The Brief
- 15 Houston-area Panera Bread stores are closed after the franchisee files for bankruptcy.
- Hundreds of workers are left jobless.
- The franchisee owes $10–$50 million to creditors.
HOUSTON – The operator of more than a dozen Panera Bread locations across the Houston area is in legal and financial hot water, facing a federal lawsuit from Panera Bread, and filing for bankruptcy protection.
What we know:
EYM Café of Texas LLC, a franchisee of Panera, operated 15 stores in the Houston area. Chad Rainey was an assistant general manager at one of them. He says he moved locations for a promotion in the company and shortly after, on his birthday, he was told the store was closing and he no longer had a job. …