Panera Bread coming to Fort Myers

Grabbing a quick breakfast, lunch or dinner will get much easier for drivers on Cleveland Avenue and Fowler Street in late July.

Panera Bread will open at the site of what used to be a pharmacy near the Hops restaurant.

"We are excited to serve the customers in that immediate area," said Andrew Carlson, a spokesperson for Panera Bread.

The company has area stores in Estero, Naples and Cape Coral.

"We wanted to have a location for customers in Fort Myers."

But having stores in other parts of southwest Florida isn't enough when some customers aren't being served, he said.

"We were looking for locations and we wanted to make sure that the traffic could support it," said Carlson, noting that the intersection has plenty of retail, commercial and residential traffic.

The restaurant should draw in a crowd based on their offerings of baked breads, pastries, sandwiches, soups and hand-tossed salads, Carlson said.

"It will be the same menu and same environment in an area we currently aren't in," Carlson said about the more than 4,000 square foot eatery.

Construction of the building has been on-going for several weeks and it is expected to open in late July.

It will be the fourth store in the southwest Florida area. Panera Bread has more than 90 stores in the state of Florida.

"We have plans to keep expanding later this year," Carlson said. "We know we will open more locations in Fort Myers."

Panera Bread first opened in 1981 and has more than 1,185 stores and franchises in the United States. The company's headquarters are in Richmond Heights, Mo.