Paris Baguette, a bakery brand operated by South Korea’s leading food company SPC Group, is officially embarking on the franchise business in the U.S., with its first franchise store in San Jose, California, the company said Sunday.

Up to this point, SPC Group had directly operated its 45 Paris Baguette outlets in the U.S. The newly-opened San Jose store is its 46th store to open in the country, and the first to do so under a franchising agreement.

Through the expansion of its franchising business, SPC is aiming to open a total of 350 directly-operated and franchise-based stores across the country by 2020, according to a statement by the firm.

SPC Group opened its first Paris Baguette store in Los Angeles in 2005. Since then, it has expanded into other parts of California, Las Vegas, New York City, Boston, Philadelphia as well as cities in Georgia and New Jersey.

Paris Baguette plans to expand into Washington D.C. and other states in the country such as Virgina, Maryland, Illinois and Texas, according to SPC. 

Meanwhile, SPC Group announced last year that it will operate 2,000 Paris Baguette stores in the U.S. and China -- their top two overseas markets -- by 2030.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)