The power potential of major bakery brands combined with top coffee brands is brewing up a storm in the foodservice sector.

 

The latest example is JAB Beech, the holding company of leading coffee and bakery brands including Peet’s Coffee, Caribou Coffee, Einstein Bagels, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, and Panera Bread, which recently announced that it has acquired the Bruegger’s Bagels chain from Le Duff America through one of its subsidiaries, Caribou Coffee. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

 

The impactful move allows JAB to house two of the biggest brands in bagels under its name.

 

Between Bruegger’s Bagels and Einstein Bagels, the holding company now owns nearly 1,000 bagel restaurants throughout the United States.

 

JAB Holding Co. expects to privately hold Panera once the deal is finalized during the third quarter of 2017 as planned.

 

“We have long admired Ron (Shaich) and the incredible success story he has created at Panera,” says Olivier Goudet, chief executive officer and a partner in JAB. “I have great respect for the strong business that he, together with his management team, its franchisees and its associates, has built.”

 

The Panera chain includes more than 2,000 locations, roughly $5 billion in sales, and more than 100,000 employees.

 

The sale of Bruegger’s is part of a larger initiative by Le Duff America. The company is completing its refranchising initiative of la Madeleine French Bakery & Café that was first announced in March, and is focusing on companywide expansion, including the U.S. launch of the global cafe brand Brioche Doree.

 

“With the announced sale of Bruegger’s Bagels and the successful refranchising of la Madeleine, we are ahead of plan in our asset-light strategy to dramatically grow our company over the next decade,” said Le Duff America chief executive officer Olivier Poirot. “The recent transactions strongly reinforce our balance sheet and shift our mindset so we can focus on our French heritage brands, including the upcoming U.S. launch of Brioche Doree, and continued growth in North America through franchising.”

 

JAB has also acquired the Panera Bread and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts brands over the past year. With the addition of Bruegger’s Bagels to is rapidly expanding portfolio, the company looks to corner the market on breakfast concepts. In recent years, Caribou Coffee and Einstein Noah have opened a number of co-located units. Caribou Coffee had experimented with that same idea in partnership with Bruegger’s Bagels even before JAB’s acquisition of it.