Paris Baguette Franchise information

Q&A With Eric Lavinder, Chief Development Officer

Paris Baguette’s Chief Development Officer discusses what makes the brand unique, recent milestones and what’s to come.

Paris Baguette, the bakery café concept with 4,000 units worldwide, is amid an exciting growth trajectory, and they have no signs of slowing down. As the brand aims to establish 1,000 U.S. units by 2030, Eric Lavinder, chief development officer, discusses why now is a great time to invest in the brand and how Paris Baguette stands out within the fast-casual space.

1851 Franchise: How did you fall into franchising?

Eric Lavinder: Franchising is something that I believe you just fall into. Unless you have history in the industry or a family member that has owned franchises, it’s not the path you would just wake up one day and think to be involved in. 

For me, I had worked for a bank and commercial real estate for a while, and I was really looking to do something on my own. I got into franchising through franchise ownership first and then went to work for the franchisor after learning all the great things that a franchisor does to help support franchisees. 

1851 Franchise: How has experience on both sides impacted how you view franchising now?

Lavinder: The most interesting part of my journey has been learning how hard it actually is to truly support franchisees. Not because we’re not capable or experienced, but because we want to help them in every way we possibly can. It’s not just about signing the agreement or evaluating a lease, it’s about helping the franchisee through every step of the process– after they open and through the term of their agreement. Along this journey, there can be trials, disagreements and directional differences– it’s not just a set-it-and-forget-it deal. As a franchisee, you are not aware of how many opinions are being given to the franchisor side. There is a group of people who are all giving feedback and asking for more or less, and the franchisor has a lot of data and information to help them figure out how they’re going to best support the collective franchisees, not just the individual franchisee.

1851 Franchise: How has the experience in marketing, operations and now, sales, propelled you as someone who is now developing or awarding franchises?

Lavinder: Every franchisee that’s coming into the system — and those already in the system — have things they’re really good at and things they struggle with. No one can be the best or the most experienced in everything, so it's a matter of figuring out how you best support each set of franchisees, whether it be operationally, training, hiring, recruiting, catering and any other various areas of need. There are so many different things you can do to support them. It's figuring out how you can best help that collective group of people to help drive their business through benchmarking or KPIs and having great conversations between franchisees. 

From my standpoint of just specifically franchise development, having owned and operated a number of locations has given me an opportunity to really see how much goes into the development process and how important it is. I want to create those systems and processes for current and new franchisees through best practices for things that I probably experienced pitfalls with firsthand. I want to prevent those things from happening to people in the future. 

The franchisee needs to be happy and successful, and the franchisor wants to have the royalties coming in for more advertising and more room for growth. Supporting that both ways, not just one direction, is very important in the bigger picture for long-term sustainability.

1851 Franchise: What are you excited about with Paris Baguette?

Lavinder: I love Paris Baguette for so many reasons. We’re a large enterprise brand, but in the U.S., we’re an emerging brand. That, to me, is amazing because you’ve got the staying power, brand awareness, financial resources, great leadership and proven concept, but in the U.S., we can operate like an emerging brand. People have traveled and recognize the brand, but because we’re emerging in the U.S., we have a great opportunity to bring in franchisees who already know the brand, have experienced the flavor profiles or are excited about bringing something new to North America.

1851 Franchise: How are you approaching development given the supply and demand issue?

Lavinder: We don’t really have to sell people on what the dream is, and that puts us in a much better situation for franchise development. We can focus on making sure that we’re growing in the right markets with the right people. We’re at a very interesting time in the brand’s history and growth, and we’re being selective to find what we believe are the right partners to help us continue to grow the brand.

We’re in the niche of the neighborhood bakery café, and others aren’t doing what we’re doing. We’re really staying true to our roots. We’re working to ensure that while we’re growing as fast as we can, that we do so while maintaining that same level of consistency and control to avoid the same pitfalls that other brands who have grown too quickly have experienced. It’s a very delicate balance of growing quickly but making sure that we can handle that growth.

1851 Franchise: Why is Paris Baguette friendly to almost every type of customer?

Lavinder: Bread is a universal food. Everyone eats some type of bread product, and most, if not all, love coffee, hot chocolate, espresso or a cold brew. Who doesn’t like a little bit of chocolate or a donut? 

We have breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack and dessert; we have so many opportunities for someone to come in and enjoy a snack or meal from Paris Baguette. We cover all three dayparts and everything in between.

Our ability to offer so much variety to so many different people is what helps us stand out and scale.

1851 Franchise: If you go back to when you decided to be a franchisee, assuming you’re appropriately capitalized, is there any hurdle that would prevent you from saying “yes” to this opportunity?

Lavinder: As long as you don’t mind hard work, which is any restaurant business, the only other hurdle is financial. The bigger the investment, the bigger the opportunity. If it had been available at the time, the top things I would’ve looked at in this opportunity are validation, Item 19 and actual growth, and we are seeing substantial success in those categories.

1851 Franchise: What do you want a candidate to know about the opportunity?

Lavinder: You should evaluate what you’re looking for. This is an amazing brand with amazing potential for growth, but it has to be the right fit for the right person. This is hard work. You will get up early in the morning to get the café ready to sell cakes, breads and pastries all morning. But, the work is very rewarding. You also have a tremendous team behind you with years of experience.

We’re finding, as we grow into new markets, that we have great success in newer markets. We’re bringing the concept to people who have seen or heard of us, but haven’t been able to make it to New York, New Jersey or California to try Paris Baguette. When we open in a new market, there’s this group of people who are so excited for us to be there, and they spread that excitement to friends, family members and coworkers. This pattern just solidifies our ability to continue expanding the brand across the country with a tremendous reception each time.