French Bakery Chain Opening Up New Location In Morristown

MORRISTOWN, NJ — The national bakery café chain Paris Baguette is moving into Morristown.

The chain, which offers sandwiches, hand-crafted cakes, breads, and coffee drinks, told Patch that they will be opening up their newest location at 10 Lafayette Avenue.

According to Paris Baguette Chief Development Officer Eric Lavinder, the goal is to be ready to open the store within the next year.

"We have a lease signed, and we're working on construction plans as we speak. Typically, construction can take 14 to 18 weeks, give or take some permitting challenges, equipment, contractors and that kind of stuff, but we would definitely hope to be open mid-next year," Lavinder said.

Paris Baguette is in the midst of a national expansion plan. Their newest Morristown location will bring the total number of Paris Baguette cafés in the county to more than 150. The nearest existing Paris Baguette in New Jersey is in Livingston.

Paris Baguette is a bakery café franchise with more than 4,000 units across the globe. The brand was first franchised in the U.S. in 2015 and has since established more than 150 locations in markets across the country, making it one of the premier franchise opportunities in its category.

According to Lavinder, the move to Morristown just made sense for the company because their headquarters are in Moonachie, which is only one hour away from the new Morristown location.

"We're excited to expand, but also excited to bring it to what we consider somewhat of a local community to where we are," Lavinder said. "You know, it took us a while to find the right location because we want to make sure that we set our franchisees up for ultimate success. This kind of worked out perfectly for us," he continued.

Once they are open, the café is expected to bring in anywhere from 25 to 50 jobs to the area, officials said.

"It's not just a fast food restaurant. It's really a skill that people learn that they can elevate and grow into within the franchise. There are a lot of different levels to our complexity that allow them the ability to learn some good transferable skills as they grow their experience in the workplace," Lavinder said.

While the chain is well-known for its breads and pastries, it also serves up salads, sandwiches and seasonal items and offers catering.

Some of the more unique items on the menu include:

• Cakes like rainbow cake and cheesecake souffle, sold whole or by the slice
• Turkey Cranberry Brie Croissant (seasonal)
• Pumpkin King Cream Donut (seasonal)

"You can come in and get daily pastries and daily items. We're really about creating that vibe—that old nostalgia of the neighborhood bakery cafés that we were all probably used to a long time ago. We're bringing that back and are really excited about the fact that we're bringing something, something that we believe is unique to the marketplace," Lavinder said.