Au Bon Pain Redesigns, Adds Create-Your-Own-Salad Stations, iPads

It's been a busy year for restaurant chain redesigns: McDonald's wants to look like Starbucks, Burger King wants to look like McDonald's, Subway wants to go more upscale and now Au Bon Pain is throwing its hat into the redesign ring as well.

The chain, with 318 cafe bakery locations, has added create-your-own-salad stations with 30 ingredient and is testing taking orders with iPads. New menu items such as cupcakes and new soup and salad value combos have also been added. Aesthetically, orange and green accents have been added to a largely yellow color scheme and employees will now don a black uniform with an orange apron.

Currently, five New York-based locations have been completely revamped and 13 have been "refreshed." The renovated/refreshed stores have seen a 10 percent increase in same-store sales due to higher customer counts. Au Bon Pain hopes to add 20 additional units this year.

To learn more about the redesign, see Nation's Restaurant News here.