Le Macaron French Pastries Mobile Kiosk Gives Franchisee Owners Opening Flexibility and Scalability

When Rosalie Guillem and Audrey Guillem-Saba, French expatriates and mother-daughter duo, moved to the United States, they were disappointed they couldn’t find macarons, a beloved French treat.

The lack of availability in the marketplace created a huge opportunity, and together they founded Le Macaron French Pastries in 2009 in Sarasota, Florida. The brand brings a welcome taste of France to the U.S. with its offering of genuine macarons, meringue-based confections that can come in a variety of flavors and eye-catching colors. Le Macaron’s macarons are frozen during transport, which actually helps them take on more air and become fluffier when they are unfrozen and prepared for sale.

Through brick and mortar locations, Le Macaron grew to more than 50 cafes, with 24 more in development. Yet, the mother-sister duo saw another opportunity: create a lower investment model that is scalable for future Franchise Owners.

Thus, the Le Macaron French Pastries franchise has launched its mobile kiosk model, a concept the brand first introduced in October of 2018 .

These mobile kiosks help streamline operations and make the brand’s franchise opportunity more financially accessible and customer accessible. When coupled with the fact that the brand bakes all of its products at company headquarters and ships inventory out to stores, the result makes for a relatively operationally stress-free and scalable franchise concept.

Le Macaron Franchise Owners enjoy how the mobile kiosks carry less overhead, have lower rent, do not require permits and involve less onsite staff members and training.

“We recognized the high cost of rent for retail spaces in malls across the United States, so we decided to offer prospective Franchise Owners a choice between our cafe model or the new mobile kiosk,” Rosalie Guillem said.

With its dynamic appearance, consumers can easily spot the mobile kiosks in shopping malls and other pedestrian locations.

“The mobile kiosk’s ease of operations, plus Le Macaron’s high average ticket of $15, help increase Franchise Owner profitability and their ability to break even quickly,” Guillem said. “What’s more, the mobile kiosk allows Franchise Owners to really focus on the customer interaction without worrying about cafe upkeep or the goings on back of house.”

Linton Dowling, the Marketing Director for the franchise development company Raintree , which works with Le Macaron to help the brand expand its footprint , praised the brand’s offering of the mobile kiosk model.

“Le Macaron is the original macaron franchise in America,” Dowling said. “It is wholly owned by an actual French family and the head chef is French-trained. What the kiosk has done is allow Le Macaron to enter more communities around the United States. The model is highly mobile and highly scalable . You don’t have to worry about leasing or renting. You just need storage.”

The mobile kiosks also provide an easy and convenient way for Franchise Owners to spread the word about their business in their communities. Owners can opt to work during high-profile events, such as local festivals, which provide maximum visibility, Dowling said.

“From a consumer standpoint, this means you’re getting the same high-level quality product at every Le Macaron location,” Dowling said. “From a Franchise Owner perspective, any sort of on-the-go model helps because it helps you integrate into and reach the community. They also do not need to worry about a baker quitting or about equipment breaking down. They don’t have to worry about something going wrong with a key ingredient. They have a reliable product source.”

The flexible mobile kiosk option and the brand’s control of the baking process both allow Franchise Owners to focus on what matters most: providing a tasty and delightful experience to their communities. While many a Le Macaron Franchise Owners may still opt to open a cafe with the brand, they can also diversify their franchise portfolio with a mobile kiosk and enjoy a more simplified operations process.

The investment range associated with opening a Le Macaron French Pastries pâtisserie or kiosk is $84,350 to $361,500 with a $45,000 franchise fee. For more information about franchising opportunities with Le Macaron, please visit .