Covelli buys more Panera Bread locations

WARREN — Warren-based Covelli Enterprises, the largest franchisee of Panera Bread, announced today the acquisition of an additional 15 bakery-café locations in North Carolina.

The acquisition adds to Covelli’s more than 300 Panera Bread locations and includes bakery-cafes in High Point, Greensboro, Winston Salem, Kernersville, Mooresville, Clemmons, Boone, Hickory, Salisbury and Burlington, N.C.

The addition of the North Carolina bakery-cafes, formerly owned and operated by Show Me Bread Inc., follows the acquisition of several South Carolina and Georgia markets at the end of 2016. Covelli Enterprises acquired 22 bakery-cafes in midland and lowland South Carolina and Georgia, with bakery-cafes in the state capitals of Columbia and Augusta, as well as the coastal towns of Myrtle Beach, Charleston, Hilton Head and Savannah. The company opened a Myrtle Beach location in November 2016 that broke company sales records.