Can You Invest in Panera Bread in 2026?

Is Panera Bread publicly traded?

Panera Bread wasn't a publicly traded company as of 2025. JAB Holdings took the restaurant operator private in a $7.5 billion deal in 2017. The investment manager owns several other consumer brands, including Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP +1.82%) and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (DNUT -0.16%).

When will Panera Bread IPO?

Panera Bread didn't have an IPO on the calendar as of 2025. However, the company started the process of going public again in December 2023, but after a number of changes in leadership and a brief stint in the internet limelight for all the wrong reasons, it's unlikely they will try to go public again anytime soon.

Panera has tried to rejoin the public markets before. The company struck a deal with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to go public in 2021. However, it scrapped the deal in 2022 due to challenging market conditions.

Alternatives to consider

Because Panera Bread still hasn't completed an IPO, you can't buy shares of the restaurant operator in a brokerage account.

However, you could consider buying a Panera alternative. Here are three restaurant stocks to consider investing in while you await a Panera IPO:

Cava Group

Cava Group (CAVA +2.16%) is a fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant chain. The company went public in mid-2023 in one of the hottest IPOs of the year. Cava is growing fast. Its revenue has surged 35% over the past year, driven by new restaurant openings and strong same-store sales growth. It had more than 400 restaurants at the end of the second quarter of 2025, with plans to continue growing its store count. The company was also growing increasingly profitable.

Domino's Pizza

Domino's Pizza (DPZ -1.98%) is the largest pizza purveyor in the world. It has more than 20,900 locations in at least 90 global markets. Domino's generated more than $19.4 billion in sales in 2025, split evenly between its U.S. and international businesses. The company sees more growth ahead. It expects to add more than 1,100 new locations each year through 2028, which should help drive 7%+ annual sales growth and 8%+ annual profit growth.

Chipotle Mexican Grill

Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG +1.38%) is a fast-casual Mexican restaurant chain. The company currently has more than 3,500 stores across North America and Europe. It differs from many restaurant chains because it owns and operates all its locations instead of franchising. Chipotle continues to grow at a decent clip. Revenue was up 3% to $3.1 billion in the second quarter of 2025, driven by new store openings (52 in the quarter) and growing same-store sales. The company plans to continue opening new locations (it opened its first location in Kuwait in 2024, its first new international market in a decade) and launch innovative new products to grow its sales and shareholder value.

How to buy stocks similar to Panera Bread

Investors who want to buy one of these Panera alternatives can purchase shares in any brokerage account. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to invest in stocks like Panera.

Step 1: Open a brokerage account

You'll have to open and fund a brokerage account before buying shares of any company. If you still need to open one, here are some of the best-rated brokers and trading platforms. Take your time to research the brokers to find the best one for you.

Step 2: Figure out your budget

Before making your first trade, you'll need to determine a budget for how much money you want to invest. You shouldn't invest money that you might need in the next three to five years, like your emergency fund. You'll then want to decide how to allocate that money.

The Motley Fool's investing philosophy recommends building a diversified portfolio of 25 or more stocks you plan to hold for at least five years. You don't have to get there on the first day. For example, if you have $1,000 available to start investing, you might want to begin by allocating that money equally across at least 10 stocks and then build from there.

Step 3: Do your research

It's essential to thoroughly research a company before buying its shares. You should learn how it makes money, its competitors, its balance sheet, and other factors to make sure you have a solid grasp on whether the company can grow value for its shareholders over the long term.

Step 4: Place an order

Once you've opened and funded a brokerage account, set your investing budget, and researched the stock, it's time to buy shares. The process is relatively straightforward. Go to your brokerage account's order page and fill out all the relevant information, including:

• The number of shares you want to buy or the amount you want to invest to purchase fractional shares.
• The stock ticker (CAVA for Cava Group, DPZ for Domino's Pizza, and CMG for Chipotle Mexican Grill).
• Whether you want to place a limit order or a market order. The Motley Fool recommends using a market order since it guarantees you buy shares immediately at the market price.

Once you complete the order page, click to submit your trade and become a shareholder in one of these restaurant stocks while you await Panera's IPO.

Investors would follow a similar process to buy an IPO stock like Panera when it goes public. Once shares become available, fill out the order page at your brokerage account with Panera's selected stock ticker and submit your trade.

Is Panera Bread profitable?

Profitability is crucial for a company's long-term success. Companies eventually need to make money to fund their operations and expansion. Meanwhile, profit growth tends to be the biggest driver of value creation for a company's investors over the long term.

As a privately held company, Panera doesn't need to disclose its financial results publicly, so there wasn't any publicly available information on the company's profitability in late 2024.

However, Panera did report in mid-2023 that it generated more than $4.8 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2022. Meanwhile, a Wall Street Journal report in late 2023 said that the company was laying off 17% of its corporate workforce in a bid to reduce costs ahead of a potential IPO. However, in 2025, more and more Panera locations around the U.S. have closed due to a lack of sales and staffing.

ETFs with exposure to Panera Bread

Since Panera is still a privately held company, investors can't passively invest in its stock through an exchange-traded fund (ETF).

However, people interested in investing in the restaurant sector have a couple of restaurant ETF options to consider, including:

• AdvisorShares Restaurant ETF (EATZ +0.39%): This ETF is the only one focused exclusively on the restaurant and food service industry. It held 23 restaurant stocks in 2025, including Domino's in the top 10 at 4.7% of its net assets. The ETF had a 0.99% expense fee.
• Invesco Leisure and Entertainment ETF (PEJ -0.89%): This fund focuses on companies in the leisure and entertainment industry. The fund held hotels, restaurants, and leisure companies (58.4% of its holdings in 2025), entertainment stocks (16.6%), media companies (2.6%), food and staples retailing operators (10%), airline stocks (10%), and interactive media and services companies (2.6%). The fund had a 0.58% total ETF expense ratio.

The bottom line

Panera could once again become a publicly traded company. The company's brand power, large scale, and growth potential already have many investors salivating for its potential IPO, but investors probably shouldn't hold their breath on it, as there are no signs they will within the year.