Caribou currently operates 498 stores in the US and a further 317 across 10 international markets | Photo credit: Caribou Coffee

JAB Holding Company’s coffee and food-to-go group Panera Brands is exploring a sale of Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bros. Bagels, as well as its other bagel brands, according to a Reuters report. 

Citing sources familiar with the matter, the news agency said Panera Brands has enlisted Bank of America to facilitate a sales process, which could value the café chains at more than $1.5bn.  

A Panera Brands spokesperson declined to comment on the report and World Coffee Portal has reached out to JAB Holding Company for comment. 
 

Minneapolis-based coffee chain Caribou Coffee currently operates 498 stores in the US and a further 317 across 10 international markets, with a strong presence in Kuwait, the UAE and Turkey. 

Colorado-based bagel chain Einstein Bros. Bagels operates 656 outlets across the US, and also owns Bruegger’s Bagels, Noah’s New York Bagels and Manhattan Bagel, which have a combined footprint of over 300 US sites. 
 

Luxembourg-headquartered investment giant JAB Holding created the Panera Brands fast-casual business unit in August 2021, uniting the Panera Bread, Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bros. Bagels brands in one group.

Missouri-based Panera Bread is the largest chain in the group with 2,182 stores across the US and Canada and generates the majority of Panera Brand’s circa $4.8bn annual revenues. 

If the sale of Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bros. Bagels goes ahead, US coffee and food-to-go chain Panera Bread will reportedly return to an independent business within JAB Holding’s portfolio of beverage brands. The investment firm also has interests in coffee and tea group JDE Peet’s, UK-based Pret A Manger, Swedish coffee chain Espresso House, US donut and coffee business Krispy Kreme and soft beverages group Keurig Dr Pepper. 

The report comes as Panera Brands continues to build towards a long-awaited IPO launch.  

The group has been exploring a public offering since November 2021 and said the key strategic senior appointments of Patrick Grismer and Michael Tattersfield in September 2023 were about ‘positioning the company to go public’. Panera Brands will still pursue a listing of its remaining Panera Bread business if it divests its other businesses, according to Reuters.   

It also follows JAB Holding’s May 2024 announcement that it was seeking to become less reliant on its consumer goods portfolio and would establish a global insurance platform and asset management company to maximise its investment opportunities.