[samd]

I'd think this would be more successful if you didn't have a national brand behind it. Nobody feels guilty taking things from a big corporation.

[logic]

From the article:

"The first location bears the name St. Louis Bread Co. Cares"

I suspect detaching themselves from the national chain brand will help; really, I think branding and location choices are going to end up being the primary success factors here.

This will be very interesting to watch.

[tricky]

not sure if you know this, but all Panera's in St. Louis are branded "St. Louis Bread Co."

[sachinag]

All stores were originally St. Louis Bread Co's (at least as far away as Chicago/Evanston back in 1996 or 97 or so), but they adopted the Panera name outside the area as they expanded.