Customer Stories

How Paris Baguette Simplified Repairs & Maintenance To Support Aggressive Expansion

Key successes

Company Background

Paris Baguette is a South Korean bakery chain with roots dating back to the 1950s. With over 4,000 locations in Asia and 200 locations in America, the company is on an aggressive growth trajectory, aiming to reach 1,000 U.S. locations by 2030. As a primarily franchise-based business, Paris Baguette needed a solution that could scale with its rapid expansion.

We spoke with Lloyd Kim, Director of Operational Services at Paris Baguette for nearly 12 years, who oversees various initiatives including technology implementation, field analytics, and operational support.

Challenge

Lloyd and his team were tasked with managing an ambitious growth plan while ensuring operational excellence across existing locations. They faced several significant challenges:

"We're essentially running before we can start walking," explains Lloyd. "We're opening multiple locations every month, and it's very easy for us to start losing track of what's behind us."

The team struggled with:

Limited visibility into maintenance spending and market benchmarks
High maintenance costs that needed reduction
Growing pains from rapid expansion ("running before we could start walking")
Need for a user-friendly R&M solution for franchisees

Solution

After implementing ResQ, Paris Baguette experienced immediate improvements in its maintenance operations:

Modern User Experience

The ResQ mobile app dramatically improved the work order submission process, making maintenance management accessible to team members at all levels of the organization.

"Using the app was kind of the first obvious improvement," Lloyd notes. "Our previous provider didn't have an app to essentially work with. Makes it easy for any team member to submit a work order... the ability for anyone to submit a quick and easy work order was quite nice."

The implementation of QR code technology was particularly valuable during their post-COVID operations:

"When we onboarded with ResQ it was in a COVID world or a slightly post-COVID world. The use of QR codes was a lot more prominent in the food and beverage industry. So, just seeing QR codes being utilized, that was nice to see. From a technology standpoint, I think it's quite nice to play around with."

Enhanced Visibility and Cost Control

Quarterly business reviews provide Paris Baguette with valuable insights into their maintenance spending compared to industry benchmarks.

"Our customer rep would go through a quarterly business review with us. That was something that was not done by our current provider," Lloyd explains. "By looking at what everyone is paying versus ours, it gives us some clarity in terms of what we can do to start looking to improve. That transparency, that visibility was something much needed."

"It's very easy for anyone to say we have to try to reduce cost, but without a firm benchmark or a comparison, it makes it quite hard to determine what's an acceptable maintenance cost."

Simplified Finding Quality Trades

The ResQ marketplace has been a game-changer for their team who previously struggled to find reliable contractors in their areas. Now, they simply use ResQ to find trades to work with:

"For a franchisee, sometimes finding any contractor really in your area can be quite difficult. You would have to go for referrals, do your own research, do your due diligence versus just simply looking up in the marketplace through the ResQ app, finding out what contractors are within your area and, what the quotes are, and the ratings that other customers have placed in."

Equipment Management & Tracking

ResQ's equipment tagging feature provided a capability Paris Baguette didn't have with its previous provider. This feature allows their team to be able to track assets history, while steamlining the process for submitting equipment repairs and maintenance.

"The use of tagging equipment is also a new thing that we haven't had exposure to," says Lloyd.

Results With ResQ

In a short period after implementation, Paris Baguette has experienced measurable improvements:

Cost savings across locations through better vendor selection and pricing visibility
Improved operational efficiency with streamlined work order management
Better decision-making with data-driven insights into repair and maintenance trends

Lloyd confirmed that ResQ has helped Paris Baguette save money by providing better visibility into maintenance spending:

"Yes, ResQ has helped us save money in the long term. Having that visibility, we've been able to save money in some capacity."

Looking Ahead

With plans to expand to 1,000 U.S. locations by 2030, Paris Baguette needed a maintenance solution that could scale with their growth. ResQ has provided the modern interface and marketplace features that benefit their growing franchise network, helping them meet contemporary needs in the food service industry.

"Seeing the reviews, seeing the ratings, seeing the cost, it makes it very easy for an everyday user to simply find a contractor that they need and looking for at that time."