No. of Paris Baguette stores in U.S. rose merely 5 over the past 12 months
On June 30 last year, U.S. President Donald Trump met with South Korean business leaders in Seoul so as to encourage their proactive investments in the United States. During the high-profile meeting, SPC Group Chairman Hur Young-in promised to increase the number of Paris Baguette stores in the U.S. to 2,000 by 2030 to create 60,000 more jobs there.Back then, SPC operated a total of 78 Paris Baguette stores in the U.S. Paris Baguette is a popular bakery franchise in South Korea.Hence, SPC would have to launch almost 200 new Paris Baguette stores in the world’s largest economy in order to meet Chairman Hur’s overt pledge with President Trump.Over the past 12 months, however, SPC managed to open five new Paris Baguette stores in the U.S., according to an SPC official. Worse, the group failed to launch a single U.S. store this year, possibly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.“The number of our U.S. Paris Baguette stores was 83 as of the end of last year. The figure remains unchanged this year,” the SPC official said. In late 2016, he told SPC employees that the world will see 3,000 new Paris Baguette stores by 2030, including 2,000 ones in the U.S. and China.Midway through 2017 when Hur met Rep. Ed Royce of the U.S., he also said that SPC vies to expand its Paris Baguette bakery chain to 300 stores and create 10,000 jobs in the country by 2020.At the time, the number of U.S. stores was 57. Hence, SPC managed to add 26 new ones during the past three years. To keep his promise, SPC should open around 35 stores every month by the end of 2020.이 기사를 공유합니다
Hillary Lee
(homin30@hanmail.net)