FENTON, Missouri — Panera Brands’ CEO is stepping down after less than two years of in the position, the parent company of Panera Bread said in a press release Tuesday.

José Alberto Dueñas’s resignation is effective immediately. Dueñas, former president and CEO of Einstein Bros. Bagels, became Panera CEO in July of 2023.

“I am immensely proud of leading Panera during this transformative period for the company,” Dueñas said in a statement. “With the strategic foundation and a phenomenal leadership team in place, I’m totally confident the best is yet to come for Panera Brands.”

The company’s current chief financial officer Paul Carbone will serve as interim CEO while the company’s board of directors searches for a new leader. Carbone has previously been CFO at Dunkin’ Brands, YETI Holdings, Inc. and SharkNinja. He was appointed chief financial officer of Panera in 2023.

This change comes ahead of other restructuring measures within the company as Panera prepared to go public. In the past few years the company has laid off hundreds of its corporate workers and last fall Panera replaced its board of directors chair.

In 2021, the company announced that it had plans to file for an initial public offering, but in 2022 Panera pulled the plug due to a faltering IPO market. Then in late 2023, it was reported that Panera had filed paperwork to go public.

Panera did not immediately respond to requests for comment on if and when the company will hold its IPO.

Panera Brands includes Panera Bread, Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bros.

The first St. Louis Bread Co. store opened in 1987 in Kirkwood, Missouri, by Ken and Linda Rosenthal. Some of the bakery-café locations around St. Louis continue to operate as St. Louis Bread Co. As of September, there are about 2,200 bakery-cafes in North America.

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