Olympia Fields’ growth as a “foody” place will take a step ahead with the Aug. 26 opening of Panera Bread’s newest location, ending a three-year journey.
The Oconomowoc restaurant, at 1361 Olympia Fields Drive, will open at 6 a.m. that day with the usual fanfare, including a year’s worth of free “You Pick Two” meals for the first 100 customers. But the location, Panera’s 13th in the Milwaukee area and first in Oconomowoc, will try something different: a smaller store.
“This location marries a smaller footprint than traditional bakery-cafes with updated ordering kiosks and a fully digitized menu,” Lindsay Cronin, a Panera public relations specialist said in an email. “Designed with a limited dining area, the bakery-cafe is geared toward serving guests on the go.”
According to City of Oconomowoc documents, Panera Bread originally planned to open a restaurant about a block north of its new location. Plans were approved in 2022, but were altered for a new site approved in late 2024.
Known for its soups, sandwiches and salads, Panera Bread has slowly but steadily increased its regional footprint. Recent openings included a site in West Allis in December 2024.
The chain — now entering its 10th community in the metro area, according to Panera’s locator map — was among the early tenants in the expansion of The Shoppes at Fox River in Waukesha in 2016 and has operated a restaurant in New Berlin’s City Center for a quarter-century. Restaurants also operate in Brookfield (three locations), Delafield, Greenfield, Menomonee Falls, Pewaukee and Wauwatosa (two locations).
For Olympia Fields, the development area that includes land that was once part of the Olympia resort ski hill and conference center, Panera is one of several new restaurants announced or planned in the past year. In March, plans for a Chipotle Mexican Grill and First Watch restaurant, also on Olympia Fields Drive, advanced with a lot split approved by the City of Oconomowoc. That’s on top of other older area restaurants along Summit Drive in the neighborhood.
Olympia Fields’ draw was enough for Panera’s area franchisee.
“We are thrilled to be opening the first Panera in Oconomowoc,” operating partner Amber Ramirez said in an emailed statement. “We are excited to grow our presence in this wonderful community and look forward to delivering the great tasting food and impeccable service our local guests have come to expect from Panera.”
Local nonprofit organizations — including schools, sports teams and scout groups — will also have an opportunity to host fundraising events at the new Panera location as part of a grand opening promotion through Nov. 26. Panera will donate a certain percentage of sales to those groups during that period.
Contact reporter Jim Riccioli at james.riccioli@jrn.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Panera Bread finally comes to Oconomowoc’s Olympia Fields, opens on Aug. 26
Reporting by Jim Riccioli, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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