Paris Baguette opens regional Halal food hub in Johor

Paris Baguette, a bakery chain under South Korean food company SPC Group, has opened a new halal-certified regional manufacturing hub in Nusajaya Tech Park, Johor, Malaysia as part of its strategic expansion into the US$2.5 trillion (RM11.2 trillion) halal food market. 

The facility spans 12,900 square meters, and houses seven production lines capable of producing up to 300,000 bakery products daily, or 100 million bakery products per annum. It represents an approximate US$56 million (RM247 million) investment by SPC Group, doubling its initial budget.  
 
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The Paris Baguette regional Halal food hub in Johor will allow the bakery brand to expand its supply to the Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern markets. This comes amid the company’s plans to broaden its Halal-certified product offerings to North America, Europe and Africa. 

Paris Baguette currently operates in six Southeast Asian countries, including Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Philippines. It is also preparing to enter Thailand, Brunei, and Laos through master franchise agreements. Its entrance into the Saudi Arabian and UAE markets are also reportedly underway.

Hur Young In, chairman of SPC Group said that the completion of the Johor production center marks a significant milestone which strengthens its global supply chain and secures a solid foundation for sustainable growth.  

In a Bernama report, Hana Lee, chief executive officer of Paris Baguette for Asia-Pacific, Middle Eastern and African markets said the new facility underscores the group’s long-term commitment to enlarge its footprint across high-growth halal markets and is confident the new facility will play a pivotal role in SPC Group’s global expansion. 

Meanwhile, SPC Samlip, a SPC Group subsidiary specialised in food manufacturing and distribution, is also planning to manufacture export-oriented Halal products at the Johor facility. It will leverage the production centre as a strategic base for business expansions in SEA and the Middle East.  

SPC Group is also actively establishing other production hubs across key global regions, including a Tianjin plant in China, and another in Texas, USA. This is amid the group’s plans to open 12,000 stores worldwide by 2030.  

Currently, Paris Baguette operates approximately 4,000 stores across the US, Canada, France, UK, China and Southeast Asia. In 2023, it surpassed 500 outlets outside of South Korea. The French-inspired fast-casual bakery was founded in 1988 in South Korea. 

Recently, the F&B industry in SEA has been experiencing a boom, with news of Tealive expanding into India, as well as ZUS Coffee's regional expansions and new outlets in Singapore. In January, Malaysian coffee chain Oriental Kopi also announced its initial public offering to raise RM183.96 million to fuel its expansion plans within Malaysia, as well as its packaged food segments. 

Over in the Philippines, Jollibee Group has also opened its first Tiong Bahru Bakery in the Philippines, making it the first international branch for the Singaporean bakery. Jollibee also revealed plans to expand Milksha (known as Milkshop in Taiwan) in the Philippines with its first-ever standalone concept store. This is after the group announced in November last year, that it will fully take over Hong Kong's Tim Ho Wan by acquiring the remaining 8% stake in the dim sum restaurant.

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