---
title: "Café d’Avignon Builds Momentum with Second Franchise Location in Florida"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/4e9c80f4-4402-4c28-a6a3-8bf79e08ba29
source: "Franchising.com"
original_url: https://www.franchising.com/news/20191209_cafeacute_drsquoavignon_builds_momentum_with_secon.html
category: "Coffee & tea"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Coffee & tea"
topics: ["Development & multi-unit"]
published: 2019-12-09T12:00:00.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T04:10:15.189Z
image: https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1497366811353-6870744d04b2?w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop
---

# Café d’Avignon Builds Momentum with Second Franchise Location in Florida

**TL;DR:** Café d’Avignon has signed a lease for its second franchise location in Orlando, Florida, and is scouting sites for a third location in the area. The brand has partnered with Fransmart to facilitate its growth across Florida and nationwide.

*originally published in Franchising.com on 2019-12-09. [Read the original](https://www.franchising.com/news/20191209_cafeacute_drsquoavignon_builds_momentum_with_secon.html).*

## Story

To facilitate its growth across Florida and nationwide, Café d’Avignon has partnered with Fransmart, the industry-leading franchise development company behind the explosive growth of brands like Five Guys Burgers & Fries and QDOBA Mexican Grill.

“America is starving for the next big thing in the coffee and café segment, because the current market is saturated with concepts that either offer good coffee and mediocre food options, or good food and mediocre coffee,” said Fransmart CEO and Founder Dan Rowe. “Café d’Avignon is part of the third-wave coffee movement, offering high-quality coffee and fresh-baked items that are unparalleled. The brand has seen great success in New York City’s most famous food halls, and with a new retail model it is positioned well to expand to major markets nationwide.”

Nikitin is Café d’Avignon’s first franchisee, and his first location in Sunset Walks at the famed Margaritaville Orlando will be the first Café d’Avignon to open outside New York City.

“I was looking for new investment opportunities, and several people in the food service industry encouraged me to check out Café d’Avignon,” said Nikitin. “I was blown away by the quality of the food, as well as the concept’s operational efficiencies. After experiencing the food and unique experience first-hand, I conducted the market research and felt confident in bringing the concept to the Orlando area.”

The founders of Café D’Avignon, a group of friends who emigrated to the U.S. from the former Yugoslavia, first founded its wholesale counterpart, Pain D’Avignon, in 1992 to bring European-style breads and pastries to the fine hotels, top restaurants, and luxury grocers of New York. The popularity of their goods lead them to open four Café D’Avignon retail locations.

Together with Fransmart, Café d’Avignon is currently seeking experienced franchisees to bring the Café d’Avignon concept to the New York City metro area and Florida.

Café d’Avignon was conceived from wholesale bakery Pain D’Avignon, which began in 1992 when five childhood friends emigrated from Yugoslavia with a shared dream of bringing traditional European bread making to the U.S.’s East Coast.

Over the last 25 years, Pain D’Avignon has distributed bread and pastries to Michelin-starred restaurants and the most highly-acclaimed hotels in New York City, namely The Plaza Hotel, Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, among others. The concept was named an ‘Essential New York Bakery’ by EATER NY and has been included in The New York Times, The New York Post, Parade, and QSR Magazine. Café d’Avignon operates four storefronts throughout New York City with three franchise locations currently in development in Orlando, Florida.

## Entities

- Franchising.com (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- franchise expansion (topic)
- partnership (topic)
- Florida (location)
- growth strategy (topic)
- Orlando (location)
- Fransmart (company)
- Five Guys (company)
- Qdoba (company)
- Dan Rowe (person)

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Originally reported by Franchising.com (https://www.franchising.com/news/20191209_cafeacute_drsquoavignon_builds_momentum_with_secon.html). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/4e9c80f4-4402-4c28-a6a3-8bf79e08ba29).