The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish
My guest today is Ron Shaich, founder of Panera and chairman of CAVA.
The headlines will tell you that Ron built Panera into a $7.8 billion company. But the real story is far more interesting.
He went all in on Panera. He sold off every other concept they owned, like Au Bon Pain, to focus on on Panera.
His philosophy is simple: Be long-term greedy, not short-term stupid.
We discuss why profit is always a byproduct (focus on it and you’ll lose everything), how to understand the customer, and the real costs of building something great. Today he’s repeating the same playbook he used at Panera with CAVA.
At 71, he tracks his glucose continuously and works out every morning at 8am. He runs quarterly reviews on his life with the same discipline he brought to building companies.
This isn’t about restaurants. It’s about making painful bets when everyone else is optimizing for next quarter, and understanding that real commitment owns you—you never own it.
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