Panera Bread is shutting down its fresh dough production facilities and the move is costing jobs.

USA TODAY, citing a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications notice earlier this month, reports a production facility in Brentwood, Missouri, plans to close by Sept. 12, with all 72 employees set to lose their jobs as a result.

Nation’s Restaurant News reports four locations across the U.S. have already shut down operations.

For years, Panera has used off-premise “dough factories” to mix and deliver dough to its shops, where Panera staff shape it for the brand’s signature bread and bagels.

Going forward, Panera plans to partner with third-party bakeries to create the dough for its lineup of bread. The bakeries will partially bake the dough and freeze it. Then, the partially frozen bread will be delivered to Panera, where staff will finish baking the bread and bagels in-house.

The switch to par-baked bread is part of a product innovation strategy Panera started implementing last year. In 2024, the bakery chain announced its largest “menu transformation ever,” focusing on innovating the core Panera items customers love the most: soups, salads, sandwiches and mac and cheese.