BRAINTREE, Mass. — An idea came to Ronald M. Shaich, the chief executive of Panera Bread, as he was driving his children to school about four years ago: What if everyone could order lunch the way he did?

The Shaich household’s morning routine included a call to the manager of the nearest Panera location to order lunch for Mr. Shaich’s son (Asian sesame chicken salad with half the normal amount of chicken and twice the won ton strips) and daughter (various salads but with dressing on the side).

The family then hopped in the car, stopping on the way to school to pick up the lunches. “It suddenly occurred to me that this was a wonderful system for the C.E.O., but what about the other eight million people who order from Panera?” Mr. Shaich said.

“Everyone else got in line to get to the register, then got in another line where they had to play a game called Go Find Your Food,” he said. “For drinks, they had to go to another line, and if they wanted any kind of espresso drink, we sent them to a fourth line.”