Paris Baguette opened its first store in Laos on August 11, becoming the first South Korean bakery chain to enter the country and stretching its Southeast Asia footprint to seven markets. The Vientiane bakery cafe operates under a master franchise agreement signed in 2024 with KOLAO Group, one of Laos’ largest business groups, and takes the brand’s overseas network to roughly 730 stores across 13 markets.
The entry follows Paris Baguette’s earlier moves into Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Cambodia, and plants the brand in a Mekong economy where cafe and restaurant spending is climbing on the back of urbanisation and an expanding middle class. The company also points to the Korean Wave: rising interest in Korean culture among younger Lao consumers is pulling demand for premium bakery and dessert formats — the same tailwind that has carried Korean fried chicken brand bhc into the Philippines and Mom’s Touch into Singapore with FairPrice Group.
The debut store sits in the Patuxay district, a prime commercial quarter of the capital, and runs a full bakery-cafe format of about 360 square meters with 72 seats — a scale statement rather than a toe in the water.
True to its localisation habit, the menu launches with products tuned to Lao and regional palates, including a Musang King Durian Roll Cake. Menu localisation has become standard practice for international franchisors in Southeast Asia, and the brands that commit to it early tend to convert first-store buzz into durable trade.
Rather than building a company-owned operation in a frontier market, Paris Baguette paired its brand system with KOLAO Group’s local infrastructure, real estate access and market knowledge — a structure that concentrates execution risk with the party best placed to manage it. It is the classic playbook for entering smaller, high-growth ASEAN economies, and the same route Korean F&B brands have used to enter Thailand and beyond.
“We will introduce an optimized business model and pursue sustainable growth.”
— Hur Jin-soo, Vice Chairman, Paris Baguette
Laos rarely headlines franchise expansion plans, which is precisely why this opening matters. When a global bakery system with 730 international stores judges Vientiane ready for a 360-square-meter flagship, it recalibrates the map for every franchisor weighing second-tier ASEAN markets — and for the region’s conglomerates, it shows how a strong local platform can win country rights from a top-tier global brand. KOLAO’s move mirrors a broader pattern of Korean brands compounding across the region, a theme we unpack in our guide to the best Korean, Japanese and American franchises entering ASEAN in 2026. Expect the next wave of master franchise signings to look past the usual capitals — and expect the local groups that move first to hold the best rights when they do.
Source: The Korea News Plus — Paris Baguette opens first store in Laos
