April 24 (UPI) -- Panera Bread Co. announced Monday it will hire 10,000 more employees as the restaurant expands its delivery service.
About 75 percent of the new hires will be delivery drivers. The company currently has delivery availability in about 15 percent of its approximately 2,000 restaurants in the United States and Canada, and intends to increase that share to 35 or 40 percent by the end of the year, Blaine Hurst, Panera president, said.
"In many places across the country, all that's available for delivery is pizza or Chinese food," said Ron Shaich, Panera CEO. "We're closing the gap in delivery alternatives and creating a way for people to have more options for real food delivered to their homes and workplaces."
The restaurant chain created a tracking system to ensure on-time delivery, CNBC reported.
The company was purchased for $7 billion, earlier in April, by JAB Holdings, which also is a majority investor in the Krispy Kreme doughnut chain and Caribou, Peet's and Keurig coffee companies.
