August 21, 2025 • 37 mins
Join Restaurant Masterminds hosts Paul Molinari and Anna Tauzin as they dive deep with Paris Baguette's Chief Development Officer Nick Scaccio about the brand's audacious plan to reach 1,000 North American locations by 2030. From their current 253 units to nearly $3M average unit volumes, discover the franchise strategies, operational excellence, and experiential design driving this Korean-French bakery café's explosive growth through economic uncertainty and intense competition.
~This episode is sponsored by: Gusto → https://gusto.pxf.io/PBN ~
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Capital & Advisory: Are you a fast-casual restaurant startup or a technology innovator in the food service industry? Don't miss out on the opportunity to tap into decades of expertise. Reach out to Savor Capital & Advisory now to explore how their seasoned professionals can propel your business forward. Discover if you're eligible to leverage our unparalleled knowledge in food service branding and technology and take your venture to new heights.
Don't wait – amplify your voice or supercharge your startup's growth today with Savor's ecosystem of industry-leading platforms and advisory services. Visit https://www.savor.fm/capital-advisory
Get Your Podcast Now! Are you a hospitality or restaurant industry leader looking to amplify your voice and establish yourself as a thought leader? Look no further than SavorFM, the premier podcast platform designed exclusively for hospitality visionaries like you. Take the next step in your industry leadership journey – visit https://www.savor.fm/
Capital & Advisory: Are you a fast-casual restaurant startup or a technology innovator in the food service industry? Don't miss out on the opportunity to tap into decades of expertise. Reach out to Savor Capital & Advisory now to explore how their seasoned professionals can propel your business forward. Discover if you're eligible to leverage our unparalleled knowledge in food service branding and technology and take your venture to new heights.
Don't wait – amplify your voice or supercharge your startup's growth today with Savor's ecosystem of industry-leading platforms and advisory services. Visit https://www.savor.fm/capital-advisory
~This episode is sponsored by: Gusto → https://gusto.pxf.io/PBN ~
#1 rated HR platform for payroll, benefits, and more
With Gusto’s easy-to-use platform, you can empower your people and push your business forward. See why over 400,000 businesses choose Gusto.
RestaurantFranchising #ParisBaguette #FranchiseGrowth
Get Your Podcast Now! Are you a hospitality or restaurant industry leader looking to amplify your voice and establish yourself as a thought leader? Look no further than SavorFM, the premier podcast platform designed exclusively for hospitality visionaries like you. Take the next step in your industry leadership journey – visit https://www.savor.fm/
Capital & Advisory: Are you a fast-casual restaurant startup or a technology innovator in the food service industry? Don't miss out on the opportunity to tap into decades of expertise. Reach out to Savor Capital & Advisory now to explore how their seasoned professionals can propel your business forward. Discover if you're eligible to leverage our unparalleled knowledge in food service branding and technology and take your venture to new heights.
Don't wait – amplify your voice or supercharge your startup's growth today with Savor's ecosystem of industry-leading platforms and advisory services. Visit https://www.savor.fm/capital-advisory
Get Your Podcast Now! Are you a hospitality or restaurant industry leader looking to amplify your voice and establish yourself as a thought leader? Look no further than SavorFM, the premier podcast platform designed exclusively for hospitality visionaries like you. Take the next step in your industry leadership journey – visit https://www.savor.fm/
Capital & Advisory: Are you a fast-casual restaurant startup or a technology innovator in the food service industry? Don't miss out on the opportunity to tap into decades of expertise. Reach out to Savor Capital & Advisory now to explore how their seasoned professionals can propel your business forward. Discover if you're eligible to leverage our unparalleled knowledge in food service branding and technology and take your venture to new heights.
Don't wait – amplify your voice or supercharge your startup's growth today with Savor's ecosystem of industry-leading platforms and advisory services. Visit https://www.savor.fm/capital-advisory
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, everybody, Welcome back to the Restaurant Masterminds podcast. My
name is Paul Mulinari. I am joined today with Anna
Tausend and we're filling in for our best bud, Paul Baron.
But and it's a shame too, because Baron's going to
miss this. We have an awesome conversation today. We're talking
with Paris Baguett's chief development officer, Nick Scatchio, and we're
(00:22):
going to talk about he's got a ridiculously ambitious goal
about reaching one thousand North American locations by twenty thirty.
We're going to explore franchise development strategies, operational excellence, building
sustainable growth, all during a time where I had never
seen our industry more competitive than it is right now.
(00:43):
So we'll be back.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
My name is Paul Baron. As the early pioneer in
fast casual, I've seen the industry evolve from just a
few operators to the most sought after segment by consumers
around the world. Now we're planning to shape its future.
Tap into decades of my expertise identifying the emerging brands
and tech winners in the space saber capital, we'll be
(01:31):
fueling the next generation of fast casual innovation.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Okay, and we're back. Hey Anna, how you doing?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Wonderful?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Everything is outstanding, Honestly, looking up, the restaurants I'm working
with are busy, like I love to see it.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Bakery business is on the rise.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
So I'm really excited to talk to Nick today because
people seem to be in love with little sweet shreets
these days, which is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yeah, I know, Hey, Nick, welcome to the show. It's
awesome to have you here.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
Thanks, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
You know, Paris back get this is one of those
iconic brands I think in our industry. And you know,
in congratulations, you've recently been promoted to the chief development
officer for the company. So if you will, you know,
tell us a little bit about yourself, a little bit
about the brand and what your mission is.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
Sure. So, so our goal is to deliver expertly crafted
baked and brew goods to our guests through a warm
and welcoming bakery cafe experience that delivers joined to everyone.
I think I got that exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Good, great market, really proud.
Speaker 5 (02:36):
Yeah, but that it truly is our that truly is
our mission. And you know, we're an incredible journey together
to achieve and exceed one thousand North American locations by
twenty thirty with a true pathway you know, to and
beyond it. So super exciting time for the brand and
for our expansion. For those that don't know, Paris paget
is a you know, pays homage to the traditional bakery
(03:00):
fe that we all knew growing up. You know, we
serve whole cake, sliced cake, bread, pastry mates, order beverage
and coffee program anchored by lavatsa coffee, sandwiches and salads,
and a few other categories macaroons, gifts, I can go on.
So pretty pretty comprehensive about product lineup.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
We were talking a little bit offline before before we
went live about our own experiences with your bakery and Anna,
you're a bake and you actually own a bakery, so
do you Yeah, going to a Paris bagette must be
kind of a really cool inspirational experience.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
It's it's such a it's such a nice experience.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
I was telling Nick before you joined us, I was
telling Paul about my first time in a Paris bagette.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
I was it was years ago.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
And it was in New York and I was visiting
for work, but I always try to carve out a
little time to do something for myself. And one of
my friends, who knows how much I love pastries and
typically have like a pastry in my backpack at any
given moment, was like, you need to check out Paris Baggett.
You're gonna love it. And so I did, and it
was just so enchanting. Like, honestly, going to a bakery
that's as well laid out as Paris Baggett is kind
(04:06):
of like visiting a jewelry store. You have all these
little gems everywhere, all these little cases and things to
look at, and really nice smiling people. It just, I
don't know, it scratches an itch for me. So I
love visiting to Paris bagat It's it's a wonderful experience.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yeah, I'd love that that tell us a little bit
about about the menu there before we get into the
you know, the growth strategy and some of the operational
stuff in your own journey. I'd love to maybe share
with the guests a little bit more about the menu
and what makes Paras that get different than some other
(04:45):
bakery category restaurants.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
Sure, the intense focus on product quality and in variation
of products across our menu is really a core focus
of ours. We offer over over eighty different bake goods items,
so bright breads, pastries, which is uh, which is it's
it's quite quite a scaled menu with a lot of
(05:07):
variations between you know, traditional items like butter, croissants, Hana
raison a lot, and then we really start to see
some variation in the bread pastry category like you know,
different flavored mochi donuts, supreme croissants, uh and and some
new innovation. We also uh leaned into other categories like
(05:29):
whole cakes for experiential and celebratory uh opportunities, slice cakes, sandwiches, salads.
