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A Third Act for Ron Shaich (MBA 1978)
Photo by Mark Ostow
Widely credited with pioneering the concept of the restaurant industry’s $80 billion “fast casual” segment, Ron Shaich (MBA 1978) started small: a 400-square-foot business in Boston’s Downtown Crossing that sold cookies. From those humble but tasty beginnings, Shaich built Au Bon Pain, before acquiring the St. Louis Bread Company and renaming it Panera. Over the past four decades, he has opened approximately 5,000 restaurants—and shows no sign of slowing down, despite selling Panera in 2017 for $7.5 billion. With Act III Holdings, an investment fund he runs with Keith Pascal (MBA 1992), Shaich continues to be involved in the fast casual segment as a lead investor in Tatte, Life Alive, and Cava.
For Shaich, it comes down to doing the work he loves, a subject he touches on in his new book, Know What Matters: Lessons from a Lifetime of Transformations. “I used to work 150 percent of a normal person, now I’m at 90 percent” he told the Boston Globe in a recent print and video interview. “I sort of feel this obligation to help these companies become what they can be, to fulfill their destiny. …For me there’s nothing more powerful, more fun, than figuring out what works.”
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