by TONY KIM
Paris Baguette, a highly popular Korean bakery café, now faces its greatest challenge: gaining the respect and recognition of its French-styled menu from real Parisians. The ambitious international bakery café chain has opened its newest store in the heart of Paris in the Châtelet district, near the Pont Neuf Bridge, Notre Dame Cathedral and Louvre Museum, according to the Korea Herald.
In order to compete with local bakeries, the christened Paris Baguette Châtelet will be employing veteran French bakers who use French baking style and ingredients to make breads, sandwiches and pastries part of both their universal and Paris-exclusive menus.
SPC Group, one of Korea’s largest food conglomerates, created Paris Baguette in 1988 as an offshoot of Paris Croissant, another popular bakery café located in numerous middle-class neighborhoods in Korea. Paris Baguette now has over 3000 stores in Korea, 125 in China, 37 in the U.S., 11 in Vietnam and six in Singapore.
“We regard France as the spiritual home of our bakery products,” said SPC Group Chairman, Hur Young-in. “The opening of our Paris store highlights our commitment to continually improve and perfect the quality of our European-style bread and pastries.”
Success in Paris would be great reassurance for this rapidly expanding chain to tap into markets in the rest of Europe and even Canada. Whether or not the store can survive in a city internationally renowned for its local bakeries and sweets remains to be seen, but the attractive location and the delectable looking pastries on display may be good signs of things to come.
Photo via Paris Baguette