Really a pretty wide offering of categories. And you know,
really one of our fastest growing categories is is coffee.
Coffee and mats order beverage.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
But y'all want to do stack cakes, right?
Speaker 4 (05:48):
You do?
Speaker 3 (05:49):
It's one it's one tier, right, y'all don't do tiered cakes?
Speaker 5 (05:53):
All types of cakes? Yeah, we do. You know, our
most popular is are strawberry soft cream cake serves ten
a few different layers, and then we have a whole
specialty cake line behind that where you can you can
order and you know, order and customize specialty cakes up
to three tier U services, implication, social events and things
(06:14):
like that. She cakes.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yep, Wow, that's pretty amazing. You know, I want to
talk a little bit about I want to get into
the growth strategy because I think that's what's really going
to what our audience wants to hear about today. You know,
how is Paris Baguett going about uh these growth plans?
But maybe we can start with your own journey. I mean,
as I mentioned in the beginning, you were recently promoted
(06:38):
from uh well COO or at least a transition. I'm
not sure if it's a promotion. I mean these are big,
these are big C suite roles. You were the chief
Operating Officer and now you're the Chief Development Officer. Uh
that's that's a big deal. So what kind of operational
insights are you taking from your CEO role and it's
(06:58):
now shaping your development strateg Yeah.
Speaker 5 (07:01):
So it's been an incredible journey overall. I'm with the
organization for a little over five and a half years now.
I started early twenty twenty, and I've worked in nearly
every department in Paris Spaghett Now between marketing, a bit
of supply chain, experience, operations, and now development and you know, overall,
(07:24):
I really fundamentally believe that the ability to connect with
people and build relationships is at the core of what
we do in business, and it's really at the core
of what we do in franchising with Paris Pagette. So
whether it be on the operation side or now the
development side, building and curating and really enhancing and strengthening
(07:44):
relationships over time has been at the core of my
focus during my journey with PB and it's been an
exciting time to pave the way for what we're doing
as a go forward basis.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
You know, I think since you've been you mentioned you start,
you've been with the company about five and a half years,
and if I'm not mistaken, I think that Paris Baguett
had about seventy five locations when you started, and since
you've been there, you've just about tripled during a pretty
crazy time too in our industry. So congratulations to that.
What were some of those operational lessons that you learned
(08:21):
through that rapid growth.
Speaker 5 (08:23):
Yeah, it was I started just before the onset of
the pandemic in twenty twenty, and it was interesting. I'll
never forget this. We had an active strategy around building
our large format off premise business, and then the pandemic
came and then we realized there would be no B
to B at that point, so we quickly pivoted, and
(08:46):
throughout the pandemic we wound up really finding ourselves throughout
the course of a year and a half, redefining and
re establishing our business model and reidentifying where we wanted
to go as ananization and as a brand. And really
that's credit to our CEO, Darren Tipton, who really with
his vision and leadership, helped really guide it guided our
(09:09):
North American organization to think differently, to reposition the brands
as the neighborhood bakery cafe, and it's done wonders for us.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
So, you know, going from around two hundred what do
you have like two hundred and fifty some odd locations
right now?
Speaker 5 (09:31):
Yep, two fifty three now.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
So going from two hundred and fifty three to one
thousand locations and roughly five years or so, you know,
what does that timeline look like? You know, where are
the biggest where are the biggest opportunities?
Speaker 5 (09:45):
Right now? It's it's an incredible growth experience for the brand,
for our team and for the our franchise owners. We're
two fifty three now, we have over four hundred and
fifty in development between signed and in construction now, and
we'll plan to sign another one hundred and fifty deals
(10:05):
by the end of the year, which will put us
at approximately three hundred total deal signed this year. So
what will be Well, we won't be in the hunt
for that many new new franchise agreements to put us
on a path to on a signed path to to
and beyond a thousand new a thousand North American locations.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Yeah, and are you anticipating, like the franchises that you're
bringing on, how many are they expected to develop?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
How many locations?
Speaker 5 (10:32):
So our average for this year is actually close to
close to four locations per per deal.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
That's great, that's pretty manageable for you know, a small
business owner or something like that, someone who has some experience.
I imagine you're looking at people that have some experience
in the restaurant industry or or you open to anybody.
Speaker 5 (10:48):
So you know, seasoned restaurant operators are are obviously important
for our ability to scale, and then really understanding the
people aspect of the business is.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Mm hmm, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I'm curious.
I mean, I'm a little you know, I want to
see a little bit more down here.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
So I'm in central Texas. What what can you reveal
about the expanse plant expansion plans in Texas? Because we
have a lot of listeners in this great state.
Speaker 5 (11:16):
Run our way all right quickly. We have so between
between Dallas, Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio, we're actually, uh,
we're just about sold out in every market in terms
of UH, in terms of agreements and trade areas, which
is unbelievable. And those those markets are a big part
of the four fifty that are in development.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
That's all great.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
On the flip side of that, up in the hinterlands
of Boston, we have two Paris bag ads, So what's
going on there? Actually, maybe you can just you can
describe for me. Is New England a tough market to
crack in general?
Speaker 5 (11:50):
Uh, we are incredibly excited about about New England. We
are we're actually opening we have two leases that we're
preparing to sign in Mansfield and Bellingham and are just
in the process of of some expansion up in the
Harvard Square, Back Bay Fenway Seaport area.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
So beautiful. Yeah, you're going to do well there, You're
going to do really well.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Hey, Nick, as a as a marketing person, I'm Paul
and I are both in marketing. But tell me what
does a grand opening look like for a Paris? But
get what what's the formula that you guys have in
place for that?
Speaker 5 (12:25):
It's exciting, pretty big turnouts. You know, we have a
we support our franchises with you know, very specific grand
opening packages at a curity. Our marketing team and grand
opening teams. So the goal is to to maximize the traffic.
You know, we do Ribby Cunnings with local local officials,
(12:47):
you know, uh, local outreach. Our franchises are are huge
advocates for their communities, which we love to be a
true part of the neighborhood bakery cafe experience.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
That's great, Paul, you want to switch down to maybe
operational questions.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
I want to get a little bit more into the
op side of things and how you're able to scale
this because let's say that you know, scaling, Uh, that's
that's where the brass tacks kind of lie, right, you know,
So I understand that you have this new three point
oh prototype, a new cafe design. How does how maybe
(13:26):
you can describe what that prototype three point oh looks like,
and how does that new design support you know, franchise
e operations and and and the overall customer experience.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
Sure so three point zero design in development for quite
some time, always fine tuning it. But I think that
the the biggest piece of what we wanted to accomplish
was being able to interact with the guests and have
the guests interact with with our our comprehensive experience. So
from the start, when you walk up to a herstpag Get,
(14:00):
most of our locations, as you approach the entrance have
a this unbelievably designed cake room. So it's really it
pays homage to the cakers that are that are producing
the cakes and making the cakes icing them in the window.
So you know, picture families walking up with their kids
and the kids peering in the windows to see the
(14:21):
the cakers frost frost the top of you.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
It's a really cool European vibe, right like you're strolling
strolling down this you know, a street and you're seeing
the bakers and the window you know, applying the icing
and all that.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
That's very almost I want that Belle bell at the
Beauty and the Beast like you almost like you're maybe
to sound like that fall. That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
I love that. I mean, I also, you know, I
love the French blue Frankly and the logo. I just
you know that it's a little details like that that
make it experiential, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 5 (14:55):
And then the Center Island is another has been another
big hit for us. So guests have the opportunity to,
uh to peruse the Center Island and uh, you know,
so many guests we see when we're in cafes are
on Instagram. They're they're you know, making a real event
of their experience and posting. But and it makes it
interactive where you can actually interact with the with the
product where you're almost at one point surrounded between the
(15:16):
wall case and the center Island case. So it's really
enhances the experience we feel.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
You know, when when you get into let's talk about
the franchise experience a little bit more. You know, you're
you're signing all of these deals. I'm I'm assuming there's
got to be a pretty substantial training element to this
as well. Can you describe for us, you know, what
does a new franchise e, what's the what's the experience
of a new franchise are you? Are you sending them
to a bakery university? You know the tell tell us
(15:44):
a little bit more about that.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
Yeah, yeah, it's a great question. So to to achieve
the goal of having that extraally crafted product and high
high focus, incredible focus on product quality, Uh, there's a
really intense and rigorous training that's uh that that happens
in one of our two training centers, either here in
Monachy or a new facility that we're opening in Costa
(16:05):
Mesa in just a couple of weeks.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Nice.
