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Korean bakery Paris Baguette is expanding its presence in China as the first Korean bakery company to enter the world¡¯s most populous country. The company has recently opened its fifth and sixth store in the Pudong area of Shanghai nine months after it first opened a store in the Puxi area last September.
It plans to open 20 more stores in Shanghai alone this year and expand its business to neighboring Hangzhou and Suzhou. It will also start franchising its business from around the end of this year. The Korean bakery will try to take the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2010 Shanghai World Expo as opportunities to grow to some 500 stores across China.
Hwang Hui-cheol, the head of the bakery¡¯s Shanghai office, said the ¡°Korean Wave¡± now hitting Shanghai helped increase Chinese consumers¡¯ interest in the company. Based on the sales experience it has accumulated, the company will focus on introducing bakery products that suit Chinese tastes.
¡°We found that Chinese like garlic bread and savory breads like tuna and sausage bread,¡± he said, adding that the company will introduce a café-style bakery after the concept proved a big success in Korea.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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