I've actually read about their colors before...I think Casey or FunColors posted about them on the HGTV board in the past. Sorry I can't link to the actual post...I was banned from HGTV because they deemed the home decor website I help run to be "competition". :)

This might be a lead. Looks like they use Benjamin Moore and the orange color is Golden Harvest.

Thanks, Jeannine...one color down. I'll have to post to the HGTV board. Sorry you're banned. With the anonymity of the Internet, how would they know about your home decor site? I seem to prefer this board, anyway :-)

Tracey

That blog I linked to lists more than one color. They have the green and the gold color listed, too. The blue might be the only one they don't know.

As for HGTV, I think the web admins were annoyed that I pointed out a little hole that allowed people to vote for the Design Star multiple times. Around that time, when I wanted to posted multiple pictures, I'd complain that they only let us upload one at a time...it's the only board I know that has such a restriction. The board I help out with is only about 100 members large and most are people who post in multiple forums, so there really isn't any competition.

Gee....my last post didn't go through??? Anyway....

Blue color? In our locals Paneras, it looks "eggplantish" to me.

I'll have to go re-read the article with fresher eyes to see the mention of the other colors. Thanks.

I guess they have some snippy moderators? I don't visit that site very often because it loads so slowly for me these days (and I'm on broadband). Don't know why.

I went back to that article. While the pumpkin/orange color seems about right, the blue is definitely NOT a color at our 2 local Paneras. I guess that in some areas (or maybe new or updated stores), that color has been replaced by an eggplant/plum color.

Oh well....
Thanks!

Yes, HGTV's mods are quite snippy. Something will be off limits one day or in one forum, but fine the next day or in a different forum.

From what I remember, the person who found the colors just asked the manager at the store. They have to repaint once in a while, so I imagine the colors are in a handbook.

When I worked at Banana Republic in grad school, we repainted the backs of the built ins each season and the paint color (and supplies) came directly from corporate.

I live in St Louis, the home of St Louis Bread Company, which is the REAL name of Panera. It just kills us around here to even hear that name. They tried to change the name in St Louis and people flipped out! We all call it "Bread Co" (not company, just "co").
Anyway, I also wanted to know the colors and talked to a manager at a store. He told me some of the names, but it was years ago, and I did not write them down. I decided they were too saturated for me. But, the point is that he had a book in the office that he went and got and there they were. He wasn't sure they were totally up to date, but it's a good place to start. I also seem to remember emailing them about it years ago, but got back a reply saying that they were made specially for Bread Co, and it was a secret. Start with the manager and go from there. I think BM is right, though, as the vendor.

I thought the St. Louis origin was common knowledge. Are people there really upset that the rest of us know it as Panera? That cracks me up. My St. Louis SIL lives in Boston now and she doesn't seem to mind.

Anyway, I got into HGTV and saw that Tracey got her answer, confirmed by a Panera manager. Yay!

I remember when it was St. Louis Bread Co. and wondered why they changed it--simplicity?

Hubby and I were traveling from central IL to SW MO a few weeks ago, and I didn't have time to pack us our usual sandwiches for the long drive, so along the way I thought we'd find a Panera for soup & sandwiches, but after we cleared the west side of the St. Louis suburbs and still no Panera listed on the food signs posted at each exit, I figured we'd lost out. We were hungry, so we just decided to take the next exit, regardless, and just deal with whatever was there. I didn't even bother looking at the food sign since we were getting off anyway. Well, on the exit ramp itself is another food sign, pointing which direction to take for different eateries, and there it was: St. Louis Bread Co. I'd forgotten that this was still the name in St. Louis (but I'd have remembered had I seen one for it earlier--besides, I was looking for the logo, which I think is still the same).

The main color I was looking for isn't in any of the websites I've found that do mention a few Panera colors. The BM Semolina is not the neutral golden (but more) tan color that I'm after. I'm not a huge tan/gold fan, so it's hard for me to find one I do like. My current "neutral" is warm gray, but we're moving soon, and I'd like a change after 10 yrs. if I can find the right color. I guess I'm going to have to come out of my shell and ask the manager if he knows the colors.

Tracey

As in any city, people in St Louis have local pride. But, that's common knowledge as well, right?

Thanks, Liz, for those tips ... my daughter and I pulled all those chips and took them to our local Panera's. They had five colors on the walls:

a plum very close to (maybe exactly the same as) Purple Lotus;
a brick red that was very close to Navajo Red;
a pumpkin orange that wasn't quite Golden Harvest or Delightful Golden, but in-between -- maybe a mix? But I think either one would work well in the palette.
a light green that was lighter and maybe yellower than Guacamole;
a clear nautical blue that was not any of the colors listed above. I didn't like it ... it seemed to need more violet.

We did think that the other colors listed seemed to crop up in the upholstery.

All in all, I think the palette gets the feel of Panera -- you'd want to tweak it for your space and lighting, anyway.

Would you clarify one color please? The "Aztec Yellow" is code 2152-20. Code 2155-20 is "Gold mine". Which one is correct?