Laid off from Panera.
Panera has been closing the Fresh Dough Facilities that supplied its cafes with dough every day, moving the baking to outside partners plant by plant. Those closings are where most of its recent WARN filings come from, and those production workers are a different group from the corporate staff cut in 2023 and 2024.
At a glance
What's known about Panera severance and layoffs
- 14 · All-time Panera filings, our tracker
- 12, covering 1,123 jobs · Filings since 2025, our tracker
- 4, covering 399 jobs · 2026 filings, our tracker
- 201 jobs, September 2025 · Largest since 2025, Fairfield New Jersey
- Nine, down from 24 in 2016 · Fresh Dough Facilities left, April 2025
- About half of 2,223 · Cafes company owned, April 2025
- None on record · Severance amounts per worker
Recent Panera layoffs
Panera's Ohio and Maryland dough plants were set to close in May 2026
A notice filed with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services set the 70 jobs at the West Chester Fresh Dough Facility to end permanently between May 20 and 22, 2026, and listed severance, outplacement, help finding other jobs within Panera, and a job fair on April 20. Maryland's notice, filed March 17, set 118 jobs at Jessup to end in that same May window. Our tracker holds 4 filings covering 399 jobs in 2026.
Previous rounds
Panera layoff history
If your notice came from a Fresh Dough Facility, you're in the largest group on this record. Losing work you were good at is hard, and a plant closing takes the whole shift with it. Panera has been closing the plants that mixed dough for its cafes since early 2024 and moving the work to outside producers who partially bake to its recipes and ship to cafes for finishing. Our tracker holds 14 all-time Panera filings, and 12 covering 1,123 jobs since the start of 2025 across eleven states, with 4 of those filings and 399 jobs in 2026. Most of that run is the plants, filed one market at a time.
The company put the rest of the plan on the record in April 2025, telling Nation's Restaurant News it would close its remaining fresh dough facilities over the next 18 months to two years. It had closed at least eight by then and had nine left, down from 24 in 2016, and Restaurant Business reported that Panera disclosed no job number for the remaining closings. In July 2025 Panera said it expected the shift completed sometime in 2026. The closings by then had already reached Lenexa, Greensboro, two in California, and sites in Texas, Arizona, Georgia, Colorado and Washington.
The notices are where the terms actually appear, and they aren't identical. Missouri's set the Brentwood plant to close by September 12, 2025 with 72 jobs, in a letter from chief people officer Alycia Gonzalez, and Michigan's, filed May 13, put Romulus at 66 jobs ending July 25. Both letters called the closure permanent and said all affected employees would be offered a severance package and outplacement services. Ohio's went further for the 70 workers at West Chester, adding assistance locating other jobs within Panera and a job fair on April 20, 2026. Maryland's, filed March 17 for 118 jobs at Jessup, produced a statement about resources, career opportunities and guidance that never said what they were.
The corporate rounds are a separate record with separate terms. Panera cut about 300 corporate jobs in November 2023, reported as 17 percent of corporate staff, while the chain was preparing for an initial public offering that the reporting we track hasn't recorded since. It ran a second round on October 1 and 2, 2024 across the St. Louis and Newton, Massachusetts support centers, with developers, engineers and IT specialists named in reporting and employee posts on LinkedIn describing customer care and project management roles. Both outlets reported those cuts didn't reach bakery-cafe or franchised workers, which matters in a chain where about half of the 2,223 cafes were company owned as of April 2025 and franchisees employ the rest.
Two things are worth doing when you compare your notice with the public record. Panera stopped filing with the SEC after a Form 15 in July 2017, so there's no annual report to check for headcount or severance charges the way there would be at a public employer. The figures here come from state notices and our own tracker. And because the support listed varies from notice to notice, compare yours against what Ohio's spelled out and ask whoever signed your letter about anything yours leaves out. Filing details for the states Panera files in sit on our Missouri, Maryland, Ohio and New Jersey pages. Panera RISE, the turnaround announced on November 18, 2025, sets four pillars and a sales target the chief executive put above $7 billion by 2028, and Nation's Restaurant News reported the bread switch sits outside that plan.
Reporting on previous Panera layoff rounds
2026, fresh dough facility closings · Filings in Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland and Ohio covering 399 jobs, among them 118 at Jessup, Maryland and 70 at West Chester, Ohio, both set to end between May 20 and 22
Severance package, assistance locating other jobs within Panera, outplacement services, and a job fair on April 20, 2026, per the Ohio notice. No amounts on record.
2025, fresh dough facility closings · Filings in California, Kansas, North Carolina, Florida, Missouri, Michigan and New Jersey, among them 201 jobs at Fairfield, New Jersey in September, 114 in Orlando in May, and 72 at Brentwood, Missouri
The Missouri and Michigan letters each called the closure permanent and said all affected employees would be offered a severance package and outplacement services. No amounts on record.
