This French Bakery Chain Is Actually A Korean Company

Step into a Paris Baguette, and the branding does a lot of the talking. There's the Eiffel Tower in the logo, French blue splashed across the walls, and a pastry case stacked with croissants that look like they came straight from a café in Montmartre. But this isn't France. And despite the name, it's not even French; it's Korean. Paris Baguette is one of the breakfast chains we're about to start seeing everywhere – but its roots are thousands of miles from the Champs-Élysées.

The concept may look like a love letter to Paris, but the company is owned by SPC Group, a South Korean food giant with global ambitions and a long history of baking innovation. "I wouldn't limit our bread to everything from France. We are an international brand," SPC president and chief executive Jin-soo Hur told the BBC. The chain's croissants, chiffon cakes, and cream-filled buns are universal by design — a blend of French technique and Asian sensibility that's helped the brand thrive in markets like China, Singapore, and the U.S.

Founded in 1988, Paris Baguette was SPC's attempt to channel European bakery culture through a Korean lens — and it worked. What started with a single location is now a sprawling empire with over 4,000 stores worldwide and plenty of customers none the wiser that their flaky pastry came with a Korean passport.

With a name like Paris Baguette, you'd expect the brand to be all over France — but there are only two locations in the capital. The rest are scattered across South Korea, China, Southeast Asia, and increasingly, the U.S. Its first U.S. location opened in Los Angeles in 2005. It eventually made its way to New York City nearly a decade later. Today, the chain operates in a dozen U.S. states, with nearly 100 locations — and more cropping up fast. For a brand that already dominates in Asia, the U.S. is just getting warmed up.

But Paris Baguette isn't expanding like a typical fast-food chain. Each U.S. location is designed to feel like a bakery first — open kitchens, glass walls, and rows of cakes and breads on full display. Customers don't just grab and go — they watch the pastries get made. This theatrical setup isn't just about aesthetics; it's a strategy to stand out in a crowded market. Add in local charity efforts like Cake Day and school fundraisers, and you've got one of those restaurants we're glad came to the U.S.

Even with red bean buns and blueberry chiffon cake on the menu, Paris Baguette isn't trying to replicate the American or French bakery playbooks — it's writing its own. It's one of those foreign fast-food chains you probably haven't heard about yet – but you will soon.