Panera Bread announced Mark Shambura as chief marketing officer in a press release Thursday. An experienced executive in the fast casual restaurant space, Shambura is leading Panera’s brand building, digital, loyalty, product strategy and consumer insights programs. He officially joined the company on July 29.
The marketer jumps to Panera from Papa Johns, where he acted as CMO since May 2023. Papa Johns recently underwent a leadership transition, with former Wendy’s chief Todd Penegor taking on the CEO mantle last week.
In hiring Shambura last year, Papa Johns praised his “digital-first, analytics-led approach.” During a brief stint at the pizza chain, Shambura revamped the brand’s signature “Better Ingredients, Better Pizza” messaging platform and focused on developing Papa Johns’ omnichannel capabilities. The executive also shook up Papa Johns’ agency roster, handing creative to The Martin Agency and media duties to Carat.
Prior roles for Shambura include a four-year run as CMO at Mod Pizza and serving as executive director at Chipotle, where he helped spearhead the burrito purveyor’s “Real Ingredients” positioning.
“Mark brings an impressive background building brands and leading marketing teams for fast-casual restaurants, and we're thrilled to welcome him to Panera Bread," said Panera CEO José Alberto Dueñas in a statement around the hire. “As Panera continues to evolve our brand, guided by listening to our guests, Mark’s depth of experience and ability will help drive our growth as a brand that serves great food you feel good about eating.”
Panera’s promotional efforts have angled to win over younger diners, including through more aggressive marketing on TikTok. A meal featuring avocado toast and iced coffee that rolled out late last month is explicitly targeted at millennials, nodding to products closely tied to the generation’s cultural identity. Panera, which is planning to go public, also enacted the largest overhaul of its menu to date earlier this year, with over 20 updates and nine new items.
The sandwich, soup and bread bowl spot has also been dogged by some bad PR this year. In May, it had to discontinue a line of highly caffeinated drinks called Charged Sips that were linked to wrongful death lawsuits in the U.S. Reuters in March reported that Panera had loosened some of its animal welfare and clean ingredients standards, a long-standing corporate focus, ahead of its expected IPO.
