By Kim So-hyunSPC Group, which runs bakery brand Paris Baguette, is jumping into the online music service business.

“We have reviewed the business for a long time in a bid to find new sources of profit, and we will start the service soon,” an SPC official said on Wednesday, a week after new restrictions against bakery franchises were announced.

SPC Networks, a subsidiary that manages membership service points from the franchised bakeries, will run the online music service named Helium.

Members can accumulate points every time they purchase music from Helium and use the points to buy music, according to SPC. The company has joined hands with online music service provider Bugs Music of Neowiz Internet.

Industry observers say the latest decision by the National Commission for Corporate Partnership to add bakeries to the list of trades suitable for only small- and medium-sized firms appears to have prompted SPC to start the new business. Like other bakery chains, Paris Baguette now has to keep the number of new stores it opens each year under 2 percent of its total in the previous year. It must also refrain from opening new stores within 500 meters of small bakery shops.

“With the regulations against bakeries, SPC is exploring new profit models by making use of its network of some 12 million members,” an official in another bakery said.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)