Customers enter a Paris Baguette outlet in Seoul, South Korea, 09 February 2025. Paris Baguette said it ranked No. 29 overall and No. 1 in the bakery cafe category in Entrepreneur magazine’s 2026 “Franchise 500,” marking its first entry into the top 30 and making it the only Korean brand at that level on 26 January 2026. File. Photo by YONHAP / EPA
Jan. 26 (Asia Today) — Paris Baguette said it ranked No. 29 overall and No. 1 in the bakery cafe category in Entrepreneur magazine’s 2026 “Franchise 500,” marking its first entry into the top 30 and making it the only Korean brand at that level.
The company said its ranking has climbed steadily in recent years, moving up from No. 61 in 2024 and No. 42 in 2025.
Entrepreneur’s annual list evaluates franchise brands operating in North America using a broad set of factors that include size and growth momentum, support systems, marketing, brand strength and financial stability, the company said.
Paris Baguette also cited rapid expansion in North America, saying it opened 77 stores last year and reached 285 locations. It said it has more than 100 signed leases and nearly 300 development agreements and plans to open more than 150 additional stores this year, taking its North American footprint above 400.
The company said it has posted 20 consecutive quarters of sales growth from the first quarter of 2019 through the fourth quarter of last year and that its U.S. sales rose about 30% last year from a year earlier.
Paris Baguette said it is also expanding local production, beginning construction last September on a baking facility in Texas spanning about 28,000 square meters, or about 301,000 square feet, that it expects to complete in 2029.
Darren Tipton, chief executive of Paris Baguette’s North America unit, said the ranking reflects the competitiveness and growth potential of the company’s franchise model in the U.S. market.
— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI
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Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260126010012042
