Restaurants Serving Growth

NEW YORK CITY-Whether it’s a powerhouse chain like Panera Bread or a concept that is just getting its expansion plans off the ground, such as Kona Grill, restaurant companies across the country have grand plans for growth. Those two chains and many others presented their strategies to investors here yesterday at Cowen and Co.’s Annual Consumer Conference.

Growth is not waning in the case of Panera. The 1,027-unit chain plans 170 to 180 new restaurants this year, up from 155 in 2006. About 60% of the St. Louis-based company’s units are run by franchisees.

Panera might have a large unit count, but the company still has yet to rapidly expand in many West Coast markets, and until the pending purchase of a 44-unit chain called Paradise Café, didn’t even have a presence in Phoenix. Plus, in many markets where there is a Panera presence, the chain has room for more density, stresses Neal Yanofsky, its president. “We’re not seeing significant cannibalization,” he says. “We’re not feeling we’re at saturation.”