Longtime Paris Baguette Fans Bringing Franchise to Local Seattle Community

Yoon Chang, an experienced entrepreneur who’s owned and operated businesses in the dry-cleaning and bubble-tea industries, has been a long-time fan of Paris Baguette, the global bakery café franchise. Whenever he would visit a location that had a café, he would wonder: “When will Paris Baguette open in Seattle?” So, after some deliberation with his nephew, Joshua Chang, Yoon decided to open one in the area himself. 

The uncle and nephew franchise duo are bringing Paris Baguette to the Seattle suburb of Lynnwood, making this the first Paris Baguette café to open in Washington. The Changs look forward to opening a place where the community can gather and enjoy Paris Baguette’s freshly baked goods. 

1851 Franchise spoke to Yoon and Joshua about their journey to franchising and plans for the future.

1851 Franchise: Frame your personal story for us. What did you do before franchising, and how did you decide franchising made sense for you?

Yoon: I’m a business owner. I was doing a bubble tea franchise and, before that, I was doing a dry cleaning business. I was drawn to Paris Baguette because it’s a very big company. It has over 4,000 locations. Every time I would visit a location that had a café, I would wonder when one would open in Seattle. I ended up connecting with the brand and inquiring about opening one myself. And that’s how I ended up here. I’ve always wanted to open a company like this one. 

Joshua: I had a couple career changes before landing in IT, where I'm currently working, and throughout these changes, one thing has always been on my mind; owning my own business. 

I never thought I could own my own business, let alone a franchise, because it seemed out of reach and wasn't a realistic consideration for me. So when my uncle came across the opportunity to open up a Paris Baguette, I knew this was something I wanted to be a part of. A lot of moving pieces had to align for me to partner up with my uncle and am excited to learn and work hard to this new chapter in my life.

1851: What was your perception of franchising prior to becoming a franchisee, and what do you want people to know about franchising now that you are in it?

Joshua: For me, franchising — owning a business — it's all new to me. Luckily, my uncle has experience with a bubble tea franchise so his experience and knowledge in this area has been essential for the formation of this Paris Baguette location. The process of opening Paris Baguette and shadowing my uncle has really opened my eyes. It’s been a “go-go-go” mentality and I’ve been trying to keep up and absorb as much as I can. Working with a franchise, especially one of this magnitude, has been great — we've received a lot of support from the corporate level, but it also motivates us to do well to not let others down.

1851: What made you pick this brand? What excites you most about this company?

Yoon: I really like the quality of the products. I went to Korea and they have so many Paris Baguettes - it's like the Starbucks of Korea, one at every corner. It was so popular there, which made me wonder how successful it would be here. Every time I go to a Paris Baguette, I always end up buying so many baked goods, and still my family and I eat it all. Also, Paris Baguette is such a dominant company because of the quality and I think it will do really well here. Paris Baguette makes fresh baked goods everyday. There aren't many good bakeries around anymore in the area so, I'm excited for this great addition to the community. 

1851: What do you hope to achieve with your business? What are your plans for growth? 

Yoon:  I was blessed with this opportunity so I hope to make people smile with the baked goods we make at our store. I think if we can make our customers happy and smile, we are doing a good job. It’s all about the customers. And our plans for growth are to learn a lot from Paris Baguette so we can make great hires whom we can teach and share the experience with. I think business success comes from having a solid team and treating your employees right.

1851: What is the one thing about your story you want us to know?

Joshua: I think, for me, it's where we came from. We came from a small mom-and-pop dry cleaning business. I’ve been working with my uncle for awhile and seen how hard he worked, the hardships he’s been through and how he worked his way up over the past 15 years or so. I want people to know that he’s a very hard worker and it took real effort to get to where he is now. It's really inspiring to see what hard work can do.

Yoon: I think it's a blessing to be able to connect with customers and fulfill their needs. Service is very important to us — it’s the key to success. 

1851: What advice do you have for other people thinking about becoming a franchise owner?

Yoon: It can be very hard. It's a bigger process than I thought. And it requires a lot more skills than I thought previously. It can be overwhelming, but we are trying to get used to it and do our best to achieve success. If you can, franchise is the way to go. It's not that I don't think small businesses can be successful, but owning a franchise is dreaming big.

ABOUT PARIS BAGUETTE: 

Paris Baguette is a bakery café franchise with more than 4,000 units across the globe. The global brand first franchised in the U.S. in 2015 and has since established over 160 locations in markets across the country, making it one of the premier franchise opportunities in its category. Paris Baguette’s primary mission, executed every day by its expert staff of bakers, cakers and baristas, is to share moments of joy with guests and help guests share moments of joy with their friends and family by providing world-class cakes, pastries, coffees, breads and other French-inspired bakery café fare. To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit https://ownaparisbaguette.com/.