diff --git a/panels_mini/panels_mini.module b/panels_mini/panels_mini.module
index 534916d..1a038f4 100644
--- a/panels_mini/panels_mini.module
+++ b/panels_mini/panels_mini.module
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ function panels_mini_block_view($delta = 0) {
 
   $panel_mini->context = $panel_mini->display->context =  ctools_context_load_contexts($panel_mini, FALSE, $contexts);
   $panel_mini->display->css_id = panels_mini_get_id($panel_mini->name);
+  $panel_mini->display->owner = $panel_mini;
 
   $block = array();
 
@@ -470,6 +471,15 @@ function panels_mini_panels_cache_break_lock($key, $cache) {
 }
 
 /**
+ * Implements hook_panels_pre_render().
+ */
+function panels_mini_panels_pre_render($display, $renderer) {
+  if (isset($display->owner->table) && $display->owner->table == 'panels_mini' && $renderer instanceof panels_renderer_standard) {
+    $renderer->show_empty_layout = FALSE;
+  }
+}
+
+/**
  * Implementation of hook_panels_dashboard_blocks().
  *
  * Adds mini panels information to the Panels dashboard.
diff --git a/plugins/display_renderers/panels_renderer_standard.class.php b/plugins/display_renderers/panels_renderer_standard.class.php
index db71b6b..2ad7ef3 100644
--- a/plugins/display_renderers/panels_renderer_standard.class.php
+++ b/plugins/display_renderers/panels_renderer_standard.class.php
@@ -152,6 +152,15 @@ class panels_renderer_standard {
   var $suffix = '';
 
   /**
+   * Boolean flag indicating whether to render the layout even if all rendered
+   * regions are blank. If FALSE, the layout renders as an empty string (without
+   * prefix or suffix) if not in administrative mode.
+   *
+   * @var bool
+   */
+  var $show_empty_layout = TRUE;
+
+  /**
    * Receive and store the display object to be rendered.
    *
    * This is a psuedo-constructor that should typically be called immediately
@@ -396,6 +405,22 @@ class panels_renderer_standard {
       $theme = $this->plugins['layout']['theme'];
     }
 
+    // Determine whether to render layout.
+    $show = TRUE;
+    if (!$this->show_empty_layout && !$this->admin) {
+      $show = FALSE;
+      // Render layout if any region is not empty.
+      foreach ($this->rendered['regions'] as $region) {
+        if (is_string($region) && $region !== '') {
+          $show = TRUE;
+          break;
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    if (!$show) {
+      return;
+    }
+
     $this->rendered['layout'] = theme($theme, array('css_id' => check_plain($this->display->css_id), 'content' => $this->rendered['regions'], 'settings' => $this->display->layout_settings, 'display' => $this->display, 'layout' => $this->plugins['layout'], 'renderer' => $this));
     return $this->prefix . $this->rendered['layout'] . $this->suffix;
   }