A European company you've never heard of might buy Panera - and Starbucks should be terrified

JAB also runs Caribou Coffee Co., which it acquired in 2013 for $340 million. Caribou Coffee is based in Minnesota.

JAB struck a deal in 2013 to buy D.E. Master Blenders 1753, which had been spun out of Sara Lee Corp. a year earlier, for $9.8 billion.

The biggest brand under JAB’s umbrella is Jacobs Douwe Egberts, the world’s biggest coffee company, which has revenues totaling more than 5 billion euros. That entity was formed as a result of a merger between another JAB brand and Mondelēz International coffee products, which closed earlier this year. Mondelēz maintains a 44% stake in the combined company.

JAB also bought Einstein Noah, a Colorado-based bagel company, in a $370 million deal. Einstein Noah was founded in 1995 and was operating more than 850 stores nationwide at the time of the sale.

JAB Holdings reached a deal worth more than $300 million to buy Espresso House, the leading coffee chain in Sweden and Norway, in 2015.

Peet's has since gone on a buying spree, picking up two US brands — Stumptown and Intelligensia — in November. They are based in Portland and Chicago, respectively.

JAB Holdings also has investments in top European brands, including Marcilla Professional, Pickwick, and Friele, to name a few. The company also owns leading makers of high-end brewing products.

JAB Holdings and its partners spent about $1.35 billion to buy Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.

Panera would be a good buy, according to Credit Suisse.

The bank said the firm is "attractive" thanks to a number of factors including accelerating earnings growth, opportunities for long term growth in delivery and mobile ordering, and continued store growth.

Jonathan Marino and Rachel Butt contributed to an earlier versions of this post.