Au Bon Pain is a casual bakery and café in the United States and other parts of the world. The French word Au Bon Pain means “place with good bread”. The store provides fresh, healthy, and delicious food and beverages. The café and bakery provide quick counter service for its guests. The staff is friendly, attentive and knowledgeable. The café and bakery provides extensive variety and options ranging from coffee and baked goods, to soups, salads, wraps and sandwiches, to entire entrees.

The store provides a contemporary, colorful, and comfortable ambiance for its guests. The establishment is also very involved in its communities. It started a program named “Food for Life”, which provides food for families and individuals that are less fortunate and may otherwise go without food. This program works with local organizations and food banks to provide unsold baked goods to those in need. In addition to its admirable altruism, the store takes pride in providing fresh food and baked goods and excellent service to its customers. The café and bakery provides a culinary experience that keeps its guests coming back for more.

History

The first café was established in 1978 in Boston, Massachusetts. The bakery’s founder, Louis Kane was taking a walk in the historic Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston when he saw a display of a new line of French bakery ovens. He was inspired by the aroma of the fresh bread and came up with the idea of making authentic fresh breads and croissants that would be easily available to everyone in Boston. As a result, Louis Kane opened the first Au Bon Pain café in the city. The café and bakery rapidly expanded throughout the United States and other parts of the world and has become a successful franchise.

The store’s first location outside of Boston, Massachusetts was opened in New York City in 1984. The company went public as Au Bon Pain Co. Inc. in 1991. The company soon sold its Au Bon Pain division to Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co. in 1999. In 2000, Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co. sold the café and bakery to Compass Group in 2000. In 2008, the group LNK Partners acquired a majority interest in the café and bakery. The Boston Globe and the Commonwealth Institute named the café and bakery as one of the top women-led business in the state of Massachusetts in 2014.

The chain has expanded within the United States and also to other parts of the world. The establishment has over 300 locations worldwide. The international locations include the countries India and Thailand. The international locations typically tend to be franchises. The U.S. locations are primarily in the Northeastern, Mid-Atlantic, and Chicago Metropolitan regions of the United States of America. For instance, there are numerous locations within the following U.S. states: Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Virginia.

The café and bakery has become a “cornerstone of the urban scene”. The store is indeed an innovative, dynamic, and expanding brand. The stores are located on visible areas on corners and crossroads, and also in urban buildings, college campuses, transportation centers, shopping malls, museums and hospitals. With its headquarters located in the scenic Seaport District in the city of Boston, the establishment continues to grow and open new stores each year, both in the United States and internationally.  Aside from the café and bakery stores, the establishment also provides catering services for customers.

Review

The hours of operation vary tremendously according to location.  For instance, opening hours at some locations are between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m.  Closing hours range from 3:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Some locations are open on Saturdays and Sundays while others are closed on those days. Some locations are even open 24 hours seven days a week. The store provides baked goods, hot breakfast, breakfast sandwiches, cold sandwiches, oven hot sandwiches, wraps, salads, soups, and entrees. The breakfast foods are priced between $2 and $5. The sandwiches are between $5 and $7. The wraps are between $5 and $7. Soups and salads range from $6 to $9.

The store provides an assortment of baked goods such as artisan breads, bagels, croissants, cookies, muffins, scones, brownies, and cupcakes. There are different types of artisan breads such as cranberry ciabatta, asiago ciabatta, crostini, breadsticks, baguettes, and cornbread. The croissants also come in different flavors such as the almond, apple and cinnamon, chocolate, cinnamon sugar, multigrain, plain, pumpkin, raspberry, and sweet cheese croissants. There are also ham and cheese, spinach and cheese, and raspberry cheese croissants.

The bagels are between $2 and $3. The different types of bagels include asiago cheese, cinnamon crisp, cinnamon raisin, everything, honey 9-grain, jalapeno cheddar, onion dill, plain, sesame, and skinny wheat.  The store also provides a variety of cream cheese, such as garden vegetable cream cheese, cheese spread, herb bagel spread, and honey pecan cream cheese. Beverages are between $1 and $3 and include coffee, tea, iced coffee, iced tea, cold beverages, and frozen beverages.

The sweeter options consist of the muffins, scones, brownies and cupcakes. The muffins include blueberry, corn, double chocolate chunk, raisin bran, carrot walnut, cranberry orange, cinnamon scone, cranberry walnut, raisin bran and pumpkin sweet cheese. There also a variety of brownies such as the brownie bites, chewy marshmallow bar, and chocolate chip brownies. The cupcakes include the red velvet and double chocolate cupcakes. There are also the cherry Danish and the sweet cheese Danish. The service is generally good although slow at some locations. The food is great and customers love the baked goods and coffee.