Paris Baguette Café opened its doors in Midvale, marking the first of the franchise in Utah. 

Paris Baguette is a South Korean bakery and café chain offering a variety of pastries, sandwiches, salads and beverages. Paris Baguette has 4,000 units worldwide with 160 in the United States and more on the way. The new Midvale location is at 950 E. Fort Union Blvd.

Su Kim, the franchisee over the location, immigrated from South Korea to pursue her master’s degree. She’s been in the financial industry working for Goldman Sachs for over a decade. Recently, she wanted to branch out and do something to benefit the local community, leading to her decision to open the bakery café franchise. 

“Growing up back in my hometown, that store, Paris Baguette, was everywhere in the neighborhood given that the brand itself originated from my home country,” Kim said. “So I was very familiar with the brand and the product that it offers and the environment of the café itself.”

Kim said since opening day, she has seen continuous support from the community. On their first day, the café sold over 3,000 products and over 600 people. That continued as the week went on and Kim said she was blown away by the reaction from the community. She spoke about a family that brought their own game to the café and had fun while drinking coffee and enjoying the pastries.

“It's exactly what my family had done back home,” Kim said. “It reminded me a lot of those memories, great memories of our childhood, and seeing the smile on every guest. It was just amazing.” 

Paris Baguette is working to expand through meaningful partnerships, hoping to have 1,000 locations in the U.S. by 2030. 

Eric Lavinder, the CDO of Paris Baguette Café, said it was a natural progression to move from California, to Nevada and finally to Utah. He said it was a “long time coming,” but they didn’t want to move too fast and not have the café be the best it could be. 

After the café in Midvale opened, he said it exceeded their expectations for how well it would do. Lavinder said they always hope for their cafés to do well, but the Midvale café went beyond their expectations. 

It can take a year or longer to open one of their businesses, and they take their time with it. Lavinder said it’s “important to do it right the first time,” no matter how long it takes the franchise owner. 

Both Lavinder and Kim want to see the café expand into different parts of Utah, both looking at areas in Salt Lake City for the next location. λ