October 2024, corporate · A second corporate round on October 1 and 2, an unspecified number of jobs eliminated and roles reassigned across support centers in St. Louis and Newton, Massachusetts, with developers, engineers and IT specialists named in reporting
Reporting on the company's internal memo listed severance pay, pay for accrued and unused PTO, healthcare support and career services. No amounts on record.
November 2023, corporate · About 300 corporate jobs, reported as 17 percent of corporate staff, while the chain was preparing for an initial public offering
How Panera's layoffs compare to other companies
Panera built the brand on dough mixed in its own plants and trucked to cafes daily, so the jobs ending here made the thing it advertised. The notices name that work precisely, mixer, packer, panner, sanitation lead, tractor-trailer driver, and those titles are better search terms than the company name.
What to do after being laid off from Panera
- File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Panera's biggest hubs: Missouri, Maryland, Ohio, New Jersey. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
- Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what Panera's hub states run: Missouri, Maryland, Ohio, New Jersey, and every other state is here.
- Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
- Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
- Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.
Panera layoff and severance questions
What severance does Panera pay in layoffs?
No amounts are on record for any Panera round, but the notices and the reporting do name the shape of the offer. The Missouri and Michigan closure letters said all affected employees would be offered a severance package and outplacement services, and the Ohio notice added assistance locating other jobs within Panera and a job fair on April 20, 2026. For the October 2024 corporate round, reporting on the company's memo listed severance pay, pay for accrued and unused PTO, healthcare support and career services. Your own agreement is the version that governs, so read what you were handed against that list.
Why is Panera closing its Fresh Dough Facilities?
Panera told Nation's Restaurant News in April 2025 that it would close its remaining fresh dough facilities over the next 18 months to two years, finishing a switch that started in early 2024. Outside artisan bakery producers now follow Panera's recipes, partially bake its items and ship them to cafes. In July 2025 the company said it expected the shift completed sometime in 2026. The Brentwood letter and the Missouri WARN notice gave no reason of their own.
What help do Fresh Dough Facility workers get?
It varies by notice, which is the argument for reading yours closely. Panera said bakers would be offered roles in its bakery-cafes or could pursue other openings through company-hosted job fairs, and its chief corporate affairs officer described moving workers to cafe positions where possible along with job fairs and bridge benefits. Ohio's notice itemized the most, naming severance, help finding other jobs within Panera, outplacement, and a dated job fair. Maryland's drew a statement about resources, career opportunities and guidance that didn't say what those were.
Am I laid off by Panera or by a franchisee?
About half of Panera's 2,223 cafes were company owned as of April 2025, and franchisees run the rest on their own payrolls. Every fresh dough facility closing here was filed under the company name, and both outlets covering the October 2024 corporate round reported those cuts reached corporate staff rather than bakery-cafe or franchised workers. The employer name on your pay stub settles it for you, and around St. Louis it may read Saint Louis Bread Co., the name the chain opened under in 1987.
Which states has Panera filed WARN notices in?
Our tracker holds 14 all-time Panera filings and 12 covering 1,123 jobs since the start of 2025, across California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina and Ohio. The largest is 201 jobs at Fairfield, New Jersey in September 2025. Restaurant Business separately reported facility closings in Arizona, Colorado and Washington state that our matched rows don't hold, so the tracker is a floor for this wind-down rather than a full count.
Where do I file for unemployment after being laid off from Panera?
In the state where you worked, not where the company is headquartered. Panera's biggest U.S. hubs are Missouri, Maryland, Ohio, New Jersey. Severance usually doesn't block you from filing, and benefits run from your filing date, so file the same week.
Is it OK to file for unemployment after a layoff at Panera?
Yes. Unemployment insurance is funded by payroll taxes employers pay on wages, the claim never appears on credit reports or background checks, and future employers cannot see it. If the hesitation itself is the obstacle, whether filing is OK has its own article.
What happens to my health insurance after a layoff at Panera?
Your plan sets the end date rather than the law, so the separation packet is where that date actually lives, and it is often the last day of the month rather than your last day of work. After coverage ends, COBRA lets you keep the identical plan by paying the whole premium yourself, up to 102 percent of what the plan really costs, which lands as several times the payroll deduction you were used to. You get 60 days to elect, counted from the later of coverage ending or the election notice arriving, and electing reaches the coverage back to the day the old plan stopped so no gap exists. How continuation coverage works walks the timing, and whether to take it rather than a marketplace plan is a separate decision.
Should I sign the severance agreement right away?
First pin down how much review time you actually have. If you're 40 or older, federal law gives you 21 days to consider an agreement that waives age claims, 45 in a group layoff, and a waiver signed under a shorter deadline can be invalid. If you're under 40, no federal window applies and the deadline in your packet may be real, so confirm it in writing and ask for more time if you need it. Use whatever window you have to read the release terms, especially non-disparagement and no-lawsuit clauses, and don't stall past a real deadline, because offers can be withdrawn.
Can I collect unemployment if I got severance from Panera?
Usually yes, though some states delay benefits until severance pay periods end, and lump sums are treated differently than salary continuation. Check your state's rules on our state benefit pages, and file immediately either way so your claim date is locked in.