January 26, 2012, Toronto – Panera Bread opened its fourth Canadian location on Tuesday in downtown Toronto, marking the beginning of a rapid expansion plan for the American bakery café chain.

In honour of the occasion, Panera hosted a group of food writers at George Brown College for a recipe demo with renowned baker Tom Gumpel.

Gumpel is vice president of bakery development for Panera Bread. He is a certified master baker and previously served as associate dean for curriculum and instruction for baking and pastry arts at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA). In 1999, Gumpel received international acclaim when he served as captain of the U.S. Baking Team that captured the grand prize at the prestigious Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie (World Cup of Baking).  His success in the competition was featured in People, USA Today, The New York Times and on ABC's World News Tonight.  He also was a member of the 1992 Culinary Olympic team that won a bronze medal at the International Culinary Olympics in Frankfurt, Germany.

Panera Bread has just over 1500 U.S. locations baking up about 150 million pounds of wheat flour a year. The new Toronto location near Yonge and Dundas Square is amongst the nicest they’ve built, Gumpel remarked.

Gumpel prepared an Asiago Strata (a decadent savoury bread pudding) and an Autumn Harvest Panzanella (roasted and toasted bread salad, pictured above) for the group. He noted that while we are in an era of more positive bread messaging after bread was pummeled by the Atkins craze, it’s still important in driving business to give customers ideas for how to use bread in their life. He sees that showing people how to use bread as part of an entrée is sparking interest these days.

“Bread is an important part of a healthy diet and it should be addressed that way,” he says.

Comfort foods are still the top selling mainstays for the chain, including items like their broccoli cheddar soup, Caesar salad and signature sandwiches, says Brandi Gangel, senior marketing manager for Panera LLC. So far, their Canadian customers are sticking with the known signature items, but she anticipates that will evolve to the more adventurous menu items, as it has in America, when people become more familiar with the chain.

Panera has a primary focus on fresh, including dough and bread that is made and baked fresh daily. Dough is given a 40 to 45 hour fermentation to develop. They grow their own lettuce and ripen their own tomatoes and avocados for the best control of the distribution and freshness throughout their supply chain. In Canada, Gangel says they are sourcing half their ingredients locally and half using their existing distribution channels for optimal freshness. Gumpel’s leadership bubbles with his passion and reverence for bread, which he says “tells you when it’s ready at every stage.”