Speaker 5 (16:08):
Yeah, So it's a it's a four week program. We
teach and train all the bacon, cake and sandwich products
at the at the training centers from the most basic
level of baking down to speed testing to make sure
they can keep up with volume at their grand opening.
So our training team does a phenomenal job to make
(16:28):
sure that the number of repetitions and focus on quality
is uh is at a premium.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
That's pretty cool, you know, I want to throw Yeah,
I'm I'm usually the guy that asked the technology questions
quite a bit on this pod and so I have
to stay trade to form with in that train in
those training sessions, are you going over the tech you know,
the tech stack? You know what is it like operationally
to run or paris back gat you know, what's what
(16:58):
does the tech stack look like? And and how is
how are you working that into the curriculum?
Speaker 5 (17:04):
Sure, incredible question. So post UH post our training center training,
we then have on site training where we review all
all facets of operating. Its incredible acclimation period for the
franchises and their team. So we review the process of
(17:25):
you know, online ordering via OLO catering, you know which
which will happen via OLO. A new innovation for us
which is actually really exciting where we're announcing in the
next a couple of weeks to our team is a
partnership with Avery Dennison on automation for inventory, r f
I D, program programming, and UH forecasting. So that's all
(17:50):
taught on site before the opening and it really helps
reinforce your point how to integrate technology with our with
our operations to make it easier.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Yeah, because let's face it, this is all about scaling,
right and when you're talking about going from two hundred
and fifty to one thousand. That's that's a terrific scaling challenge.
So that's where the tech comes in and for everybody
to be on the same page with what the different
tech looks like, how it operates, and how it really
(18:20):
kind of how it helps the franchise. E.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
I'm curious talking about tech, like what what are the
store is not in North America have technology wise that
we don't use here?
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Like are there anything?
Speaker 5 (18:33):
Are there?
Speaker 4 (18:33):
Is there anything in the Asian locations or other locations
that have something really cool that you could share?
Speaker 5 (18:41):
We try to stay up. We test consistently. We've tested
everything from locker automation like self service lockers, to kiosks
to I mean, you name it. We've we've probably tested
it at one point, and we really feel and an
essence of technologies and important via like online ordering, let's
(19:01):
say right for means of simplification, but we really are
intent is to stay true to that experiential nature of
walking into a bakery cafe and having the sheer variation
and mass amount of product that you can walk through
and experience and interact with as being the core of
our business.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
So with the amount of product you have, and you
guys have a lot, you know, I imagine you get us
to sell out every day, but probably not. So what
do you do with your extra food product at the
end of you know, three or five days, we need
a toss?
Speaker 5 (19:36):
Yeah, another great question. We actually we get that question
quite a bit because it's in a prepared food model.
There's inherent ways. And a couple of years ago we
actually rolled out a started with a local donation program
in New York City with City Harvest over twenty plus
locations and then quickly scaled that in partnership with Feeding
(19:59):
America across all all locations and it's been phenomenal and
they've been they've all been great partners. So essentially at
the core of it, every cafe donates to a local
pantry partner. Uh there their their products that's in access
at the end of every business day, and it's a
great way to give back to all local communities. I
love that.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
I think that is so cool. I wish that more.
I wish more restaurants did that. Do you have people
on your team that specifically are in charge of that, Like,
is that coming from h Q and how does that
Uh did that do you set that up for the
franchisee or is that something they're expected to set up
on their own.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
Yeah, So we we liaise the parent partnership with with
the the national organizations h and then we have during
the onboarding process our onboarding managers kind of liaise the
local relationships and get them set up once they open.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
That's awesome, Great.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
What does communication look like during the process of like
onboarding and then once they're live? Like what platform are
you using to communicate with your franchise?
Speaker 5 (21:00):
So we're very high touch throughout the process from franchise
sales to real estate, through process management and construction and
then beyond into operations and then through operations. But we
work with you know a number of different platforms in
different spaces to to enhance communication, one being frank Connect,
(21:23):
which is serves as a repository and yeah, I'm sure, you.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Know, yeah, very familiar, very familiar. Have my have my issues,
have my praises, but yeah, I'm very familiar.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Yeah, yeah, you know, let's let's let's turn back for
a second to market development and really you know what
your what your mission is, you know, site selection, market development,
your geographic strategy you're at. You know, you're currently in
over twenty five states, but what's your geographic expansion strategy
(21:55):
for reaching a thousand units? So you're going deeper into
existing markets, so you're pushing out into new territories. Can
you talk to us a little bit about that strategy?
Speaker 5 (22:05):
Sure, you know, I think I think to start a
little bit of a foundation of who who we've been
and some of our successes for the past few years
really helped us define where where we where we want
to go and define our strategy. And we're we've just
achieved eighteen straight quarters of positive comp sales and seventeen
(22:27):
straight quarters of positive comp guests count so so tracks
which we're we're so proud of in this uh, this
economic climate, especially the traffic component. So what does that
mean and how does that forward our development strategy? You know,
ultimately we see building out markets that are that are
high potential with the right operators and that makes it
(22:49):
sound a lot easier than what it really is. But
you know, phenomenal markets like you mentioned Boston with the
right operator, with the right grained opening strategy and the
you know, really helps helps us build out each of
those markets and do so in a responsible manner while
protecting our au vs, which are north of two point
(23:11):
approaching a three three million in our recent FDD published.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Wow, three millionaires. That's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
That's way higher than I anticipated.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Actually, Paul, I was like I was thinking like it
was two point five, two point seventy five, But that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Print what's the what what's what's the typical footprint for
a for a PV.
Speaker 5 (23:28):
We're about three thousand square feet?
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Okay, yeah, so that's yeah, you're right there. That's a
great Those are great numbers, man. So you know, you
you have this another interesting thing about Paris Vaguette, right, well,
there's also kind of this unique Korean type of you know,
there's an Asian influence to the brand as well. You
have this Korean French kind of positioning. From a marketing perspective,
(23:54):
how does that influence your site selection and market uh
entry strategies?
Speaker 5 (24:00):
Yeah, another great question. We were so we were born
French inspired, born out of Soeul, South Korea, and now
we're we're operating and scaling in North America. So you know,
our our our heritage is in the company's heritage. Heritage
is important to us. But over the past few years,
(24:22):
really since the pandemic, we've gained the understanding that we
we succeed in in in most markets, whether that's CBD,
Asian leaning markets, uh, non Asian, right, traditional markets, Midwest uh.
And it's been an incredible learning journey and experience too
as our brand has grown and uh and scale.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Do you look at your competitors, Nick?
Speaker 5 (24:46):
You know? Do you is?
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Are there certain competitors that you have that have had
you know, success in markets and you are you overlaying
that onto the strategy at all? And feel free to
name names?
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Yeah, please, let's do it.
Speaker 5 (25:03):
We're we're always we're always watching the market and uh,
you know, we we view we've viewed so many brands
as potential competitors in the space. As we play in coffee, beverage,
we play in cake, whole, cake slice, we play in
bread and pastry, right, sandwich, salad. So we're always looking
at what the market, what's happening in the market, and
(25:26):
always assessing internally how we can be how we can
be better, and how we can continue to grow and
enhance our business.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
That was safe, That was a very safe response. That's fine,
he's been trained.
Speaker 5 (25:41):
Kidding.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
No, I get it, I get it.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
But there are a lot of Greek and I'll just
name it names so you don't have to and you
can just sort of stay straight face. Right, I'm always
fascinated because I own a bakery.
