The Panera Bread delivery hub at 13740 Beach Blvd., No. 112, is a signal of another corporate strategic move.
The St. Louis-based chain is creating catering hubs will cover two to five cafes so the individual restaurants can focus on the retail business and not be sidetracked by catering orders.
Catering comprises 8 percent of the company’s sales.
The chain already has rolled out its Panera 2.0 conversion of online and digital ordering options.
CEO Ron Shaich offered a seven-step plan to fix issues related to keeping up with demand, reported stlouis.com a year ago.
Changes included adding more employee hours (35 more hours per week per café), putting in more production equipment, adding new technology to improve labor scheduling, slightly reducing the size of the menu, reducing prep load in the cafes and pushing orders through the website rather than the phone, which can take up more staff time, the site reported.
The catering hubs were another step.
As for the 2.0 concept, Panera said it will renovate all 17 Jacksonville-area cafes to fit it, which could be a $1.33 million investment based on the first nine projects permitted. The average cost for the first nine is $78,744.
The renovations allow diners to take a more hands-on approach when it comes to ordering. Panera 2.0 is designed as a series of integrated technologies to increase capabilities for digital ordering, payment, operations and consumption “to create an enhanced guest experience for ‘to go’ and ‘eat in’ customers.”
If a catering hub serves two to five cafes, the Jacksonville market could support three to eight.
Restaurants on the rise
• McDonald’s plans to remodel at 14200 Beach Blvd. The $125,000 project would renovate the interior dining area and reconfigure restrooms for ADA compliance.
• Earth Fare, at 11901 Atlantic Blvd., is remodeling its café area to adjust a refrigerated cooler area and add a checkout lane.
• Wasabi Japanese Steakhouse at 10206 River Coast Drive at St. Johns Town Center is adding an awning for outdoor dining.
• Another Broken Egg in Tapestry Park at 4828 Deer Lake Drive W. is adding a patio awning.
Food bites
Food- and drink-related businesses filed names recently with the state Division of Corporations under the Fictitious Name Law to operate:
• P&L Seafood & Restaurant, by Estruleder W. Cooper, 2151 Lane Ave. S., Suite 204.
• Me, Myself & Pies, by Carol B. Thomas and John S. Thomas, 11366 Harts Road.
• My Life Pizza, by My Honey Enterprise Inc., 9725 Crosshill Blvd., Suite 112. Mahmut Bulut is director of My Honey Enterprise Inc.
• Istanbul Grill and Hookah Lounge, by FGHR Investments Inc., 9041 Southside Blvd., Suite 180. FGHR Investments officers are Fadi G. Yazeji, president and director; Rafi G. Alyazgi, secretary and director; Hassan Yazji, treasurer and director; and Gloriosa R. Antiporda, vice president and director.
• Chiles Rellenos Mexican Restaurant, by Zenja Catering LLC, 5323 Firestone Road, Suite 2. Zenaida Gaetano is manager of Zenja Catering.
• CiCi’s Pizza, by JGD Pizza Kingdom LLC, 115 Jenkins St., No. 101, St. Augustine. Robert Nieves of St. Augustine is managing member of JGD Pizza Kingdom LLC.
• Trasca & Co. Eatery, by Trasca & Co. Inc., 528 N. Lakewood Run Drive, Ponte Vedra Beach. Trasca & Co.’s officers are Sara B. Trembath, president and secretary; and Travis G. Trembath, vice president and treasurer, both of Ponte Vedra Beach.
Licensed to serve
Duval County Tax Collector Michael Corrigan issued business licenses for:
• Simply Southern Eatery & Event LLC, to Charlotte M. Pritchard, 11230 New Berlin Road.
• Taco Charro Inc., to Juan M. Perez, 3734 W. Eve Drive. Mobile vendor.
• Jville Crab Shack IV LLC, to Alaa Abu Alghanam, 937 Arlington Road N.
• The Fresh Market #196, to Fresh Market Inc., 150 Riverside Ave., No. 200.
• Teavana #279, to Teavana Corp., 10281 Midtown Parkway, No. 197, a retail store.
Dining signs
• Subway, 1325 San Marco Blvd.
• Smoothie & Sub, 9550 Baymeadows Road, No. 4.
@MathisKb
(904) 356-2466