Paris Baguette: comes to Italy via Caffe Pascucci

Bremerhaven / DE. (eb) Caffè Pascucci Torrefazione, a coffee house chain from Emilia-Romagna, today has branches in 17 countries around the world. The first branch outside Italy was founded in the USA 2011. The business in South Korea appears to be far more successful. The master franchisee is the SPC Group. The South Korean Group is best known in the western world for its Paris Baguette bakery-café chain.

Launched in 1988, Paris Baguette counts around 7,000 cafés worldwide – an estimated 4,000 in Korea, a good 500 units in the USA and several hundred in China. In total, there are branches in eleven international markets outside Korea – including Canada, Singapore and France. Business in France is said to be rather sluggish, despite a cooperation with the soccer club Paris Saint-Germain. This is why the SPC Group has been looking for a suitable lever for some time to gain a foothold in Europe and expand in the usual way.

The SPC Group is now said to have found this lever with Caffè Pascucci – which would seem obvious given the existing business relationship. In any case, the Korean food and beverage giant recently informed the East Asian business press that it has signed a partnership agreement with the Italian Caffe Pascucci Torrefazione S.p.A. to bring the well-known Paris Baguette bakeries to the European country (Italy).

Chairman Hur Young-in of SPC Group and Chief Executive Officer Mario Pascucci of Caffè Pascucci Torrefazione signed a memorandum of understanding in Seoul to establish a master franchise agreement for SPC’s Paris Baguette bakery chain in Italy, according to the group.

According to information from Seoul, both sides have been in talks about the market launch for around a year, and Italy is set to be the third European country after France and the United Kingdom to operate branches based on the familiar model. A look at the web sites shows that – obviously – everything takes time: Paris Baguette UK has just two locations. Paris Baguette France cannot be found online. Indirect sources assume that there are between five and twelve branches. The figures vary. The aim is to eventually have 200 cafés in the UK. Extended plans envisage 450 branches for Europe by 2036.

SPC-Chairman Hur Young-in told the business press in South Korea that the planned entry into the Italian market is of great importance, as the country has the largest bakery market (???) among the countries of the European Union. The CEO of Pascucci, Mario Pascucci, added that the new business cooperation would certainly be successful. We are waiting to see what will come (Photo: Paris Baguette USA 2022).