Speaker 5 (25:52):
Right.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
I watch Susie Cakes very closely. Right.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
They are a very interesting model. They are very fast
turned around. We actually still some of their staff recently
because we wanted to learn about how they do their production.
It's really incredible. And I was stunned when I took
over a bakery like people, and I love this for us,
for you, for me, for everybody, Like everyone is celebrating
(26:15):
with cake these days.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Like there's a lot of desire for it.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
I mean we get phone desperate phone calls from people
like fathers who forgot their kids' birthdays.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
It's usually the number one desperate phone call. Yeah, and
then good job, Paul.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
So I'm curious, like what does that look like in
terms of like in store, Like do you push people
to like order through olo through the individual websites? Or
can do people call and you get the orders that way?
How does that order process look like?
Speaker 5 (26:42):
Yeah, all the above, you know, over eighty percent of
our orders are in person at the at the at
the bakeries, and which we love. I mean, we love
the fact that guests come in and there's this whimsical
nature you know, of being able to like explore cakes
and bakery products and you know, point at a window
and select your favorite cake and really have an experience
(27:03):
and discuss you know, what's inside, what's what's the filling
made of? What you know, what's what the icing is
made of, and that that experience is so special. But
to your point, we do we do support online ordering,
We support you know, phone olders things like that to
accommodate the guests.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
But you know, the Paris bag At experience truly is
like an in store experience. So it's not Uh, I
was anticipate. I wasn't anticipating, like, you know, half of
your sales coming from digital, but to hear that it's
about twenty percent of your sales, is that something that
do you see an opportunity there to grow the digital
business more? Or do you like do you like this ratio?
Speaker 5 (27:42):
We we talk about it internally all the time all
the time, and we we of course like the We
like the revenue, right, but we we also we see
our brands as really experience based when when you walk
into a Paris Baghett, So, I think there's that fine
line of you know, maintaining the soul of the brand
and who we want to be now in long term
(28:05):
and then being able to meet guest demand, you know,
via technology and new vehicles.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Right. Right, So when you're when you're shopping or when
you're inside of a Paris back at you're it's a
new customer should not expect to see like digital kiosks
for ordering. This is a personal experience, right.
Speaker 5 (28:27):
Correct, Yeah, that's what we aim for. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Absolutely. So with regard then to you know, the customer experience.
You know, the one thing that I feel that digital
does do really well, uh is the up sell opportunities, right,
you know, that's that's something that's always been difficult to
kind of get across, you know, with the staff training
(28:50):
and you know them truly understanding the menu and the
up selling. Is that something that you know, how big
does does the ups tell become in terms of your
your your customer strategy.
Speaker 5 (29:06):
Yeah, it's it's a huge part of the enhancing the
guest experience. We like to say, yeah, you know, I
think that the guest experience. You know, I mentioned product
quality earlier, but right up there with product quality is
guest experience and and how we're able to accommodate. So,
you know, being able to suggest, offer a suggestion, you know,
(29:31):
offer a you know, a variation of a size to
to a guest that may not be familiar with our
brand in a new market. It enhances the guest experience.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Right, I have Sorry, Paul, give Helena, well, if you
want to take us into the future.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
I could.
Speaker 4 (29:46):
I had some some quick questions related to it's a
franchise real quick that I wanted to just give Nick
a chance to go through. We'll go through really quick
and then we'll talk about sort of future state. Nick, So,
what is the biggest franchise myth that you wish.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
You could bust?
Speaker 5 (30:01):
Franchise myth? That's a good one.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 5 (30:05):
Uh maybe I'm officially too new in my role to
know what the myths are to uh to pave a
path forward.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Come back, come back into position. That question is like,
give this give us a hate to tell you butt,
you know, I hate to tell you, but franchising isn't
this it's really about this.
Speaker 5 (30:25):
I really believe that it's uh, it's it's about building
great relationships and support. You know, I think any most anomalists,
conversations or discrepancies or you know, differences of opinion can
easily be satisfied with picking up the phone and calling
someone And it could be a franchisee, could be someone
(30:47):
you know down the hall and UH and solving it
over the phone and just having a discussion. And I
really believe our team does does that very well in
terms of being able to communicate proactively.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Got it?
Speaker 4 (31:00):
Okay, what what's the most underrated US market for QSR
growth right now?
Speaker 5 (31:06):
Kansas has treated us very well.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Yeah, good, that's wonderful. Underrated, Absolutely, I would definitely say
that's underrated.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Thinking about you know, you know it's Kansas.
Speaker 5 (31:16):
Uh, it's it's it's funny. Kansas and Oklahoma have been
have been very very good to Paris. But get which
you know, you mentioned what our development strategy is and
you know we we dropped a cafe into the uh,
the Wichita, Kansas a couple of years ago and was
one of the top you know, incredible performer.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
I love, Well, that's so cool.
Speaker 4 (31:37):
Having just I was just in Tulsa earlier this week,
and like, having driven through a lot of Oklahoma, I
can see why they need a little, a little, they
need a little they need some zig for sure.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
So Nick, in your opinion, what do you think is
more critical location for the operator?
Speaker 5 (31:53):
I have to say operator, I think, Uh, I think
that curating the guest experience and leading it even passionate
individuals is so important. But what one a is certainly location? Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Well, and part of that too, I think, is that
community aspect that you brought up right, Like, if you
have a great operator, then they know how to really
be become a part of it makes the community, you know,
the star of the show, right, they know how to
bring that in. So regardless of the location, there's going
to be somebody that can bring people together. Ye be
(32:30):
part of that.
Speaker 5 (32:31):
People will travel for a great experience.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
That's true too. You know, let's look let's look forward.
Let's wrap this up on a couple of the future
visions and challenges that you're going to be facing. Nick,
God bless you, you know, looking looking to uh what
is do you guys? Are you guys thinking about what
success looks like after a thousand locations, you know, and
(32:55):
that sustainability, like, how are you looking at sustainable growth?
Speaker 5 (32:59):
Yeah, always thinking about what the future holds as we
really hone in on our trajectory and tangible trajectory to
to and beyond a thousand. Yeah, we also believe there's
a there's a real pathway beyond that, and you know,
we have what the assemblance of what that will look
like mapped out across across North America. We're also looking
(33:21):
at opportunities in Mexico, Central America, and then beyond that
South America.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Oh beautiful. So this expansion journey, the challenges, you know,
what do you think is the biggest challenge that you're
going to have to overcome? Is it? Is it finding
just the right location? So it's kind of boils down,
it feels like you're boiling it. It boils down to
the operator or the location. Like Anna kind of mentioned,
(33:48):
is it is it the site selections or is it
finding the right operators?
Speaker 5 (33:52):
Yeah? I think they're all the locations, the operators, they're
all they will present, you know, effort behind them. But
I think as an organization, you know, we say this
pretty often, we're we're not the same company yesterday that
we are today, that we will be tomorrow, and you know,
(34:13):
really doubling back on the processes and systems we had
in place yesterday how they'll interact with our franchise owners
and our business tomorrow. Is a constant reiteration and a
constant look back and look look ahead to make sure
that we have the right systems, processes, and platforms and
partnerships in place to be able to scale, whether that's
two fifty to one thousand or one thousand to two thousand, right.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
And you know, at some point too, particularly as you
go into all of these different markets, you're you know,
your entire marketing plan is going to change as well,
like the way that you approach media buying and the
way that you approach you know, advertising in these new markets,
and some markets you have tremendous brand equity and you
kind of grow in these concentric circles outward, but in
(34:57):
other markets, you're you know, you're you're plopping in fresh.
That's those I think are some of the hardest challenges
I've seen franchise franchise ors go through.
Speaker 5 (35:07):
When you when you you know.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Set yourself into a new into a new market, how
do you create that, you know, how do you create
that big brand kind of experience?
Speaker 5 (35:20):
That's yeah?
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Is that something that I'm assuming that your marketing team
is thinking about or how do they think about that?
