Panera Brings New CMO from CAVA: Marketing Now at the Same Table as Menu and Operations

The Chief Marketing Officer position at Panera Bread is changing hands again. The company announced that former Chief Marketing & Experience Officer of CAVA, Andrew “Andy” Rebhun, will join the management team on August 17, 2026. Rebhun will report directly to CEO Paul Carbone and will be responsible for all aspects of marketing, including brand-creative, digital-loyalty, menu innovation, and media. Current CMO Mark Shambura will be leaving the company in August.

This job description illustrates how broad the CMO role has become in the restaurant industry. The new marketing leader at Panera will not only manage advertising campaigns or the media budget; how the menu is developed, how loyalty customers are activated, and how digital touchpoints operate will also fall under their responsibilities. Thus, marketing is no longer an independent communication function from restaurant operations but is more directly linked to product and customer experience design.

Rebhun's background is noteworthy in this regard. Before Panera, he managed brand, marketing, digital, loyalty, communications, catering, and guest experience functions at CAVA. He previously served as CMO at El Pollo Loco and held various marketing roles related to scaling digital and delivery applications at McDonald's. The announcement from Panera's management particularly highlights his experience in brand development, customer engagement, loyalty, and growth strategy.

The connection to CAVA makes this appointment more interesting than a typical executive transfer. At the end of Rebhun's tenure, CAVA was one of the fastest-growing restaurant chains in the U.S. In the second quarter results of 2026, the company reported a revenue increase of 31.3% to $365.4 million, same-store sales rose 9%; guest traffic grew by 5.3%. CAVA opened 17 net new restaurants in the same quarter, reaching a total of 476 locations. These results cannot solely be attributed to Rebhun's marketing; the financial performance is a collective result of operations, product, pricing, location growth, and other factors. However, strategically, it is noteworthy that Panera is transferring a customer experience and marketing executive from a competitor during a growth period.

Panera is at a different stage. The company announced its multi-year transformation strategy called Panera RISE in November 2025. The program is built on four pillars: refreshing the menu, enhancing perceived value, providing better service to guests, and expanding the restaurant network. The company's stated goal is to exceed $7 billion in system-wide sales by 2028.

The main issue in this transformation is not just brand awareness but customer traffic. CEO Paul Carbone told Business Insider in June that Panera has been experiencing issues with the same-store transaction count for several years, and that sales growth in some periods has come more from pricing and product mix rather than more customers. According to a report based on Placer.ai data, the chain's store traffic declined year-over-year every month from January to May 2026. Carbone noted that the company has shifted its focus to increasing transaction counts again.

Panera's transformation approach also includes reversing some past cost-cutting decisions. Carbone explained that during his tenure as CFO, he approved the switch from using only romaine lettuce in salads to a romaine-iceberg mix, later realizing that such small savings could erode the perceived value of the product. This change was reversed in 2025. In the same interview, he mentioned that the company's reduction of workforce in cafes also affected guest experience, leading to the addition of the Guest Experience Champion role to greet customers in the front area.

Therefore, Rebhun's task is not just to launch new campaigns. Panera needs to create a consistent value proposition across its product, pricing, service, and store experience. The company has launched a range of products in its summer menu, including new Market Bowls, higher-protein salads, breakfast frittatas, Frozen Java, and expanded cold coffee options. These products are defined as part of the menu refresh under RISE.

The company is also strengthening the value aspect. The “Igniting Value” component of Panera RISE aims to create accessible options at different price points while maintaining product quality. At this point, the marketing manager's role is not just to communicate discounts; it is to make visible what the customer gets for the price they pay. In the fast-casual segment, whether price messaging will lead to sustained traffic gains when not supported by product quality and store experience is another question. For this reason, Panera's own transformation plan does not define value solely based on price.

The digital and loyalty aspects will also fall under the new CMO's responsibility. This is significant because loyalty platforms in restaurant chains are evolving beyond campaign distribution to managing customer visit frequency, order channels, product preferences, and personalized offers. Rebhun's background in digital commerce and loyalty growth at CAVA and El Pollo Loco is relevant here.

Panera's scale amplifies the impact of these decisions. As of July 28, 2026, the company has 2,251 bakery-café locations in the U.S. and Canada, including company and franchise operations. In such a structure, changes to the menu, digital campaigns, or new customer experience standards affect not only the marketing budget but also purchasing, training, franchise communication, kitchen operations, and front-of-house operations.

In our view: The broader message of this appointment for foodservice businesses is the increasingly blurred line between marketing and operations. A restaurant brand's “value” message can be strong; however, if portion size, product quality, or service does not meet expectations, advertising alone cannot permanently bring back traffic. Similarly, good menu innovation loses its commercial potential if it is difficult to implement in the kitchen or cannot be effectively communicated to customers through digital channels. The new CMO's job description at Panera, which includes menu innovation, loyalty, and guest experience being considered alongside marketing, offers an important organizational model for chain restaurants in Turkey. Measuring marketing performance not only by reach and campaign impressions but also by visit frequency, transaction count, repeat rate, and the operational success of new products will be more meaningful.