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At the end of last summer, JAB Holding Co. bought the venerable bakery-cafe chain Panera Bread in a $7.5 billion sale that took the chain private and set a precedent for the German company to go on a cafeine-infused buying spree that doesn't appear to be slowing down.
Panera Bread, ranked No. 10 in Latest-Year estimated U.S.-systemwide sales among NRN Top 200 chains, is the largest and best-known food brand in JAB's restaurant portfolio. Panera's cachet has given JAB the confdence to keep binge buying similar brands. With the ink drying on the Panera deal, JAB's Caribou Cofee Company announced plans a month later to buy Bruegger's Bagels from French-concept operator Le Duf America.
Other purchases made by JAB or through one of its portfolio brands have followed. Last November, Pane-ra bought Boston-based Au Bon Pain Holding Co., which Panera had sold 18 years ago. In January, JAB's Keurig Green Mountain merged with Dr Pepper Snapple Group creating an $11 billion beverage...