Speaker 5 (35:29):
Yeah? They do a phenomenal job planning. I wish I
knew their secret sauce behind how they do it, but
they do a phenomenal job. Actually, we're going to celebrate
our formally celebrate our two hudred and fiftieth on August
twenty first and down in Maryland, and I'm sure that
festivities will be will be phenomenal.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Oh that's fun.
Speaker 4 (35:49):
So Nick, what okay? What is your order when you
go into Paris bagat right? What is the pasture you
go for? What is a coffee or tea you order?
Speaker 3 (35:55):
What do you what do you do?
Speaker 5 (35:58):
I love our on donut all variations, Lemony is my favorite,
and I'm a classic Classic Brood coffee. I love our
Lavazza coffee and classic Black Brood coffee is I think
it's delicious. What about you?
Speaker 4 (36:17):
Well, I went gluten free recently, so I'm still trying
to figure out like my favorite I need. I haven't
visited Paris Bag yet since I went gluten free, so
I'll have to take a look at what you've got
for me.
Speaker 5 (36:28):
Okay, sounds good. Same here.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
I got to get myself over to Summerville or Quincy
and soon hopefully the seaport. And but I'll tell you
what though, you can't you really can't go wrong with
any Lavaza products. So's that's pretty great? Hey, Nick, it
was awesome talking with you today. What's next for you?
Where are we going to? Where are you next going
(36:52):
on your expansion for Vails?
Speaker 5 (36:55):
Next new state will be Connecticut. That'll be number twenty
seven for us in the US, and you know, exciting
new ventures. We have a Puerto Rico coming next year,
eight new states coming in twenty twenty six, and a
bunch more beyond that. So EXCEC time is it for
our journey?
Speaker 1 (37:16):
Fantastic Nick, Scotcha everybody. Paris Bagatt, Chief Development Officer. Thanks
so much for John yus for spending some time with us.
We really appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (37:24):
Thank you, guys, appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Nick.
Speaker 5 (37:26):
Thank you
Hey, everybody, Welcome back to the Restaurant Masterminds podcast. My
name is Paul Mulinari. I am joined today with Anna
Tausend and we're filling in for our best bud, Paul Baron.
But and it's a shame too, because Baron's going to
miss this. We have an awesome conversation today. We're talking
with Paris Baguett's chief development officer, Nick Scatchio, and we're
(00:22):
going to talk about he's got a ridiculously ambitious goal
about reaching one thousand North American locations by twenty thirty.
We're going to explore franchise development strategies, operational excellence, building
sustainable growth, all during a time where I had never
seen our industry more competitive than it is right now.
(00:43):
So we'll be back.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
My name is Paul Baron. As the early pioneer in
fast casual, I've seen the industry evolve from just a
few operators to the most sought after segment by consumers
around the world. Now we're planning to shape its future.
Tap into decades of my expertise identifying the emerging brands
and tech winners in the space saber capital, we'll be
(01:31):
fueling the next generation of fast casual innovation.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Okay, and we're back. Hey Anna, how you doing?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Wonderful?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Everything is outstanding, Honestly, looking up, the restaurants I'm working
with are busy, like I love to see it.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Bakery business is on the rise.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
So I'm really excited to talk to Nick today because
people seem to be in love with little sweet shreets
these days, which is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yeah, I know, Hey, Nick, welcome to the show. It's
awesome to have you here.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
Thanks, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
You know, Paris back get this is one of those
iconic brands I think in our industry. And you know,
in congratulations, you've recently been promoted to the chief development
officer for the company. So if you will, you know,
tell us a little bit about yourself, a little bit
about the brand and what your mission is.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
Sure. So, so our goal is to deliver expertly crafted
baked and brew goods to our guests through a warm
and welcoming bakery cafe experience that delivers joined to everyone.
I think I got that exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Good, great market, really proud.
Speaker 5 (02:36):
Yeah, but that it truly is our that truly is
our mission. And you know, we're an incredible journey together
to achieve and exceed one thousand North American locations by
twenty thirty with a true pathway you know, to and
beyond it. So super exciting time for the brand and
for our expansion. For those that don't know, Paris paget
is a you know, pays homage to the traditional bakery
(03:00):
fe that we all knew growing up. You know, we
serve whole cake, sliced cake, bread, pastry mates, order beverage
and coffee program anchored by lavatsa coffee, sandwiches and salads,
and a few other categories macaroons, gifts, I can go on.
So pretty pretty comprehensive about product lineup.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
We were talking a little bit offline before before we
went live about our own experiences with your bakery and Anna,
you're a bake and you actually own a bakery, so
do you Yeah, going to a Paris bagette must be
kind of a really cool inspirational experience.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
It's it's such a it's such a nice experience.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
I was telling Nick before you joined us, I was
telling Paul about my first time in a Paris bagette.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
I was it was years ago.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
And it was in New York and I was visiting
for work, but I always try to carve out a
little time to do something for myself. And one of
my friends, who knows how much I love pastries and
typically have like a pastry in my backpack at any
given moment, was like, you need to check out Paris Baggett.
You're gonna love it. And so I did, and it
was just so enchanting. Like, honestly, going to a bakery
that's as well laid out as Paris Baggett is kind
(04:06):
of like visiting a jewelry store. You have all these
little gems everywhere, all these little cases and things to
look at, and really nice smiling people. It just, I
don't know, it scratches an itch for me. So I
love visiting to Paris bagat It's it's a wonderful experience.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yeah, I'd love that that tell us a little bit
about about the menu there before we get into the
you know, the growth strategy and some of the operational
stuff in your own journey. I'd love to maybe share
with the guests a little bit more about the menu
and what makes Paras that get different than some other
(04:45):
bakery category restaurants.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
Sure, the intense focus on product quality and in variation
of products across our menu is really a core focus
of ours. We offer over over eighty different bake goods items,
so bright breads, pastries, which is uh, which is it's
it's quite quite a scaled menu with a lot of
(05:07):
variations between you know, traditional items like butter, croissants, Hana
raison a lot, and then we really start to see
some variation in the bread pastry category like you know,
different flavored mochi donuts, supreme croissants, uh and and some
new innovation. We also uh leaned into other categories like
(05:29):
whole cakes for experiential and celebratory uh opportunities, slice cakes, sandwiches, salads.
Really a pretty wide offering of categories. And you know,
really one of our fastest growing categories is is coffee.
Coffee and mats order beverage.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
But y'all want to do stack cakes, right?
Speaker 4 (05:48):
You do?
Speaker 3 (05:49):
It's one it's one tier, right, y'all don't do tiered cakes?
Speaker 5 (05:53):
All types of cakes? Yeah, we do. You know, our
most popular is are strawberry soft cream cake serves ten
a few different layers, and then we have a whole
specialty cake line behind that where you can you can
order and you know, order and customize specialty cakes up
to three tier U services, implication, social events and things
(06:14):
like that. She cakes.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yep, Wow, that's pretty amazing. You know, I want to
talk a little bit about I want to get into
the growth strategy because I think that's what's really going
to what our audience wants to hear about today. You know,
how is Paris Baguett going about uh these growth plans?
But maybe we can start with your own journey. I mean,
as I mentioned in the beginning, you were recently promoted
(06:38):
from uh well COO or at least a transition. I'm
not sure if it's a promotion. I mean these are big,
these are big C suite roles. You were the chief
Operating Officer and now you're the Chief Development Officer. Uh
that's that's a big deal. So what kind of operational
insights are you taking from your CEO role and it's
(06:58):
now shaping your development strateg Yeah.
Speaker 5 (07:01):
So it's been an incredible journey overall. I'm with the
organization for a little over five and a half years now.
I started early twenty twenty, and I've worked in nearly
every department in Paris Spaghett Now between marketing, a bit
of supply chain, experience, operations, and now development and you know, overall,
(07:24):
I really fundamentally believe that the ability to connect with
people and build relationships is at the core of what
we do in business, and it's really at the core
of what we do in franchising with Paris Pagette. So
whether it be on the operation side or now the
development side, building and curating and really enhancing and strengthening
(07:44):
relationships over time has been at the core of my
focus during my journey with PB and it's been an
exciting time to pave the way for what we're doing
as a go forward basis.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
You know, I think since you've been you mentioned you start,
you've been with the company about five and a half years,
and if I'm not mistaken, I think that Paris Baguett
had about seventy five locations when you started, and since
you've been there, you've just about tripled during a pretty
crazy time too in our industry. So congratulations to that.
