Corner Bakery Café made its Silicon Valley debut in Palo Alto on October 7th. Located at 3375 El Camino Real, the site – which used to be a Boston Market – had been vacant since January. The café chain will soon go up against a fierce Panera presence, which has over a dozen locations in the bay area, mostly in San Jose.

Inspired by a neighborhood bakery in downtown Chicago, Corner Bakery’s menu is comprised of signature sandwiches, soups, salads, and baked goods. For breakfast, one can order made-to-order egg scramblers, egg sandwiches or oatmeal: steel-cut, honey banana or chilled Swiss. 

It is just one of a slew of fast-casual players that are starting to pop up in the South Bay. Fast casual is that middle ground between fast food and a sit-down restaurant; offering higher quality food quickly with limited table service.

The Dallas-based chain has 170 locations from Los Angeles to New York. After a revamp in 2004, their newest café model opened in Laguna Nigel to record traffic and sales. It began franchising in 2006 and plans to add 32 restaurants nationwide in the next 7 years.

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