Paris Baguette to target Halal market via certified factory and JV in Malaysia

[Source: SPC Group]

South Korea’s bakery conglomerate SPC Group has joined forces with Malaysia’s leading food company to target the Halal food market for 1.9 million Muslims across the globe.

According to SPC Group on Monday, its Southeast Asian entity Paris Baguette Singapore has set up a joint-venture dubbed Berjaya Paris Baguette with Malaysia’s Berjaya Food Bhd, whose business spans from food and retail through Starbucks and Seven Eleven outposts to hotel and resort.

With the JV, they are planning to open the first Paris Baguette outlet in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia by the end of the year and add more than 600 locations across Southeast Asia by 2030.

SPC Group has begun to build a food factory for Halal-certified items only with 40 billion won ($31 million) investments in Johor Bahru as part of efforts to make forays into the Halal food market. Construction is due to end in June 2023, and the company aims to obtain Halal certification by the final quarter of the year.

The new factory will likely become a manufacturing hub for the Halal food market of the entire Southeast Asia and the Middle East thanks to its favorable geographic location. The Halal food market is for 1.9 billion Muslims, taking up 24 percent of the world population.

“With the building of a Halal food factory in Malaysia, the group will speed up its advance into the global Halal food market estimated at $2 trillion. We’ll keep expanding the global business more actively with bold investments,” said Huh Jin-soo, head of the global business unit at SPC Group.

Malaysia is the eighth country SPC Group has entered to date after the U.S., China, Vietnam, Singapore, France, Cambodia and Indonesia. The Korean giant plans to expand its foothold to Thailand, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Turkey, and the first Canadian and U.K. locations are scheduled to be open.

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