Paris Baguette, the global bakery chain, have seen its sales in the U.S. rise and started an ambitious franchising effort.
Paris Baguette is owned by the SPC Group, a South Korean-based company that manufactures food and bread products and also owns BR Korea, a donut and ice-cream chain.
Despite Paris Baguette’s describing itself as “your neighborhood bakery café,” it owns over 4,000 units globally including 3,600 in Korea and 240 in China but just two in its namesake of Paris.
In the U.S., Paris Baguette is much smaller than in Asia, with 99 locations in the states with 73 franchised and 25 corporate-owned, but it’s primed for growth. It’s located in 12 states, mostly the most populated states such as California, Texas, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Massachusetts.
In 2021, it opened 10 stores in the states, has five more slated to open in 2022, with ambitious goals to open 56 by the end of the year, to bring it to over 150 storefronts domestically. Of the 56 new outlets, 51 will be franchised and five are corporate-owned.
Part of what has been prompting this expansion has been a rise in sales in the U.S. Mark Mele, its chief development officer, based in Moonachie, N.J., said sales spiked an impressive 44% in year-over-year sales in the U.S. in 2021.
SPC Group “want us to have 1,000 units by 2030. And they want us to remain true to the spirit of the brand of Paris Baguette since it started in 1998 as a bakery café,” noted Mele.
The franchisees hail from a variety of backgrounds but many are Korean immigrants familiar with the brand from their home country, people with restaurant and business backgrounds, and multi-unit developers as well.
