Can Paris Baguette, Tous Les Jours make it overseas?

By Cathy Rose A. Garcia

The ``bakery war’’ between Paris Baguette of SPC Group and Tous Les Jours of CJ Foodville recently sank to a new low, when a debt-ridden baker of Tous Les Jours plotted to bring down a cross-street rival Paris Baguette in Pyeongtaek by planting a dead rat in a loaf of bread.

The intense rivalry between the two bakeries can be seen at almost every street corner in Seoul. Often Paris Baguette and Tous Les Jours branches are across the street or even a few steps away from each other.

Paris Baguette is the undoubted market leader with nearly twice the number of stores compared to challenger Tous Les Jours. The two bakeries are trying to lure customers with freshly baked treats, new flavors and discounts to attract fickle customers.

The Korea Times visited some Paris Baguette and Tous Les Jours outlets to see whether the heightened competition is bringing better bread and services for consumers.

Paris Baguette

Paris Baguette, owned by food conglomerate SPC Group, is the bigger franchise with over 2,600 stores throughout the country.

Its outlets are generally brightly lit and clean, with the familiar blue and white logo prominently displayed on the exterior.

When you go inside, you pick up a paper-lined tray and a pair of tongs to use when picking pastries. The bakery offers a curious mix of Korean, French and Western-style breads and pastries. One will find old Korean favorites like red bean bread (700 won), alongside French baguettes (1,600 won), apple pies (1,500 won) and cheese paninis (1,500 won). Other popular items include the cream cheese walnut bread, sweet pumpkin cream cheese bread, croissants, brown bread and coffee buns.

There are markers to indicate the names of each product in both Korean and English, as well as nutritional information and the calorie count. This allows consumers to make informed choices when picking what bread to buy, but none are below 200 calories.

On its website (www.paris.co.kr), Paris Baguette lists the nutritional information of each of its products, not just the calorie count, but also sugar, protein, saturated fats and sodium content.

A piece of mocha bread (2,000 won) is usually 215 calories with 13 grams of sugar, 4 grams of protein, 2 grams of saturated fat and 220 milligrams of sodium.

However, the freshness of the bread and other pastries may depend on the Paris Baguette outlet. Most of the products are baked on site, and although there is a standard recipe, the quality varies from store to store.

In the morning, it is easy to tell which items are freshly baked but as the day drags on, it seems some of the pastries look dry or lose their texture. The croissants might be perfectly flaky and buttered in the morning, but they get a bit greasy or soggy by late afternoon.

Tous Les Jours

Tous Les Jours, a brand under CJ Group’s CJ Foodville, is trying to up its game to overtake Paris Baguette as the market leader. Refreshing its image as an ``artisan bakery,’’ Tous Les Jours promises to offer freshly baked goods at its outlets.

Since it started in 1996, Tous Les Jours has opened outlets, now numbering 1,400 throughout the country.

In the past, Tous Les Jours seemed like the less attractive version of Paris Baguette. Its outlets often felt old, while its breads were mostly bland.

Now, with its new brand image, Tous Les Jours is giving Paris Baguette a run for its money.

Inside the Myeongdong branch, trays of fresh pastries are laid out, also with small markers indicating the name (in English and Korean), a short description, calorie count and nutritional content (only in Korean). There’s a sweet potato pie (1,200 won, 320 calories), strawberry jam pastry (1,200 won, 255 calories), twin egg bread (1,700 won, 225 calories) and red bean paste bun (1,000 won, 275 calories).

Overly decorated cakes, such as Kiss Kiss Strawberry (16,000 won) and Propose Heart Cake (13,000 won), are displayed for sale in the refrigerated glass case.

This Tous Les Jours outlet has enough chairs and tables to make it feel more like a cafe, where you can sit down enjoy a piece of cake or cream puffs with a cup of coffee. However, on the second floor, there may be more chairs and tables, but boxes are untidily piled up in the corner.

Tous Les Jours is known for its star marketing, such as using actor Won Bin and figure-skating star Kim Yu-na in its advertising campaigns. The bakery still offers the ``Yu-na’’ triple cheese cake, bagel and other ``healthier’’ treats named after Kim.

Tous Les Jours might have a revamped image right now, but it should work to have a more distinctive identity and products unique from Paris Baguette.

Too many similarities

There is little to distinguish Paris Baguette and Tous Les Jours from each other. Both have pretty much the same Asian-French bakery concept and similar products. From its flaky pastries to fluffy cream cakes, one cannot tell one chain’s product from the other.

The two bakeries both sell similar soft cakes. The individually packed cakes come in cheese, mocha and sweet potato flavors. Save for the logo and printed information on the plastic packaging, the goods are barely indistinguishable from each other. Both are oblong-shaped, have the same fluffy texture and even the same price (1,000 won).

It’s hard to say who is copying who, but there is little to be gained for both brands if they just continue offering similar products to consumers.

Paris Baguette and Tous Les Jours are expanding their presence in the U.S. and other countries, but both will have to really step up their game and provide exclusive products and excellent service when competing in the global markets.

파리 바게뜨와 뚜레주르, 해외에서 통할까?

파리바게뜨는 고전하고 있는 뚜레쥬르 보다 두 배 이상 큰 시장으로 제빵업계를 주도하고 있다는 것은 확실하다. 두 매장은 신선한 제빵 취급, 새로운 맛 그리고 할인을 통해 고객들을 끌어들이려고 하고 있다.

파리 바게뜨

SPC 그룹이 운영하는 파리 바게뜨는 전국에 2600개가 넘는 매장이 있다. 비록 같은 회사지만, 파리바게뜨는 매장에 따라 빵의 신선도가 다르다. 같은 레시피를 보고 만들어진 빵이어도, 매장마다 빵의 질은 다양하다.

뚜레주르

CJ 그룹의 매장인 뚜레주르는 제빵 시장을 주도하고 있는 파리바게뜨를 이기기 위해 고군분투하고 있다.

명동 뚜레쥬르 매장엔 테이블과 의자가 많이 있어 커피와 빵을 마시며, 여유를 즐길 수 있지만, 잘 정돈되지 않은 2층 박스들은 지저분해 보였다.

뚜레쥬르는 피겨 스케이팅 스타 김연아를 앞세워 홍보하고 있지만, 파리파게뜨의 제품들보다 더 특별함으로 차별화 되어야만 한다.

너무 같은 두 매장.

두 매장을 방문한 결과 파리 바게뜨와 뚜레쥬르, 두 매장의 우열을 가리기 힘들었다. 두 매장 모두 아시아적 프랑스 제빵이라는 컨셉을 가지고 있었으며 제품 또한 비슷했다.

비슷한 제품을 가지고 있다고 해서 누가 누구를 따라 했다고 말하기는 어렵지만, 만약 이런 식으로 가다가는 두 매장이 얻어지는 이익은 적어질 것이다.
파리바게뜨와 뚜레쥬르는 미국을 비롯해 다른 나라들로 확장해 가고 있지만, 세계 시장에서 경쟁 하기 위해서는 차별화된 상품과 최고의 서비스를 제공해야만 할 것이다.