SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — Panera Bread is returning to San Francisco, and the bakery-cafe chain has chosen one of the most visible locations in the city’s Financial District.
The new Panera is preparing to open at 575 Market Street, between First and Second streets.
The storefront is located directly beside the Montgomery Street BART and Muni station, placing it along one of downtown San Francisco’s most heavily traveled corridors. We stopped by to take some photos of the new location.
Panera has not announced a firm opening date, but signs at the location say the restaurant is coming soon. The company is also actively hiring managers, catering employees and other workers for what its recruitment materials describe as a “new cafe opening in San Francisco.”
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Panera is Replacing an Amazon Experiment
The new Panera is taking over the former Amazon Go storefront at 575 Market Street.
Amazon opened the approximately 1,750-square-foot convenience store in 2019. It was one of four cashierless Amazon Go locations that eventually operated in downtown San Francisco.
Customers entered by scanning an app, selected their items and simply walked out while Amazon’s cameras and sensors automatically charged their accounts.
The experiment did not last. Amazon closed all four of its San Francisco Go stores in April 2023 as the company reduced its brick-and-mortar retail footprint.
The Market Street space has remained vacant since then. Panera’s arrival will bring a more conventional food business to the highly visible storefront — complete with cashiers, sandwiches and plenty of broccoli cheddar soup.
This is Not a Typical Landlord-Tenant Relationship
The choice of location also comes with an unusually direct connection between Panera and the building’s owner.
The storefront is part of Market Center, a 770,000-square-foot office complex made up of towers at 555 and 575 Market Street. The buildings were once known as the Standard Oil Buildings and later served as Chevron’s headquarters.
Flynn Properties and DRA Advisors acquired Market Center in 2025. The transaction was valued at approximately $177 million, dramatically below the $722 million price paid for the complex in 2019.
Flynn Properties was founded by San Francisco businessman Greg Flynn. He also founded Flynn Group, which operates Panera Bread restaurants through its Flynn Panera division.
In other words, one branch of Flynn’s business empire owns the office complex, while another is preparing to operate the Panera downstairs.
Flynn Group describes itself as the world’s largest franchise operator. Its enormous portfolio includes restaurants operating under the Applebee’s, Arby’s, Panera Bread, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Wendy’s brands, along with Planet Fitness gyms.
Part of a Larger Bet on Downtown San Francisco
The new restaurant fits into Flynn’s broader plan to make Market Center more attractive to office tenants and visitors.
The owners have announced plans for a major amenity center called The Break Room. Proposed features include a nearly full-sized basketball court, pickleball courts, a climbing wall, fitness studios, conference facilities, lounges and a cafe.
Some of those spaces could eventually open to paying members of the public on weekends.
Market Center is already home to prominent tenants including Waymo, Harvey AI and coworking company Mindspace. A Panera at street level could serve those workers while also drawing commuters, tourists and other downtown employees.
The location is particularly well positioned for weekday breakfast and lunch traffic. In addition to the transit station immediately outside, it is within walking distance of Salesforce Tower, the Transamerica Pyramid, Union Square and the Salesforce Transit Center.
Panera is Returning to San Francisco
The opening represents a return to San Francisco proper for the national chain.
Panera previously operated a cafe at 301 King Street near the Caltrain station and Oracle Park. That restaurant opened in 2007 and closed in 2020.
The chain later operated another San Francisco location at the City Center shopping plaza at 2675 Geary Boulevard. That cafe has also closed, leaving Panera fans inside the city to travel to surrounding communities such as Daly City.
The new Market Street restaurant should offer Panera’s familiar mix of soups, salads, sandwiches, mac and cheese, bagels, pastries and breakfast items. The company’s job advertisements also indicate that the location will offer catering.
For now, Panera has not published operating hours or added an opening date to its official location finder.
However, the combination of exterior signage and active hiring suggests the project is progressing. After several years without a location inside San Francisco, Panera appears to be getting ready for a particularly prominent return.
