About the Franchisee
Covelli Enterprises is an entity formed to develop and manage the franchise rights of Panera Bread bakery-cafés in the Northeast & Central Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, West Palm Beach, FL and Canada. With close to 200 bakery-cafés in these markets, Covelli Enterprises is the single largest franchisee of Panera Bread, LLC and is the 5th largest restaurant franchisee in the nation.
Although he opened his first Panera Bread bakery-café in 1998, Sam Covelli, owner and operator of Covelli Enterprises, LLC, had previously been no stranger to the restaurant business. Covelli’s father, Albert, was the owner/operator of several McDonald’s franchises, so Covelli grew up in the industry. He eventually worked his way up from an entry-level position in the company to become the largest franchisee in McDonald’s history worldwide with 43 units at the end of 1997.
As a McDonald’s owner/operator, Covelli accomplished the most awards ever in the McDonald’s system and received the highest honor within the McDonald organization, “The McDonald’s Golden Arch Award.” This award is given every two years to the McDonald’s owner/operator who exemplifies and consistently maintains the highest rated restaurant operations and business practices.
After over a decade of success with the McDonald’s brand, Covelli decided to sell the 43 McDonald’s Restaurants he owned to twelve different operators and embark on a brand-new concept; Panera Bread bakery-cafés. The first Panera Bread bakery-café opened by Covelli Enterprises was in Boardman, Ohio in 1998. By the end of 2012, Covelli will own and operate more than 200 Panera Bread bakery-cafes in five states: Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Florida with gross sales revenues exceeding $450 million.
For more information visit www.paneracovelli.com.
About Panera Bread
With the single goal of making great bread broadly available to consumers across America, Panera Bread freshly bakes more bread each day than any bakery-cafe concept in the country. Every day, at every location, trained bakers handcraft and bake each loaf from scratch, using all-natural ingredients to ensure the highest quality breads.
Panera Bread understands that great, freshly baked bread makes great meals – including made-to-order sandwiches, tossed-to-order salads and soup served in bread bowls. Our menu items, which start with our all natural, preservative-free breads, feature only the freshest, highest quality ingredients.
Visit Panerabread.com for more information.
