Huntley’s Panera Bread franchise finally breaks ground: Countdown to an opening date begins
HUNTLEY — Since the end of 2013, residents and village officials alike have long awaited the day for when Hamra Enterprises, the organization responsible for franchising various fast-food restaurants, would move forward on its plans to open a Panera Bread restaurant in the village.
Despite the Village Board having approved Final Planned Unit Development (PUD) plans for a 7,500 square foot multi-tenant building with an attached 4,200 square foot Panera Bread restaurant back in 2017, that structure never materialized and those plans eventually expired.
As the years went by with no new updates to the arrival of the Panera Bread franchise, the concept of it all became a running joke among Huntley residents, who had all but started to lose hope that the restaurant would ever be constructed.
The buzz around the Panera restaurant picked up once again when Hamra Enterprises came before the Village Board last year with new plans for a 3,480 square-foot Panera Bread restaurant to be built on Outlot 5 of the Huntley Grove Commercial Subdivision, located on the corner of Route 47 and Kreutzer Road.
With the new PUD plans having been approved by the Village Board, residents remained skeptical especially after another year went by with no new building in sight.
However, it appears that 2023 is the year residents have been waiting for as construction on the Panera Bread restaurant building has begun.
On the Hamra Enterprises website, it states that the Huntley Panera Bread restaurant (12032 Route 47) is slated to open for business in Fall 2023. This news was confirmed by Village Trustee Ronda Goldman.
“We want to thank everyone for their patience with Panera’s building schedule. We look forward to their completion and opening day this Fall,” Goldman told My Huntley News via email correspondence. “They will be a huge hit in Huntley!”
Hamra Enterprises has also begun posting job openings for various positions at the restaurant on different job boards online.
Seeing as the Huntley Panera building is still under construction, it appears that interviews for any job openings for the new restaurant will be taking place at the Panera Bread location in Algonquin (451 S Randall Road).
