Free Ron Shaich Essay Example

Ron Shaich is the founder and Executive Chairman of Panera Bread Co. He started his entrepreneurial career in the university, when he organized a students’ store by gathering money as a treasurer of the student council. After getting his BA degree at Clark University and MBA degree at Harvard Business School, Ron Shaich went to work for the Original Cookie Corporation. When Ron came back to Boston, he started the path to Panera Bread with a small store in Boston called Cookie Jar. At that moment, Shaich was combining a job of Democratic political consultant with operating his own store. As the result, Ron ended up giving up his job as a consultant and running Cookie Jar: that was the moment when the thoughts of expanding bakery business started to form in his mind. Along with creating a bakery business, Ron Shaich have decided that he wants to try himself in something else, and he handed the job of the CEO to Bill Moreton. Ron’s intention was to spend half of week for Panera and to dedicate the rest of the time to his interests such as politics. Shaich wanted to experience the feeling of how it would be if there would be no Panera. However, Ron Shaich realized that his interest in Panera was only growing and he was back to the role of the co-CEO of Panera (Ronshaich.com).
After several years of operation, Ron Shaich created a powerful organization Panera Bread that is currently operating 1880 bakery-cafés in 45 states in US and in Ontario, Canada. For the moment Panera is employing more than 80 000 of associates and serves more than 8 000 000 people every week (Panerabread.com).
Ron Shaich has received numerous awards for his achievements and contributions to the society. For example, he got the Nation’s Restaurant News Golden Chain Award, which represents outstanding achievement of the leadership and success in the food service industry. The major vision of Ron Shaich is to bring value to the society (Ronshaich.com). Ron Shaich has positioned Panera Bread as the company that serves the community by bringing high quality foods at affordable prices and creating an unbelievable experience of delicious meals and warm environment for the society. One of the main contributions made by Ron Shaich was Panera Cares initiative, which is a nonprofit community that raises awareness about food insecurity issues in the world (Kanani, 2012).
In 2010, Panera opened a café that is identical to all Panera Bread bakery-cafés but based on donation. Panera Cares project brings value to the society by feeding those who are do not have enough resource to support their living. Panera Cares operates on “pay what you can” basis, and if someone is struggling to pay, Panera Cares will be there for this person. Mission of Panera Cares is for people to understand what it means to care for someone else who is struggling with food insecurity issues (Paneracares.org). Servant leadership lies in the heart of this project, because Panera Cares contributes to the growth and development of the community it operates in, and it cares about the society and its well-being. Ron Shaich created a strong basis for servant leadership by emphasizing ethical values in all of his operations.
The fact that Panera Bread and Panera Cares operate under “bringing value to the community” principle helps the company to build a strong brand image, which, in turn, plays a significant role for shareholders, potential investors, employees, and customers. Creating a positive image of the company and having favorable reputation is important for every business, and by serving the community and facilitating excellence in all of the activities, Ron Shaich manages to maintain his business in a great shape.

References

Kanani, R. (2012, September 16). How Restaurant Visionary Ron Shaich is Tackling America's Hunger Crisis. Retrieved March 15, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/rahimkanani/2012/09/16/how-restaurant-visionary-ron-shaich-is-tackling-americas-hunger-crisis/
Our Mission. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2015, from http://paneracares.org/our-mission/
Ron Shaich - meet Ron. (2014, November 1). Retrieved March 15, 2015, from http://www.ronshaich.com/meetron.php
We Are Panera: Our History. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2015, from https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/company/about-panera/our-history.html