Is a Burrito a Sandwich?

No, says a judge.

In issuing his decision, which blocks Panera Bread’s attempts to keep the burrito maker off its turf, Worcester Superior Court Judge Jeffrey A. Locke relied on testimony from Cambridge chef Chris Schlesinger and a former high-ranking USDA official, not to mention the Webster’s Third New International Dictionary.
The burrito brouhaha began when Panera, one of the country’s biggest bakery cafes, argued that owners of the White City Shopping Center in Shrewsbury violated a 2001 lease agreement that restricted the mall from renting to another sandwich shop. When the center signed a lease this year with Qdoba, Panera balked, saying the Mexican chain’s burritos violate its sandwich exclusivity clause.

At the beginning of the year, I said that Panera (PNRA) was overpriced (so are its not-burritos). I was right. The stocks needs to come down some more.

Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on November 10th, 2006 at 9:46 am

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