Mexico City Native and Long-Time Restauranteur Becomes a Franchise Owner with Paris Baguette in Texas

After growing up in Mexico City and moving to the U.S. 11 years ago, Armando Cordova paved a career for himself in the restaurant industry. It was this restaurant industry experience, combined with his background as a minority owner of franchise concepts, that caused him to notice an opportunity in his local market of Tomball, Texas. He saw that there were very few bakeries in the area, which created an excellent opportunity for a new business venture with Paris Baguette* . Alongside his partner Jorge Molina, Cordova is now looking forward to opening his own Paris Baguette franchise.

1851 Franchise: Frame your personal story for us. What did you do before franchising, and how did you decide franchising made sense for you?

Cordova: My background is in the restaurant industry. I've been working in restaurants for 11 years now, with some of them being original concepts and some of them being franchises.

The last franchise that I worked at made me realize that franchises can make sense. I don't think I ever considered them before this specific one, but I realized they could work really well. I learned a lot about the support that a brand can give you and all the publicity that a brand already has, along with the power of brand recognition.

Knowing all of this encouraged me to start a franchise with Paris Baguette.

Cordova: I had in mind what I think a lot of people have in mind, which is that you're probably going to have to pay a lot of money to the franchise, and then you won’t have enough money left for yourself. That’s not the case, though, and I don't think there would be many franchisees out there if they weren’t making money.

Cordova: The market that it serves is a little different to the full service restaurants that I am a bit more accustomed to working in. A bakery made a lot of sense to me in terms of the workflow, the time that it requires you to invest in it and the available space that the market has. This concept is not very exploited. There really aren’t many bakeries in the area, and I think it will do really well.

Cordova: I expect to be successful, and I expect to achieve a great relationship with the brand. I have had a great relationship with them from the beginning, and that's one of the main reasons why we decided to go through with it. That said, we would like to have a closer relationship and one in which we both benefit from each other.

My main goal is helping the people around us. I want to make sure we are helping those that work in our restaurants, as well helping the brand grow.

Cordova: Working hard is really important to me and so is focusing on the customers, especially if you are getting into the restaurant industry, regardless of whether your brand is a franchise or not.

Some franchisees may think that they want to buy a franchise because they won’t have to do as much, but it's going to be hard work too.

Cordova: I would advise other people to talk to all the franchisees that you can from within the brand you’re interested in. It's important to see what type of people are working already for that brand. Ask what they are achieving and how happy they are with it.

Paris Baguette is a bakery café franchise with more than 4,000 units across the globe. The global brand first franchised in the U.S.

in 2015 and has since established nearly 150 locations in markets across the country, making it one of the premier franchise opportunities in its category. Paris Baguette’s primary mission, executed every day by its expert staff of bakers, cakers and baristas, is to share moments of joy with guests and help guests share moments of joy with their friends and family by providing world-class cakes, pastries, coffees, breads and other French-inspired bakery café fare.