The most expensive mainstream bakery cafe franchise in the US, and the one with the highest average sales. Here is the full cost, and who it is actually for.
Paris Baguette is a French-inspired bakery cafe owned by SPC Group of South Korea. Stores sell breads, pastries, cakes and coffee, finished and baked in-store daily from dough and components supplied by the franchisor. The company has passed 300 US locations and has publicly targeted 1,000 across North America by 2030, backed by a $160 million bakery plant under construction in Texas. It ranked #42 on Entrepreneur's 2025 Franchise 500.
| Paris Baguette | BreadHaus | |
|---|---|---|
| Total initial investment | $727,440 to $1,825,100 | $227,500 to $580,000 |
| Initial franchise fee | $50,000 ($40,000 for additional units) | $45,000 |
| Royalty | 5% of gross sales | 6% of gross sales |
| Marketing | 2% brand fund + 1% local | 1% brand fund + 2% local |
| Liquid capital required | $500,000 | No minimum |
| Net worth required | $1,500,000 | No minimum |
| Typical store | About 3,000 sq ft cafe with seating | 2,500 to 3,000 sq ft bakery |
| US locations | 300+ (about 197 at end of 2024) | 2, both in Texas |
| Item 19 (avg unit sales) | $2,861,550 (2024); $3,031,887 (2025) | $739,533 (Grapevine, 2025) |
| Military discount | 15% off franchise fee | 20% off franchise fee |
About the numbers on this page. BreadHaus figures come from our 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document. Figures for other brands come from their own franchise websites and from published summaries of their FDDs, with the source and date noted. Franchisors update their FDDs every spring, so verify any figure against the brand's current FDD before you rely on it. BreadHaus is not affiliated with any brand named here. Where a brand's FDD includes an Item 19, we report what it says; we make no claim about what you would earn with any brand, including ours. Some BreadHaus outlets have earned the amount shown. Your individual results may differ. There is no assurance that you'll earn as much.
The $727,440 to $1,825,100 range is wide because Paris Baguette cafes are large, usually around 3,000 square feet and sometimes up to 5,000, with full seating and a coffee program. A ground-up build in an expensive metro lands near the top. The franchise fee is $50,000 for a first unit and $40,000 for each additional one, which tells you something about who they are recruiting: the discount is designed for multi-unit operators.
Ongoing, you pay 5% royalty, 2% into the brand marketing fund and are required to spend 1% locally, so 8% of sales in total. That is a lower royalty than most brands on our comparison, offset by the higher cost of entry.
The financial screen is the steepest of any bakery franchise we track: $500,000 in liquid capital and $1.5 million in net worth. That is not a suggestion. It is the minimum to apply.
The Item 19 is strong and worth reading carefully. The 2025 FDD reported a 2024 average unit volume of $2,861,550 across franchised units, with the top third averaging $3,835,351 and the bottom third $1,963,607. The 2026 FDD, as summarized by 1851 Franchise, reported a 2025 average of $3,031,887 across 170 units, with a range from $1.4 million to $7 million. Those are gross sales figures, before food cost, labor, rent, royalties or anything else.
These are two different businesses, and I want to be plain about it. Paris Baguette is a high-volume cafe in a dense metro, run by a group with the capital to open several. BreadHaus is a single European-style bread bakery in a suburb or small town, run by the owner.
On cost, BreadHaus's top of range ($580,000) is below Paris Baguette's bottom of range ($727,440). Our franchise fee is $5,000 lower. Our royalty is 1% higher, but our combined royalty and marketing is 9% versus their 8%, so call that a wash. The real gap is the financial screen: they need $500,000 liquid, and we have no minimum, because our first-time owners typically stack savings, an SBA loan and sometimes a retirement rollover.
On sales, Paris Baguette's average store does roughly four times what our Grapevine bakery did in 2025. It is also a four-times-larger investment in a location with far more foot traffic. Whether a $740,000 bakery on a $228,000 to $580,000 investment or a $2.9 million cafe on a $727,000 to $1.8 million investment is the better business depends entirely on your capital, your market and how many stores you intend to run. The BreadHaus cost guide has the full Item 19 with the required caveats so you can compare the two the same way a lender would.
If you have the $500,000 liquid and want a metro cafe, look hard at Paris Baguette. If you do not, or you want to own a bakery in a town they will never open in, that is what we built.
See the full bakery franchise cost comparison for all six brands, or the BreadHaus cost guide for every line of our Item 7.
$727,440 to $1,825,100 in total initial investment per the official franchise site, including a $50,000 franchise fee. The 2026 FDD lists a slightly higher range of $727,515 to $1,860,550.
$500,000 in liquid capital and $1.5 million in net worth, per the official franchise site. These are among the highest of any bakery franchise.
The 2025 FDD reported an average unit volume of $2,861,550 for 2024. The 2026 FDD reported $3,031,887 for 2025 across 170 units, per 1851 Franchise. These are gross sales, not profit.
5% of gross sales, plus a 2% brand marketing fund contribution and a 1% required local marketing spend.
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