Business & Tech

McCandless Council Clears Way for Drive-Through Panera Bread at McCandless Crossing

Panera Bread has yet to commit to McCandless Crossing.

In a unanimous vote Monday night, McCandless Town Council approved an amendment to an ordinance, which prohibits drive-through restaurants along the stretch of McKnight Road that borders the fourth and final phase of the McCandless Crossing development.

That phase is located is on the east side of McKnight Road between Duncan Avenue and Cumberland Road.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

The amendment was requested by Warren, Ohio-based Covelli Enterprises, the largest Panera Bread franchise in the country. Covelli has many Panera stores in the Pittsburgh region. Covelli has not yet signed a lease to open a Panera in McCandless Crossing, according to Bruce Betty, McCandless Land Use Administrator.

Betty said there are limitations to the amendment to discourage a typical fast-food restaurant.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

“To make sure it’s a restaurant like a Panera, for example we have a minimum square footage of 4,400 square feet, they have to a lounge area at least 400 square feet," he said. "Traditionally with drive through restaurants, between 60 and 80-percent of their business is drive through. But for a Panera or a Panera-like business, their drive through is between 30 and 40-percent of their business.”

Betty said that should Panera settle on McCandless Crossing, and build a drive-through, it would be very high-tech and designed to handle a large volume of traffic quickly.

"If we see them starting to back into our pedestrian areas or our parking lots, we’re going to be closely monitoring that, because we want to be able to maintain the (pedestrian) character of what we're trying to do in that area," he said. “They are also working on something called Panera 2.0. It would include an app to allow you to order ahead of time," he said. 

Five restaurants are planned for phase four of McCandless Crossing, three of which are committed to tenants who've already signed agreements.

What do you think of the idea of a drive-through restaurant in McCandless Crossing? Tell us in the comments box below.

Follow us on Twitter | Like us on Facebook

Check out some of today's other top stories here.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here