Panera Bread has named Andrew Rebhun its new Chief Marketing Officer, effective August 17, giving him direct ownership of Brand & Creative, Digital & Loyalty, Menu Innovation and Media, reporting to CEO Paul Carbone. Rebhun joins from Cava, where he was chief marketing and experience officer, and previously held the CMO role at El Pollo Loco after a run of digital and delivery leadership positions at McDonald’s. “His extensive expertise in the restaurant industry and focus on brand building, customer engagement, loyalty and growth strategy will be invaluable as we continue to transform our business,” Carbone said in the company’s announcement.
Why it matters beyond one hire: the job description is the signal. Panera did not split loyalty and digital into a separate technology or CX role reporting elsewhere; it folded them directly into the CMO’s mandate alongside brand and media. That mirrors what other consumer brands have done in restructuring customer experience leadership, treating loyalty platforms and first-party data as marketing’s job to own and operate, not a system marketing simply requests features from.
The original angle is in Rebhun’s résumé, not just his new title. Every stop, Cava, El Pollo Loco, McDonald’s, involved building out digital ordering, delivery and loyalty programs rather than running only brand and creative. Restaurant chains are increasingly hiring CMOs specifically for that hybrid fluency, in loyalty tech and retention data as much as advertising, as customer engagement platforms push more decisioning into the marketing org. A CMO who cannot speak to the loyalty stack is becoming a harder sell in fast casual and QSR, regardless of creative credentials.
Source: Panera Bread