What were some of those operational lessons that you learned
(08:21):
through that rapid growth.
Speaker 5 (08:23):
Yeah, it was I started just before the onset of
the pandemic in twenty twenty, and it was interesting. I'll
never forget this. We had an active strategy around building
our large format off premise business, and then the pandemic
came and then we realized there would be no B
to B at that point, so we quickly pivoted, and
(08:46):
throughout the pandemic we wound up really finding ourselves throughout
the course of a year and a half, redefining and
re establishing our business model and reidentifying where we wanted
to go as ananization and as a brand. And really
that's credit to our CEO, Darren Tipton, who really with
his vision and leadership, helped really guide it guided our
(09:09):
North American organization to think differently, to reposition the brands
as the neighborhood bakery cafe, and it's done wonders for us.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
So, you know, going from around two hundred what do
you have like two hundred and fifty some odd locations
right now?
Speaker 5 (09:31):
Yep, two fifty three now.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
So going from two hundred and fifty three to one
thousand locations and roughly five years or so, you know,
what does that timeline look like? You know, where are
the biggest where are the biggest opportunities?
Speaker 5 (09:45):
Right now? It's it's an incredible growth experience for the brand,
for our team and for the our franchise owners. We're
two fifty three now, we have over four hundred and
fifty in development between signed and in construction now, and
we'll plan to sign another one hundred and fifty deals
(10:05):
by the end of the year, which will put us
at approximately three hundred total deal signed this year. So
what will be Well, we won't be in the hunt
for that many new new franchise agreements to put us
on a path to on a signed path to to
and beyond a thousand new a thousand North American locations.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Yeah, and are you anticipating, like the franchises that you're
bringing on, how many are they expected to develop?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
How many locations?
Speaker 5 (10:32):
So our average for this year is actually close to
close to four locations per per deal.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
That's great, that's pretty manageable for you know, a small
business owner or something like that, someone who has some experience.
I imagine you're looking at people that have some experience
in the restaurant industry or or you open to anybody.
Speaker 5 (10:48):
So you know, seasoned restaurant operators are are obviously important
for our ability to scale, and then really understanding the
people aspect of the business is.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Mm hmm, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I'm curious.
I mean, I'm a little you know, I want to
see a little bit more down here.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
So I'm in central Texas. What what can you reveal
about the expanse plant expansion plans in Texas? Because we
have a lot of listeners in this great state.
Speaker 5 (11:16):
Run our way all right quickly. We have so between
between Dallas, Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio, we're actually, uh,
we're just about sold out in every market in terms
of UH, in terms of agreements and trade areas, which
is unbelievable. And those those markets are a big part
of the four fifty that are in development.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
That's all great.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
On the flip side of that, up in the hinterlands
of Boston, we have two Paris bag ads, So what's
going on there? Actually, maybe you can just you can
describe for me. Is New England a tough market to
crack in general?
Speaker 5 (11:50):
Uh, we are incredibly excited about about New England. We
are we're actually opening we have two leases that we're
preparing to sign in Mansfield and Bellingham and are just
in the process of of some expansion up in the
Harvard Square, Back Bay Fenway Seaport area.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
So beautiful. Yeah, you're going to do well there, You're
going to do really well.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Hey, Nick, as a as a marketing person, I'm Paul
and I are both in marketing. But tell me what
does a grand opening look like for a Paris? But
get what what's the formula that you guys have in
place for that?
Speaker 5 (12:25):
It's exciting, pretty big turnouts. You know, we have a
we support our franchises with you know, very specific grand
opening packages at a curity. Our marketing team and grand
opening teams. So the goal is to to maximize the traffic.
You know, we do Ribby Cunnings with local local officials,
(12:47):
you know, uh, local outreach. Our franchises are are huge
advocates for their communities, which we love to be a
true part of the neighborhood bakery cafe experience.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
That's great, Paul, you want to switch down to maybe
operational questions.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
I want to get a little bit more into the
op side of things and how you're able to scale
this because let's say that you know, scaling, Uh, that's
that's where the brass tacks kind of lie, right, you know,
So I understand that you have this new three point
oh prototype, a new cafe design. How does how maybe
(13:26):
you can describe what that prototype three point oh looks like,
and how does that new design support you know, franchise
e operations and and and the overall customer experience.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
Sure so three point zero design in development for quite
some time, always fine tuning it. But I think that
the the biggest piece of what we wanted to accomplish
was being able to interact with the guests and have
the guests interact with with our our comprehensive experience. So
from the start, when you walk up to a herstpag Get,
(14:00):
most of our locations, as you approach the entrance have
a this unbelievably designed cake room. So it's really it
pays homage to the cakers that are that are producing
the cakes and making the cakes icing them in the window.
So you know, picture families walking up with their kids
and the kids peering in the windows to see the
(14:21):
the cakers frost frost the top of you.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
It's a really cool European vibe, right like you're strolling
strolling down this you know, a street and you're seeing
the bakers and the window you know, applying the icing
and all that.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
That's very almost I want that Belle bell at the
Beauty and the Beast like you almost like you're maybe
to sound like that fall. That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
I love that. I mean, I also, you know, I
love the French blue Frankly and the logo. I just
you know that it's a little details like that that
make it experiential, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 5 (14:55):
And then the Center Island is another has been another
big hit for us. So guests have the opportunity to,
uh to peruse the Center Island and uh, you know,
so many guests we see when we're in cafes are
on Instagram. They're they're you know, making a real event
of their experience and posting. But and it makes it
interactive where you can actually interact with the with the
product where you're almost at one point surrounded between the
(15:16):
wall case and the center Island case. So it's really
enhances the experience we feel.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
You know, when when you get into let's talk about
the franchise experience a little bit more. You know, you're
you're signing all of these deals. I'm I'm assuming there's
got to be a pretty substantial training element to this
as well. Can you describe for us, you know, what
does a new franchise e, what's the what's the experience
of a new franchise are you? Are you sending them
to a bakery university? You know the tell tell us
(15:44):
a little bit more about that.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
Yeah, yeah, it's a great question. So to to achieve
the goal of having that extraally crafted product and high
high focus, incredible focus on product quality, Uh, there's a
really intense and rigorous training that's uh that that happens
in one of our two training centers, either here in
Monachy or a new facility that we're opening in Costa
(16:05):
Mesa in just a couple of weeks.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Nice.
Speaker 5 (16:08):
Yeah, So it's a it's a four week program. We
teach and train all the bacon, cake and sandwich products
at the at the training centers from the most basic
level of baking down to speed testing to make sure
they can keep up with volume at their grand opening.
So our training team does a phenomenal job to make
(16:28):
sure that the number of repetitions and focus on quality
is uh is at a premium.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
That's pretty cool, you know, I want to throw Yeah,
I'm I'm usually the guy that asked the technology questions
quite a bit on this pod and so I have
to stay trade to form with in that train in
those training sessions, are you going over the tech you know,
the tech stack? You know what is it like operationally
to run or paris back gat you know, what's what
(16:58):
does the tech stack look like? And and how is
how are you working that into the curriculum?
Speaker 5 (17:04):
Sure, incredible question. So post UH post our training center training,
we then have on site training where we review all
all facets of operating. Its incredible acclimation period for the
franchises and their team. So we review the process of
(17:25):
you know, online ordering via OLO catering, you know which
which will happen via OLO. A new innovation for us
which is actually really exciting where we're announcing in the
next a couple of weeks to our team is a
partnership with Avery Dennison on automation for inventory, r f
I D, program programming, and UH forecasting. So that's all
(17:50):
taught on site before the opening and it really helps
reinforce your point how to integrate technology with our with
our operations to make it easier.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Yeah, because let's face it, this is all about scaling,
right and when you're talking about going from two hundred
and fifty to one thousand. That's that's a terrific scaling challenge.
