Paris Baguette, Other Dining Brands See Surge in North American Stores

Domestic beauty, dining, and distribution companies are accelerating their expansion into the North American market by opening a large number of brick-and-mortar stores in the U.S., moving beyond mere online sales. As offline shopping has resurged following the pandemic, these companies are aiming to secure direct local sales channels to ensure stable performance.

APR saw its North American sales grow 265% year-on-year in the second quarter. After entering Target and Walmart in the first half of this year, APR is expanding into Costco in the second half. Musinsa is launching its in-house brand, Ordinary Type, in 87 Nordstrom department stores across the U.S. this fall. Aromatica also recently entered 88 Nordstrom locations.

Expansion by dining companies into the U.S. is also vigorous. Since entering the U.S. market in 2023, bhc added four new stores in New Jersey, Georgia, San Francisco, and Virginia in the first half of this year, bringing its total local presence to 10. Paris Baguette, operated by CJ Foodville, increased its North American locations from 94 in 2021 to approximately 320 recently. Tous Les Jours operates around 200 stores in the U.S. and completed a factory in Gainesville, Georgia, at the end of last year. BBQ operates over 300 stores across 33 U.S. states and recorded 340 billion won in local consumer sales last year.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Agri-Food Trade Corporation’s 2025 survey on the overseas expansion of dining enterprises, the U.S. was the top destination for these companies last year, accounting for 23.8% of entries. The same survey showed that the number of K-dining brand stores in the U.S. increased from 528 in 2020 to 1,106 last year.