The Bay Area’s first Corner Bakery Cafe opened in Pleasanton.
Renée Frojo
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times
Corner Bakery Cafe is rising in the Bay Area.
The first of 32 planned restaurants opened in Pleasanton last week. The group has another lease singed in Pleasant Hill and hopes to open that restaurant by spring of next year.
Buon Hospitality, a segment of Pacific Convenience Fuels — which operates more than 500 fuel, restaurant and convenience business around the country — is running the franchise operation. The company signed an agreement last year with the Dallas-based chain to open 32 bakeries in seven years, bringing about 2,000 jobs to the area.
However, the timing is flexible. “Our timeframe is based more on finding great locations in the Bay Area than it is about watching the calendar,” said John Sweeney, general manager for restaurant operations and a former regional director for Corner Bakery Cafe. “There is no shortage of great real estate here. It’s finding great real estate that’s available.”
The franchise, which is popular on the East Coast, will be going up against Panera Bread, the industry leader in the fast-causal bakery segment. Panera already has more than a dozen locations in the Bay Area and annual sales of over $3 billion in 2011.
Sweeney said Corner Bakery will compete with its “open flame and real kitchens,” that serve up every meal item to order.
On the West Coast, Corner Bakery currently has a number of company-owned restaurants in Southern California and a few franchises in Arizona, Utah and Colorado.
Sweeney said Buon Hospitality is scouting locations from Santa Cruz to Santa Rosa on both sides of the San Francisco Bay to open other eateries.
Renée Frojo covers hospitality, restaurants, retail and nonprofits for the San Francisco Business Times.
Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2012/12/17/corner-bakery-kicks-off-bay-area.html