So that's where the tech comes in and for everybody
to be on the same page with what the different
tech looks like, how it operates, and how it really
(18:20):
kind of how it helps the franchise. E.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
I'm curious talking about tech, like what what are the
store is not in North America have technology wise that
we don't use here?
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Like are there anything?
Speaker 5 (18:33):
Are there?
Speaker 4 (18:33):
Is there anything in the Asian locations or other locations
that have something really cool that you could share?
Speaker 5 (18:41):
We try to stay up. We test consistently. We've tested
everything from locker automation like self service lockers, to kiosks
to I mean, you name it. We've we've probably tested
it at one point, and we really feel and an
essence of technologies and important via like online ordering, let's
(19:01):
say right for means of simplification, but we really are
intent is to stay true to that experiential nature of
walking into a bakery cafe and having the sheer variation
and mass amount of product that you can walk through
and experience and interact with as being the core of
our business.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
So with the amount of product you have, and you
guys have a lot, you know, I imagine you get us
to sell out every day, but probably not. So what
do you do with your extra food product at the
end of you know, three or five days, we need
a toss?
Speaker 5 (19:36):
Yeah, another great question. We actually we get that question
quite a bit because it's in a prepared food model.
There's inherent ways. And a couple of years ago we
actually rolled out a started with a local donation program
in New York City with City Harvest over twenty plus
locations and then quickly scaled that in partnership with Feeding
(19:59):
America across all all locations and it's been phenomenal and
they've been they've all been great partners. So essentially at
the core of it, every cafe donates to a local
pantry partner. Uh there their their products that's in access
at the end of every business day, and it's a
great way to give back to all local communities. I
love that.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
I think that is so cool. I wish that more.
I wish more restaurants did that. Do you have people
on your team that specifically are in charge of that, Like,
is that coming from h Q and how does that
Uh did that do you set that up for the
franchisee or is that something they're expected to set up
on their own.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
Yeah, So we we liaise the parent partnership with with
the the national organizations h and then we have during
the onboarding process our onboarding managers kind of liaise the
local relationships and get them set up once they open.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
That's awesome, Great.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
What does communication look like during the process of like
onboarding and then once they're live? Like what platform are
you using to communicate with your franchise?
Speaker 5 (21:00):
So we're very high touch throughout the process from franchise
sales to real estate, through process management and construction and
then beyond into operations and then through operations. But we
work with you know a number of different platforms in
different spaces to to enhance communication, one being frank Connect,
(21:23):
which is serves as a repository and yeah, I'm sure, you.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Know, yeah, very familiar, very familiar. Have my have my issues,
have my praises, but yeah, I'm very familiar.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Yeah, yeah, you know, let's let's let's turn back for
a second to market development and really you know what
your what your mission is, you know, site selection, market development,
your geographic strategy you're at. You know, you're currently in
over twenty five states, but what's your geographic expansion strategy
(21:55):
for reaching a thousand units? So you're going deeper into
existing markets, so you're pushing out into new territories. Can
you talk to us a little bit about that strategy?
Speaker 5 (22:05):
Sure, you know, I think I think to start a
little bit of a foundation of who who we've been
and some of our successes for the past few years
really helped us define where where we where we want
to go and define our strategy. And we're we've just
achieved eighteen straight quarters of positive comp sales and seventeen
(22:27):
straight quarters of positive comp guests count so so tracks
which we're we're so proud of in this uh, this
economic climate, especially the traffic component. So what does that
mean and how does that forward our development strategy? You know,
ultimately we see building out markets that are that are
high potential with the right operators and that makes it
(22:49):
sound a lot easier than what it really is. But
you know, phenomenal markets like you mentioned Boston with the
right operator, with the right grained opening strategy and the
you know, really helps helps us build out each of
those markets and do so in a responsible manner while
protecting our au vs, which are north of two point
(23:11):
approaching a three three million in our recent FDD published.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Wow, three millionaires. That's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
That's way higher than I anticipated.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Actually, Paul, I was like I was thinking like it
was two point five, two point seventy five, But that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Print what's the what what's what's the typical footprint for
a for a PV.
Speaker 5 (23:28):
We're about three thousand square feet?
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Okay, yeah, so that's yeah, you're right there. That's a
great Those are great numbers, man. So you know, you
you have this another interesting thing about Paris Vaguette, right, well,
there's also kind of this unique Korean type of you know,
there's an Asian influence to the brand as well. You
have this Korean French kind of positioning. From a marketing perspective,
(23:54):
how does that influence your site selection and market uh
entry strategies?
Speaker 5 (24:00):
Yeah, another great question. We were so we were born
French inspired, born out of Soeul, South Korea, and now
we're we're operating and scaling in North America. So you know,
our our our heritage is in the company's heritage. Heritage
is important to us. But over the past few years,
(24:22):
really since the pandemic, we've gained the understanding that we
we succeed in in in most markets, whether that's CBD,
Asian leaning markets, uh, non Asian, right, traditional markets, Midwest uh.
And it's been an incredible learning journey and experience too
as our brand has grown and uh and scale.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Do you look at your competitors, Nick?
Speaker 5 (24:46):
You know? Do you is?
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Are there certain competitors that you have that have had
you know, success in markets and you are you overlaying
that onto the strategy at all? And feel free to
name names?
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Yeah, please, let's do it.
Speaker 5 (25:03):
We're we're always we're always watching the market and uh,
you know, we we view we've viewed so many brands
as potential competitors in the space. As we play in coffee, beverage,
we play in cake, whole, cake slice, we play in
bread and pastry, right, sandwich, salad. So we're always looking
at what the market, what's happening in the market, and
(25:26):
always assessing internally how we can be how we can
be better, and how we can continue to grow and
enhance our business.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
That was safe, That was a very safe response. That's fine,
he's been trained.
Speaker 5 (25:41):
Kidding.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
No, I get it, I get it.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
But there are a lot of Greek and I'll just
name it names so you don't have to and you
can just sort of stay straight face. Right, I'm always
fascinated because I own a bakery.
Speaker 5 (25:52):
Right.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
I watch Susie Cakes very closely. Right.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
They are a very interesting model. They are very fast
turned around. We actually still some of their staff recently
because we wanted to learn about how they do their production.
It's really incredible. And I was stunned when I took
over a bakery like people, and I love this for us,
for you, for me, for everybody, Like everyone is celebrating
(26:15):
with cake these days.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Like there's a lot of desire for it.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
I mean we get phone desperate phone calls from people
like fathers who forgot their kids' birthdays.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
It's usually the number one desperate phone call. Yeah, and
then good job, Paul.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
So I'm curious, like what does that look like in
terms of like in store, Like do you push people
to like order through olo through the individual websites? Or
can do people call and you get the orders that way?
How does that order process look like?
Speaker 5 (26:42):
Yeah, all the above, you know, over eighty percent of
our orders are in person at the at the at
the bakeries, and which we love. I mean, we love
the fact that guests come in and there's this whimsical
nature you know, of being able to like explore cakes
and bakery products and you know, point at a window
and select your favorite cake and really have an experience
(27:03):
and discuss you know, what's inside, what's what's the filling
made of? What you know, what's what the icing is
made of, and that that experience is so special. But
to your point, we do we do support online ordering,
We support you know, phone olders things like that to
accommodate the guests.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
But you know, the Paris bag At experience truly is
like an in store experience. So it's not Uh, I
was anticipate. I wasn't anticipating, like, you know, half of
your sales coming from digital, but to hear that it's
about twenty percent of your sales, is that something that
do you see an opportunity there to grow the digital
business more? Or do you like do you like this ratio?
