While his counterparts at rivals including Corner Bakery Cafe shut outlets in a shaky economy, Paris Baguette’s Mark Mele is looking for hundreds of new locations.
Mele, the chain's North America chief development officer who is overseeing the company's expansion, just helped open a new store in New York City, the largest commercial property market in the United States. And he’s not feeling too much pressure or staying up nights worrying about the company hitting its target of having 1,000 cafes open by 2030 in the country.
“A thousand units is a heavy lift, but I think we’re staffed for it right now,” Mele said in an interview with CoStar News. “We can do it.”
The name aside, the Paris Baguette bakery and cafe chain is based in South Korea and has its U.S. headquarters in Moonachie, New Jersey. The global franchise operation is growing at a breakneck pace. with about 120 locations in America and 4,000 total worldwide.
Expansion in the competitive bakery and cafe restaurant category isn't a given, as some economists say the country is close to a recession. In February, the Corner Bakery chain filed for bankruptcy protection, saying it’s joining the growing number of similar eateries struggling because workers who traditionally grabbed meals or placed catering orders haven’t returned to downtown offices near its eateries.
Mele, who has been with Paris Baguette since 2020, has a goal of completing 160 new franchise deals and opening 64 cafes domestically this year. Yeong Shim, the owner of multiple supermarkets throughout New York City, opened one of the newest cafes on March 31 at 55 Fulton St. in Manhattan.
Several States Targeted
Mele said he does a lot of traveling for his job, as Paris Baguette — which offers freshly baked cakes, pastries, coffees and breads — grabs a bigger slice of the nearly $12 billion bakery sector. The company this year is also seeking a foothold in about two dozen states.
The chain, which looks for spaces that average about 3,000 square feet to 4,000 square feet, has had success in not only suburban but urban areas including roughly a dozen cafes in Manhattan since the peak of the pandemic. The number of visitors to Times Square and other big attractions in the city began to return to levels close to what they were before the pandemic about a year ago.
“Tourism in the city really just helped our brand quite a bit,” Mele said.
Outside Interests
During his career in the franchising business, Mele has worked for several companies, including Kumon Math and Reading Centers, Huntington Learning Center and Lightbridge Academy, that offer supplemental learning for kindergarten students through high school.
Mele said his interest in kids and education helped fuel an interest outside of work. That includes his involvement with Mane Stream in Oldwick, New Jersey, a therapeutic riding center introduced to him by his wife, Nancy. Mane Stream uses horses to provide physical therapy to kids who are disabled or have other physical disorders in a practice called hippotherapy, with the natural gait and movements of the horse believed to provide riders with stimulation that can improve their neurological and physical functions.
Mele and his wife, who reside in Somerset County, New Jersey, own a horse named Halifax. She volunteers at Mane Stream and is a donor, and Mele also donates and visits. The kids who take part in Mane Stream’s program don’t show any fear of their equine mounts and seem to know just what to do, according to Mele.
The steady and focused gait of the therapeutic horses is like the pace Paris Baguette hopes to keep as it opens new stores.
“We have 100 site searches underway right now with our master broker CBRE, and then about 30 assignments in lease negotiation right now across the country,” Mele said.