Paris Baguette opened its first UK store at London’s Battersea Power Station in October 2022 | Photo credit: SPC Group

Paris Baguette is seeking to launch its first franchised store in the UK this year as it seeks to accelerate wider European expansion. 
 

The South Korean bakery café chain opened its first UK store at London’s Battersea Power Station in October 2022, before opening its second company-owned London outlet on Kensington High Street the following month.  

SPC Group, which operates Paris Baguette, originally said it would open 20 franchised UK outlets by 2025. The group is seeking to open its first franchised location before the end of 2023 ahead of growth across greater London in 2024. 

In April 2022, SPC Group appointed former global chief executive of Paris Baguette North America, Jack Moran, as Head of Europe Business to oversee its European expansion.  

Alongside the UK, Paris Baguette also operates five stores in France. 

“The UK is one of the top three bakery markets in Europe, and the franchise market is active. We will actively promote franchise business in the UK and accelerate the expansion of the European market,” Moran told the Korea IT Times. 

Founded in South Korea in 1988, Paris Baguette operates more than 4,000 stores globally.   

In March 2023 the bakery café chain opened it's first outlet in Canada at the Yonge Sheppard Centre shopping mall in Toronto. Paris Baguette plans to open ‘at least’ seven stores in Canada and a further 64 in the US by the end of 2023 as part of an ambitious target to reach 1,000 stores across North America by 2030.