The Panera Bread drive-thru on Coshocton Avenue in Mount Vernon, Ohio is closing its doors for good on Monday, laying off around 20 workers with less than two weeks' notice and no severance pay. Shift supervisor Matthew Herron says he first heard about the closure on August 19, and the location at 1555 Coshocton Avenue has since been scrambling to figure out what comes next for its staff.
According to Knox Pages, the closure is attributed by Herron to underperforming sales at the location, which opened in August 2014 and has employed dozens of people over its 12-year run in Mount Vernon. Herron told the outlet that employees earning between $12 and $15 an hour were offered only limited options in response to the shutdown: filing for unemployment, an early 401k withdrawal, or a transfer to another store. Per Herron, workers were not given the option to cash out accrued paid time off, and they did not receive severance pay.
A Close-Knit Team Facing an Uncertain Week
Herron described the Panera team as a family, and his comments to the outlet reflected as much. “The main thing I care about is that everyone knows how close we were as co-workers,” he said. He also acknowledged the pressure the short timeline has put on his coworkers, adding, “It's rough with such short notice, everyone's scrambling to find jobs.”
The store's exit will also be felt by regular customers who have relied on the location, which has served thousands of residents since it opened. What, if anything, will replace the restaurant on the site remains unknown. Covelli Enterprises, which owns and operates the Mount Vernon Panera Bread, did not respond to a request for comment from the outlet.
Ohio's Largest Panera Franchisee
Covelli Enterprises is the largest franchisee of Panera Bread in the country, operating more than 300 locations across eight states and Canada, and it was ranked the 46th-largest corporate employer in Ohio with an estimated 7,100 state employees, according to Ohio Department of Development data cited by The Vindicator. The Warren, Ohio-based company was founded in 1959 by Albert Covelli as a McDonald's franchise operator before pivoting in 1997 to focus primarily on expanding the Panera Bread brand.
With the Mount Vernon store gone, the nearest Panera Bread will be in Sunbury, Ohio, roughly 30 miles away. That leaves a gap on Coshocton Avenue, which functions as Knox County's primary retail corridor, drawing an estimated 22,700 vehicles a day and serving a trade area of more than 62,000 residents anchored by Walmart, Kroger, and Knox Community Hospital, according to Crexi property data.
Competition Keeps Arriving on the Same Strip
The closure comes even as commercial activity continues along the same stretch of road. Drive-thru beverage chain 7 Brew broke ground on a new location along Coshocton Avenue this month, according to Knox Pages, underscoring how quick-service dining competition on the corridor is shifting even as one longtime tenant departs. Mount Vernon's restaurant scene has seen turbulence elsewhere this year too, including Pancho's Tacos brush with closure following an ICE raid earlier this year.
Part of a Larger Corporate Retrenchment
The Mount Vernon closure lands amid a broader corporate overhaul at Panera Bread. In November 2025, the chain introduced its “Panera RISE” transformation strategy under CEO Paul Carbone, aiming for more than $7 billion in systemwide sales by 2028 through a focus on core food quality, menu value, and network expansion, per the company's own press announcement. That followed an April 2024 menu overhaul, the largest in company history, that eliminated secondary items to focus on core soups, salads, sandwiches, and mac and cheese in an effort to streamline kitchen operations and lower price points.
Panera has also been dismantling its fresh-dough manufacturing network nationwide, closing all nine of its regional bakeries in favor of an on-demand model using third-party frozen dough, according to Men's Journal. Hoodline previously reported on the Jessup dough plant shutdown in Maryland, part of the same wave of facility closures that also hit an Orlando fresh-dough facility and a Pittsburgh store in South Oakland earlier this year.
No Legal Requirement for Notice or Payout
Despite the short timeline given to Mount Vernon workers, neither Ohio nor federal law required Covelli Enterprises to provide more notice or compensation. The federal WARN Act only mandates 60 days' advance notice for closures affecting at least 50 employees at a single site, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, leaving the roughly 20 affected Mount Vernon positions outside that requirement. Ohio law similarly does not mandate that private employers pay out accrued, unused PTO upon termination, with payout rights depending entirely on individual company policy, according to Paycor.
For now, the Mount Vernon Panera Bread is set to remain open through Monday before closing for good. Herron and his coworkers are left navigating unemployment paperwork, potential transfers, and the loss of a workplace he says felt like family, with no word yet on what might eventually fill the space on Coshocton Avenue.
