Panera Bread Company announced today that John Maguire has resigned as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer effective May 31, 2012 to become the Chief Executive Officer of Friendly's Ice Cream LLC.  The Company also announced that it has appointed Charles Chapman, III Executive Vice President of Development and Business Development & Licensing to Chief Operating Officer, effective the same date.

“While we are disappointed to see John leave after so many years of valuable service with the Company, we want to thank him for all of his many contributions to Panera's success and we wish him well in his new position,” commented Bill Moreton, President and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Panera Bread Company. “We are pleased that Chuck will now become our Chief Operating Officer. Chuck first became part of Panera when he joined our Board of Directors in January 2008.  Chuck joined our management team late last year when he left his position as Chief Operating Officer at International Dairy Queen (a Berkshire Hathaway company) to join Panera.  Chuck has over 20 years' experience in the restaurant industry and previously served as Chief Operating Officer of Bruegger's Bagels and previously was a Bruegger's franchisee with 30 units in the Boston area. He also served in operations, marketing and finance positions at Darden Restaurants. Earlier in his career Chuck was a management consultant at Bain & Company and earned a Master in Business Administration from the Tuck School at Dartmouth.”