New Panera to Feature Drive-Thru Convenience

Panera Bread Co.’s new Bentonville restaurant will be the company’s first in Arkansas to offer drive-thru service when it opens Oct. 20 in the former Bojangles building at 1320 S.E. Walton Blvd.

Claudine Stark, Northwest Arkansas spokesman for Panera franchisee The Traditional Bakery Inc., said the current store, at 201 S.W. 14th St., will close Oct. 6 in preparation for the move.

“The current location has been terrific for us, but we’ve simply outgrown it,” she said.

Drive-thru service has been very successful in the chain’s other markets, she said, and the current space can’t accommodate it.

Panera opened in Bentonville in 2002. At about 5,000 SF, the restaurant employs about 34, Stark said. Another 12 to 16 people will be hired for the new location, she said.

Bojangles, built in 2006 for about $1.8 million, had 3,700 SF. After renovations, it will have 4,606 SF plus the drive-thru. C.R. Crawford Construction took out a building permit valued at $632,000 for the remodel on July 18.

The Traditional Bakery, based in Springfield, Mo., owns the Bentonville, Fayetteville and Fort Smith locations, as well as restaurants in Missouri and Oklahoma. Panera is based in St. Louis.

Bojangles, a chicken-and-biscuit restaurant chain based in Charlotte, N.C., opened at the Southeast Walton location in December 2006. The restaurant closed in December 2008, with the owners declaring bankruptcy.