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| Customers are inside the Paris Baguette bakery store at Jewel Changi Airport, an entertainment and retail complex on the inside of Changi Airport in Singapore. The Korean chain bakery chain run by SPC will open its first store in Indonesia next month, part of the conglomerate's move to expand its bakery business in Southeast Asia. Korea Times file |
By Yi Whan-woo
Paris Baguette, Korea's largest bakery chain, run by SPC Group, has set up a joint venture with Indonesia's Erajaya Group. This move is the latest by the Korean conglomerate to expand its bakery business across Southeast Asia.
SPC Group said Monday that a deal on the joint entity was made between Paris Baguette Singapore LTD, which oversees Paris Baguette's Southeast Asia operations, and the conglomerate's Indonesian affiliate, Erajaya Food and Nourishment (EFN).
The joint firm, PT Era Boga Patiserindo, will open the first Paris Baguette store in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta in November. More stores will be opened in other major regions, such as Bali and Sumatra.
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| The company logos for SPC and Indonesia's Erajaya Group / Courtesy of SPC |
Indonesia will be the seventh overseas market to host a Paris Baguette bakery, following China, the United States, France, Vietnam, Singapore and Cambodia, amounting to more than 430 chain stores combined.
Indonesia is considered a lucrative market in the region, as it is ASEAN's most populous country, with over 270 million people.
With nearly 90 percent of its people being Muslim, Indonesia also tops the list of countries with the largest Islamic populations, and stands out as a "bridgehead" to expand into the Middle East and other Muslim-majority regions.
"We're glad to feature Paris Baguette, a world-class bakery brand, in Indonesia," EFN CEO Gabrielle Halim said.
He expressed hope to nurture Paris Baguette as Indonesia's "best bakery brand" by getting the best out of the Korean firm's excellent quality and Erajaya Group's business expertise and network.
The CEO made note of Erajaya Group, as a distributor and retailer of telecommunications devices, as having a wide network and broad infrastructure across the Indonesian archipelago.
The company's sales network has been enhanced by grocery stores, restaurants and cosmetics stores that it later advanced into.
SPC Group Executive Vice President Hur Jin-Soo said he believes that Indonesia's fast economic growth offers a high potential for the bakery and confectionary businesses.
"Along with Singapore, Vietnam and Cambodia, we'll accelerate business expansion in the region," Hur said, adding that the conglomerate will push to open another business in Malaysia in the near future.