Speaker 5 (27:42):
We we talk about it internally all the time all
the time, and we we of course like the We
like the revenue, right, but we we also we see
our brands as really experience based when when you walk
into a Paris Baghett, So, I think there's that fine
line of you know, maintaining the soul of the brand
and who we want to be now in long term
(28:05):
and then being able to meet guest demand, you know,
via technology and new vehicles.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Right. Right, So when you're when you're shopping or when
you're inside of a Paris back at you're it's a
new customer should not expect to see like digital kiosks
for ordering. This is a personal experience, right.
Speaker 5 (28:27):
Correct, Yeah, that's what we aim for. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Absolutely. So with regard then to you know, the customer experience.
You know, the one thing that I feel that digital
does do really well, uh is the up sell opportunities, right,
you know, that's that's something that's always been difficult to
kind of get across, you know, with the staff training
(28:50):
and you know them truly understanding the menu and the
up selling. Is that something that you know, how big
does does the ups tell become in terms of your
your your customer strategy.
Speaker 5 (29:06):
Yeah, it's it's a huge part of the enhancing the
guest experience. We like to say, yeah, you know, I
think that the guest experience. You know, I mentioned product
quality earlier, but right up there with product quality is
guest experience and and how we're able to accommodate. So,
you know, being able to suggest, offer a suggestion, you know,
(29:31):
offer a you know, a variation of a size to
to a guest that may not be familiar with our
brand in a new market. It enhances the guest experience.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Right, I have Sorry, Paul, give Helena, well, if you
want to take us into the future.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
I could.
Speaker 4 (29:46):
I had some some quick questions related to it's a
franchise real quick that I wanted to just give Nick
a chance to go through. We'll go through really quick
and then we'll talk about sort of future state. Nick, So,
what is the biggest franchise myth that you wish.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
You could bust?
Speaker 5 (30:01):
Franchise myth? That's a good one.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 5 (30:05):
Uh maybe I'm officially too new in my role to
know what the myths are to uh to pave a
path forward.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Come back, come back into position. That question is like,
give this give us a hate to tell you butt,
you know, I hate to tell you, but franchising isn't
this it's really about this.
Speaker 5 (30:25):
I really believe that it's uh, it's it's about building
great relationships and support. You know, I think any most anomalists,
conversations or discrepancies or you know, differences of opinion can
easily be satisfied with picking up the phone and calling
someone And it could be a franchisee, could be someone
(30:47):
you know down the hall and UH and solving it
over the phone and just having a discussion. And I
really believe our team does does that very well in
terms of being able to communicate proactively.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Got it?
Speaker 4 (31:00):
Okay, what what's the most underrated US market for QSR
growth right now?
Speaker 5 (31:06):
Kansas has treated us very well.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Yeah, good, that's wonderful. Underrated, Absolutely, I would definitely say
that's underrated.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Thinking about you know, you know it's Kansas.
Speaker 5 (31:16):
Uh, it's it's it's funny. Kansas and Oklahoma have been
have been very very good to Paris. But get which
you know, you mentioned what our development strategy is and
you know we we dropped a cafe into the uh,
the Wichita, Kansas a couple of years ago and was
one of the top you know, incredible performer.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
I love, Well, that's so cool.
Speaker 4 (31:37):
Having just I was just in Tulsa earlier this week,
and like, having driven through a lot of Oklahoma, I
can see why they need a little, a little, they
need a little they need some zig for sure.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
So Nick, in your opinion, what do you think is
more critical location for the operator?
Speaker 5 (31:53):
I have to say operator, I think, Uh, I think
that curating the guest experience and leading it even passionate
individuals is so important. But what one a is certainly location? Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Well, and part of that too, I think, is that
community aspect that you brought up right, Like, if you
have a great operator, then they know how to really
be become a part of it makes the community, you know,
the star of the show, right, they know how to
bring that in. So regardless of the location, there's going
to be somebody that can bring people together. Ye be
(32:30):
part of that.
Speaker 5 (32:31):
People will travel for a great experience.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
That's true too. You know, let's look let's look forward.
Let's wrap this up on a couple of the future
visions and challenges that you're going to be facing. Nick,
God bless you, you know, looking looking to uh what
is do you guys? Are you guys thinking about what
success looks like after a thousand locations, you know, and
(32:55):
that sustainability, like, how are you looking at sustainable growth?
Speaker 5 (32:59):
Yeah, always thinking about what the future holds as we
really hone in on our trajectory and tangible trajectory to
to and beyond a thousand. Yeah, we also believe there's
a there's a real pathway beyond that, and you know,
we have what the assemblance of what that will look
like mapped out across across North America. We're also looking
(33:21):
at opportunities in Mexico, Central America, and then beyond that
South America.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Oh beautiful. So this expansion journey, the challenges, you know,
what do you think is the biggest challenge that you're
going to have to overcome? Is it? Is it finding
just the right location? So it's kind of boils down,
it feels like you're boiling it. It boils down to
the operator or the location. Like Anna kind of mentioned,
(33:48):
is it is it the site selections or is it
finding the right operators?
Speaker 5 (33:52):
Yeah? I think they're all the locations, the operators, they're
all they will present, you know, effort behind them. But
I think as an organization, you know, we say this
pretty often, we're we're not the same company yesterday that
we are today, that we will be tomorrow, and you know,
(34:13):
really doubling back on the processes and systems we had
in place yesterday how they'll interact with our franchise owners
and our business tomorrow. Is a constant reiteration and a
constant look back and look look ahead to make sure
that we have the right systems, processes, and platforms and
partnerships in place to be able to scale, whether that's
two fifty to one thousand or one thousand to two thousand, right.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
And you know, at some point too, particularly as you
go into all of these different markets, you're you know,
your entire marketing plan is going to change as well,
like the way that you approach media buying and the
way that you approach you know, advertising in these new markets,
and some markets you have tremendous brand equity and you
kind of grow in these concentric circles outward, but in
(34:57):
other markets, you're you know, you're you're plopping in fresh.
That's those I think are some of the hardest challenges
I've seen franchise franchise ors go through.
Speaker 5 (35:07):
When you when you you know.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Set yourself into a new into a new market, how
do you create that, you know, how do you create
that big brand kind of experience?
Speaker 5 (35:20):
That's yeah?
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Is that something that I'm assuming that your marketing team
is thinking about or how do they think about that?
Speaker 5 (35:29):
Yeah? They do a phenomenal job planning. I wish I
knew their secret sauce behind how they do it, but
they do a phenomenal job. Actually, we're going to celebrate
our formally celebrate our two hudred and fiftieth on August
twenty first and down in Maryland, and I'm sure that
festivities will be will be phenomenal.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Oh that's fun.
Speaker 4 (35:49):
So Nick, what okay? What is your order when you
go into Paris bagat right? What is the pasture you
go for? What is a coffee or tea you order?
Speaker 3 (35:55):
What do you what do you do?
Speaker 5 (35:58):
I love our on donut all variations, Lemony is my favorite,
and I'm a classic Classic Brood coffee. I love our
Lavazza coffee and classic Black Brood coffee is I think
it's delicious. What about you?
Speaker 4 (36:17):
Well, I went gluten free recently, so I'm still trying
to figure out like my favorite I need. I haven't
visited Paris Bag yet since I went gluten free, so
I'll have to take a look at what you've got
for me.
Speaker 5 (36:28):
Okay, sounds good. Same here.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
I got to get myself over to Summerville or Quincy
and soon hopefully the seaport. And but I'll tell you
what though, you can't you really can't go wrong with
any Lavaza products. So's that's pretty great? Hey, Nick, it
was awesome talking with you today. What's next for you?
Where are we going to? Where are you next going
(36:52):
on your expansion for Vails?
Speaker 5 (36:55):
Next new state will be Connecticut. That'll be number twenty
seven for us in the US, and you know, exciting
new ventures. We have a Puerto Rico coming next year,
eight new states coming in twenty twenty six, and a
bunch more beyond that. So EXCEC time is it for
our journey?
Speaker 1 (37:16):
Fantastic Nick, Scotcha everybody. Paris Bagatt, Chief Development Officer. Thanks
so much for John yus for spending some time with us.
We really appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (37:24):
Thank you, guys, appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Nick.
Speaker 5 (37:26):
Thank you
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