WARREN - Covelli Enterprises announced Thursday plans to open two Panera Bread restaurants on the Ohio Turnpike this fall.
The largest franchisee of Panera Bread and O'Charley's Restaurants said it also will open two DQ Grill and Chill restaurants in the same plazas on the turnpike, adding four restaurant locations to its more than 200 others.
The locations will be the first Covelli owned and operated Dairy Queen restaurants in the country and will be located at the Mahoning Valley and Glacier Hills turnpike locations.
Covelli Enterprises said it will be hiring more than 20 managers for the locations, and will host several open interview events in the coming weeks to meet this need. Open interviews for management positions will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 28 and May 5 at the Austintown Panera Bread location on Mahoning Avenue.
Applications are being accepted online at www.panerabread.jobs.
The new restaurants also will require the hiring of more than 200 associates. Associate hiring for these locations will begin in June.
"We are happy to be expanding right here in the Valley," said Sam Covelli, owner/operator of Covelli Enterprises. "This area is not just where our company is headquartered, but it is also our home, so I am proud to be able to add so many new jobs to our community."
"We are thrilled to welcome such a successful operator as Covelli Enterprises to the Dairy Queen family," said Mike Wieland, area vice president of franchise operations for American Dairy Queen Corp. "We look forward to the opening of these new turnpike locations."