By Kim Siebert MacPhail
If all goes smoothly, Panera Bread will join Bamboo, Flatbread and Melting Pot at 213 Burlington Road, a location that has developed into a restaurant destination.
Glenn Garber, Director of Planning, said that Panera has signaled its intention to lease a 2,000 square foot storefront at the site that will primarily offer takeout service, though details are still evolving. Garber also stated that the company has made it an order of condition for the lease that a front parking area be created along Burlington Road in what is now a grassy strip. To satisfy parking requirements per zoning bylaw, which relates to seating capacity, Panera must provide ten spaces to accommodate the anticipated number of customers.
Responding to the news, Planning Board members asked Garber if the restaurant would deliver, given the small square footage and minimal seating. They also wondered whether Panera would be interested in either the vacant retail space at Taylor Pond on Middlesex Turnpike or the Travelodge site on The Great Road, instead of the Burlington Road space. The loss of the grassy strip along the street to make way for a parking lot was also lamented. Garber responded that he did not know whether food delivery was a part of Panera’s business model. As for the idea that Panera locate at either Taylor Pond or the Travelodge, the Board realized, upon further discussion, that a national company as sophisticated as Panera would have done thorough market research before deciding where to locate.
On its website, Panera describes itself in this way: “We are bakers of bread. We are fresh from the oven. We are a symbol of warmth and welcome. We are a simple pleasure, honest and genuine. We are a life story told over dinner. We are a long lunch with an old friend. We are your weekday morning ritual. We are the kindest gesture of neighbors. We are home. We are family. We are friends.”
The company has also founded a non-profit arm of the corporation called “Panera Cares” to combat hunger and food insecurity. Toward this effort, some Panera locations rely on contributions rather than charging set prices.
There are currently six Panera locations within a ten mile radius of Bedford, although none of them are Panera Cares community cafes.
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Thank you to The Bedford Citizen for letting us know about this – I will be watching for future updates. I’ve wanted a bakery in town for a long time, but that particular location already has too little parking, especially in the spring when much of that parking area floods. I would think that the flooding problem needs to be solved, first. I really wouldn’t want to see that grassy strip turned into a lot.
Parenthetically, it’s so unfortunate that parking and traffic flow are so often barriers to new opportunities to provide services and industries to town. If only public transit were more readily available… oh, yeah, that’s being cut, too…