St. Louis-based bakery-cafe chain Panera Bread Co has revealed that system-wide comparable outlet sales (excluding specialty bakery-cafes and closed locations) increased 5.6% year on year for the four weeks ended 20 April 2002.


The breakdown between company-owned and franchised bakery-cafes is as follows:


                                 For the 4 weeks         For the 16 weeks
                              ended April 20, 2002     ended April 20, 2002
     Company-owned                     4.1%                     5.3%
     Franchised                        6.3%                     5.6%
     Total System                      5.6%                     5.5%


Meanwhile, average system-wide weekly sales (excluding specialty bakery-cafes and closed locations) increased 5.5% to US$34,376 for the four week period, compared to US$32,585 for the equivalent four weeks ended 21 April 2001. Average system-wide weekly sales (excluding specialty bakery-cafes and closed locations) increased 5.9% to US$34,264 for the 16 weeks ended 20 April 2002, compared to US$32,345 for the 16 weeks ended 21 April 2001.