The Panera Bread Company is a public company that is traded on the NASDAQ stock market. The majority of its shareholders are financial institutions and mutual fund holders. The remaining shares are owned by direct holders of Panera Bread stock.
Direct stock holders are individuals who purchase stock from brokerage firms. They are either company insiders or individual stock investors who have no affiliation with the company beyond owning its stock.
Panera Bread started operating in 1981 under the name Au Bon Pain Co. Inc. As of 2014, the company has 1,818 locations in 45 states. Panera Bread is headquartered in Missouri. In 2013, the company had $2.4 million in sales.