Entrants in fast foods industry have been overwhelming for the past few decades. This has offered competition to Panera as the new industry offers fast foods at affordable prices yet the Panera has reasonably maintained its food prices and quality.
Suppliers to Panera Bread Company is significant to keep the customers' loyalty to the company. The restaurant has managed to build backup warehouses locally as a key strategy to hedge against competition against suppliers. This would also ensure timely and cost-effective supplies to the company.
Buyers; Panera restaurant relies on the unrestricted spending from its customers. The restaurant has maintained its clients through the provision of high quality and healthy fast casual in a cozy and well-decorated building to enhanced customer loyalty and trust to the company. In a severe economic recession, there are discount allowances to retain the buyers.
Substitutes; despite the entry of new food substitutes into the market, Panera has been consistent in its quality services delivery to counter the existence of food substitutes into the market. Secondly, the industry has promptly and efficiently acted to prevent these threats from ...