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Panera Bread Opens Store in Austintown
AUSTINTOWN, Ohio -- Today the area's fourth Panera Bread store is open for business. Next year 23 more Panera stores will open for business. That's the fast growth track Covelli Enterprises is following -- a pace that makes the Warren-based company the country's largest franchisee of Panera LLC. "This is going to be a great location -- it's one of the busiest intersections in the Valley," said Sam Covelli, the company's chief executive officer, as he welcomed the press to the grand opening of his newest store at Route 46 and Mahoning Avenue.The Panera Bread brand is a bakery-cafe that features fresh-baked breads and pastries, espresso beverages, soups and made-to-order sandwiches and salads. "Bread is clearly the heart and soul of our business," said Covelli. "Bread serves as the centerpiece for nearly everything we offer. We have a passion for fresh-baked bread and we want to share it with our customers."Covelli Enterprises built the McDonald's restaurants that operate across the Mahoning and Shenango valleys, most of which he sold about eight years ago to diversify with the up-and-coming Panera Bread franchise. Today Covelli operates more than 90 Panera stores in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. "I think over the years people have gotten fussier," Covelli said. "They want something that's special and offers more variety. You can talk to 10 customers and they have 10 different reasons for coming to Panera. People want to eat healthier today but they also want good taste."Julie Ault, director of marketing and public relations for Covelli Enterprises, coordinated the grand opening of the Austintown store with live broadcasts on Channel 21's WFMJ Today and the Ron and Casey Show on WKBN radio. "Opening a new bakery-cafe in Austintown means we are one step closer to our goal of putting a loaf of delicious, freshly baked bread in every arm across America" she said.Covelli said his company is eyeing sites on the Canfield end of Route 224 to possibly open its fifth area store next year. "I was at Boardman yesterday and there just wasn't a seat available and the parking lot was full," he related. "It's a nice problem to have -- but that's why we need to put another store out there."The Boardman store is located in the Shops at Boardman Park off Route 224. Covelli Enterprises also operates Panera stores in Warren and Sharon, Pa. The company's biggest concentrations of stores are found in the Cleveland and Pittsburgh areas, as well as in Florida. "It's a good mix," Covelli said.At today's store opening, Covelli said his company has enjoyed steady increases in sales. "We've increased hundreds of percent over the year before," he said. "We've opened between 15 and 20 stores every year. So it's been incredible. When you hear the growth its hard to believe but that's the way it's been. Sometimes you have to pinch yourself but it's been great."Panera Bread LLC is based in St. Louis and publicly traded on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol PNRA. The company operates 212 stores and has 489 franchise stores. It reported a 1.5% increase in comparable-store sales during the fourth quarter, and noted that hurricane damage in Florida was an adverse factor.Visit Panera Bread at www.panerabread.com"