This is an English adaptation of a FoodBud historical article originally published on June 13, 2022.
Paris Baguette sounds French by design: the name combines Paris with baguette. But the brand sits inside South Korea’s SPC Group, a bakery and food conglomerate that reported RMB 33.8 billion in sales in 2020.
By 2021, SPC Group’s brands had more than 7,000 stores globally, including over 6,000 in South Korea. The group’s stated target was to reach 20,000 stores globally and RMB 104 billion in total sales by 2030.
SPC’s business is built around several pillars:
SPC Group traces its roots to 1945, when Huh Chang-sung, father of Huh Young-in, opened a small bakery. As the business grew, he expanded to Seoul in 1948. In 1963, the company opened a factory in Seoul and began mass-producing bread. In 1964, it launched cream bread in plastic packaging, which became popular enough to draw morning lines outside the factory.
Shany, SPC’s predecessor, was founded in 1972. Huh Young-in, the second-generation leader, later pushed Shany to develop independently and advanced the formation of SPC Group. Under his leadership, the company moved beyond mass-produced bread into concepts such as Paris Croissant and Paris Baguette, while also bringing Baskin-Robbins and Dunkin’ Brands into South Korea.
Huh Young-in entered the family business in 1969. His view was that a bakery operator needed both management capability and technical knowledge. In 1981, just seven months after becoming CEO and at age 32, he went to the United States to study at a baking school.
Over 18 months, he studied the full baking process from dough mixing to bread baking. After returning to South Korea, he established what the article describes as the country’s first bakery R&D center in 1983.
SPC Group was investing more than RMB 260 million annually in R&D, developing more than 500 new products per month on average before selecting items for market launch.
The group also established a research center with Seoul National University. Over 11 years, the two sides developed a Korean natural yeast for breadmaking: SPC-SNU. Before that, many Korean bakery companies relied on imported yeast. According to the article, SPC’s natural yeast produced less acidic odor during fermentation and slowed moisture loss in bread.
When Paris Baguette first opened in 1988, Huh emphasized proprietary yeast technology as a way to build differentiation in global markets.
SPC opened its first offline bakery store, Paris Croissant, in 1986. In 1988, Paris Croissant launched Paris Baguette.
Paris Baguette remains part of the Paris Croissant business line, alongside brands such as Passion 5, Eggslut and Vera. Paris Croissant also holds Shake Shack franchise rights for South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia, plus Jamba Juice rights in South Korea.
Paris Baguette is the largest brand in that portfolio. Its global store base had exceeded 4,000 locations, including more than 3,600 in South Korea. Outside Korea, the largest market was China, followed by the United States, with expansion also into Canada and Southeast Asian markets such as Vietnam and Indonesia.
Paris Baguette entered China in 2004 and had 318 stores at the time of the article. At the end of 2021, it had 304 stores in China.
The brand reached its 300th China store in March 2019. More than three years later, the count was still just above 300, which the article frames as a sign of weakening brand momentum.
Key China milestones included:
Because it entered early, Paris Baguette helped popularize several operating models in mainland China, including front-store/back-kitchen formats, on-site production, and a combined central factory plus in-store production plus online-offline model.
The company initially moved cautiously. It operated directly for its first six years in China, established Shanghai SPC Food in 2003 and Beijing SPC Food in 2005, and used two central factories to supply the Shanghai and Beijing markets.
In 2010, Paris Baguette began experimenting with a mainly direct-operated model supplemented by franchising. Its franchising in China was based on a licensed model, so expansion was relatively slow.
In a media interview the year before the article, Paris Baguette said roughly 30% of its China stores were directly operated and that franchising had become the main model to build scale.
The article argues that the rise of local Chinese bakery brands, combined with fading Korean cultural momentum, made Paris Baguette’s China growth more challenging.
Paris Baguette entered the U.S. market in 2005 and grew to more than 100 stores. Bloomberg reported in May 2022 that the brand had 99 U.S. stores, including 25 company-operated locations.
In 2021, Paris Baguette’s U.S. sales grew 44% year on year. Product sales mix in the U.S. was reported as:
For 2022, Paris Baguette aimed to sign 150 franchise agreements and open 56 new U.S. stores: 5 company-operated and 51 franchised. In the first quarter of 2022, it had signed 43 new franchise agreements and opened 5 stores.
The stated U.S. target was to reach 1,000 stores by 2030. In Canada, the stated target was at least 100 stores by 2030.
In Southeast Asia, Paris Baguette used Singapore as a base for regional expansion. Beyond Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia, it was also developing Indonesia.
In October 2021, SPC Group formed a joint venture with Indonesia’s Erajaya Group. In November 2021, it opened the first Paris Baguette store in Indonesia. SPC also built a local factory in Malaysia to support global expansion.
The brand’s third Indonesia store opened in March 2022 in Jakarta’s Pondok Indah Mall, described in the article as one of the city’s five premium shopping centers. The store covered 162 square meters, had 66 seats, and the mall’s average daily foot traffic was said to reach 100,000 people. The fourth Indonesia store was on the first floor of Summarecon Mall in Jakarta, with 132 square meters and 40 seats.
SPC Samlip covers a broad food and beverage portfolio, including bakery products, convenience foods and light meals such as salads.
Its offline chain brands include Bizeun, a modern Korean rice-cake chain with more than 85 stores in South Korea, and Bakery Factory, a supermarket-based fresh-baked bakery brand built around the idea of “Made Fresh Daily.”
SPC Samlip was also strengthening online channels. Its original B2B distribution platform was being shifted toward direct-to-consumer sales, including morning daily delivery and live-commerce channels. The target was to grow this business to RMB 1.56 billion by 2024.
According to SPC Samlip financial disclosures cited in the article, 2021 sales were RMB 15.3 billion, up 15.9% year on year. Operating profit was RMB 340 million, up 28.6%, and net profit was RMB 200 million.
SPC Samlip’s stated target was to raise annual sales to RMB 20.8 billion by 2024. Its market capitalization was about RMB 3.2 billion at the time of the article.
SPC Group’s development reflects two generations of family business building. The article notes that the company’s history and brand structure are complex; for example, SPC Samlip’s food business was initially run by Huh Young-in’s older brother, but was later acquired by Huh Young-in and folded into SPC Group after weaker expansion and management performance.
For operators, several points stand out:
In early 2022, SPC expanded its Shake Shack rights to Malaysia. At the time, SPC operated 28 Shake Shack stores across South Korea and Singapore. After securing Malaysia rights, it planned to open the first Malaysian Shake Shack in 2023. The expectation cited was that Shake Shack and SPC would together open more than 45 stores across South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia by 2031.
Note: 2030, 2031, IPO/market-cap and forward-looking sales or store targets are historical figures from the 2022 source article.