ST. LOUIS — John Maguire has resigned as executive vice-president and chief operating officer of Panera Bread Co., effective May 31, to become the chief executive officer of Friendly’s Ice Cream LLC. Charles Chapman III, currently executive vice-president of development and business development and licensing, will succeed Maguire as COO.

“While we are disappointed to see John leave after so many years of valuable service with the company, we want to thank him for all of his many contributions to Panera’s success and we wish him well in his new position,” said Bill Moreton, president and co-chief executive officer of Panera Bread.

Chapman first became part of Panera when he joined the company’s board of directors in January 2008. He joined the management team late last year when he left his position as COO at International Dairy Queen (a Berkshire Hathaway company) to join Panera.

He has more than 20 years’ experience in the restaurant industry and previously was COO of Bruegger’s Bagels and previously was a Bruegger’s franchisee with 30 units in the Boston area. He also served in operations, marketing and finance positions at Darden Restaurants. Earlier in his career, he was a management consultant at Bain & Company.