Eat All About It: Panera opens Monday in Richland. Are its famous siblings next?

Tri-City Herald readers can mark a “most wanted” restaurant off their list.

Panera Bread opens its first Tri-City location Nov. 27 in Richland’s Queensgate district, according to the Benton-Franklin Health District.

Panera was the fifth most-wanted restaurant in an unscientific survey conducted by the Herald in 2016. Fifteen percent of the 2,000 readers who responded mentioned Panera by name. It was edged out by Cheesecake Factory, Chili’s Bar and Grill and In-n-Out Burger, all of which elude the region so far.

Panera’s Tri-City opening comes following a remarkable year for the St. Louis brand.

After 28 years as a publicly traded company, the business was taken private this summer in a $7.5 billion buyout by JAB Holdings Inc.

The move ended Panera’s run as an independent company, but brought it into a stable of well-known brands that includes Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Portland’s iconic Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Keurig Green Mountain, Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, Caribou Coffee and Espresso House, a chain of popular coffee houses in Scandinavia.

While corporate relationships are no guarantee of future store openings, it’s worth noting that Panera’s new sibling, Krispy Kreme, has a Tri-City location at Queensgate. No other JAB brand has opened Tri-City locations, at least, not yet.

Panera confirmed plans for the Tri-Cities a year ago. Its landlord, Browman Development, began construction on a 9,000-square-foot building for Panera and a dental clinic last spring.

Panera will sell made-to-order sandwiches, soups, salads, gourmet coffees and a variety of bakery items, including breads and pastries. The store includes a drive-through.

Panera formed in the 1980s as a cookie store and evolved into a fast-casual bakery cafe, first known as Au Bon Pain Co. Inc.

Au Bon Pain later merged with Saint Louis Bread Co. Saint Louis became Panera and the Au Bon Pain assets were sold to fuel Panera’s growth as a quality-oriented fast-casual food chain competing with the likes of McDonald’s and Subway.

The Queensgate location at 2768 Duportail St. joins 2,050 outlets in the U.S. and Ontario, which operate under the Panera, St. Louis Bakery and Paradise names.

The company reported nearly $5 billion in system sales and was No. 760 on the Fortune 1000 list of publicly traded companies this summer, before the JAB deal closed.

More than half of its locations are operated by franchisees, typically local entrepreneurs who contract with the parent company.

Tamale festival in Kennewick

The Associacion De Comerciantes Latinos de Tri-Cities, or Latin Business Association, holds its fourth annual Tamale Festival from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Dec. 3, at the Benton-Franklin Fairgrounds in Kennewick.

The festival includes a dozen different flavors of tamales, Christmas gifts, clothes, toys, a beer garden, dancing and live entertainment.

The festival will also see the crowning of the Best Accordion Player in the Northwest.

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This story was originally published November 21, 2017 at 12:58 PM with the headline "Eat All About It: Panera opens Monday in Richland. Are its famous siblings next?."