Panera's CEO regrets a cost-cutting move he approved as CFO

As Panera Bread's chief financial officer, Paul Carbone once signed off on a change that looked good on a spreadsheet.

The chain swapped its salad base from 100% romaine lettuce to a mix of romaine and iceberg in the summer of 2024, a move he said was intended to save money.

Now, as CEO, Carbone says Panera is trying to undo that kind of thinking.

"No one really likes iceberg lettuce," Carbone told Business Insider. "No one looks at that white salad and says, 'Now that's worth it.'"

For Carbone, the lettuce decision — which was fully reversed in June 2025, shortly after he became chief executive — has become shorthand for a broader problem at Panera: Years of small cost-cutting moves, menu changes, and operational tweaks chipped away at the experience customers remembered loving.

Panera is now rolling out a summer launch tied to its broader "RISE" transformation strategy, an acronym for the steps of the turnaround effort, which stands for "refresh the menu," “ignite value," "serve guests with excellence," and "expand the network."

The latest evidence of that effort arrives this week in the form of new shrimp-topped bowls, upgraded salads, bacon-and-cheese breakfast frittatas, frozen coffees, and fruit-forward beverages — a menu overhaul intended to remind customers why they fell in love with Panera in the first place.

Carbone said Panera began developing the strategy last year after multiple years of negative same-store transactions. Sales sometimes rose, he said, but that growth was driven by pricing and mix, not by more customers coming in.

"The lifeblood of a restaurant company is transactions," he said. "So that's where we started to develop Panera RISE."

At its core, RISE is Panera's attempt to fix the complaints customers raised most often: food that no longer felt worth the price, fewer affordable options, weaker in-store service, and growing competition for diners' attention. The company spent months talking with thousands of customers to determine its areas of focus.

Carbone said many still had warm feelings toward Panera, but had stopped visiting because the chain had gotten too expensive, removed favorite menu items, or simply fallen out of their routines.

That's a tough place to be in a restaurant market where consumers have become increasingly selective. Business Insider has previously reported that diners are splitting along income lines, with lower-income consumers cutting back while wealthier households keep spending. Restaurants have responded with discounts and limited-time offers to improve value messaging, but analysts have warned that value alone is not always enough to bring customers back.

Panera's own traffic remains under intense pressure. Foot traffic has declined year over year every month from January through May this year, according to data from the foot traffic firm, Placer.ai.

R.J. Hottovy, Placer.ai's head of analytical research, said sandwich chains in particular have seen fewer visits than other concepts as consumers push back on menu price increases and embrace healthier eating habits.

Carbone's diagnosis goes beyond food. Panera also cut labor at cafés to cut costs, he said. The company has since added a front-of-house role, the Guest Experience Champion, to greet customers, answer questions, and help maintain dining rooms.

It is also rethinking how technology fits into the business.

"There was a time that if you talked to folks here, they would tell you that we were a technology company that sold food," Carbone said. "I will tell you emphatically, we are a restaurant company that uses technology to enhance the guest experience. We're not a technology company."

That does not mean abandoning digital ordering, kiosks, or loyalty tools. Only about a quarter of Panera's business is now eaten inside its cafés, Carbone said, but two-thirds of customers still walk into a restaurant, whether they are dining in, picking up, or ordering to go.

That means the in-store experience still matters.

Under RISE, Panera is adding new menu items and drinks, but the bigger bet is that customers will notice when the chain starts optimizing for experience again, not just efficiency.

Carbone said Panera's priorities now are simple: "Transactions, sales, profits — in that order."

After years of trying to drive growth through price cuts and efficiency, Panera is betting that getting more customers through the door again will take something simpler: giving them a reason to come back.