Panera Founder Reveals McDonald's Acquisition Attempt in New Book, 'Know What Matters'

McDonald's once tried to buy Panera Bread, and this was one of the biggest revelations from the bakery chain's founder, Ron Shaich. He shared this information through his new book titled "Know What Matters."

The Panera Bread founder released the book to pass on lessons he acquired from decades of working in the restaurant industry. Moreover, CNBC reported that Shaich's book outlines his business journey- from the general store he founded at Clark University to the establishment and sale of Panera Bread in 2017.

McDonald's Interest in Panera

In any case, Shaich exposed some surprising revelations in his book, and one of the juiciest details he revealed was that McDonald's allegedly tried to buy Panera Bread. He said that in the early 2000s, the burger joint expressed interest in his bakery-cafe chain.

At that time, along with his then-chief financial officer, Bill Moreton, they met with high executives of McDonald's to hear their proposal, and Shaich said the meeting did not convince him to sell. He shared that he was not impressed when one of the McDonald's execs compared Panera Bread to a pizza chain called Donatos.

Starbucks and Panera Almost Signed a Merger Agreement

Another interesting reveal is that Shaich and Starbucks' long-time chairman and chief executive officer, Howard Schultz, started negotiations for a merger between Panera and Starbucks. This reportedly happened in 2016, and the coffee chain's CEO put forward the partnership proposal first.

Panera will supply Starbucks stores with soup, sandwiches, and salad in the supposed deal, while the latter will supply the bakery restaurant with coffee. However, Shaich said the idea was very complicated, so a merger was proposed instead, but in the end, this deal also failed.

Meanwhile, amid Shaich's book release, Panera Bread is facing a lawsuit concerning the death of a college student. According to The New York Times, the student's parents claimed their daughter died after drinking Panera's heavily caffeinated Charged Lemonade beverage.

The student, 21-year-old Sarah Katz, has a heart ailment and died due to cardiac arrhythmia just hours after consuming Panera's Charged Lemonade in September 2022. The plaintiffs claimed the high amount of caffeine in the drink triggered a negative reaction to Katz's Long QT Type 1 Syndrome condition.

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