SPC bakery brand opens 24-hour outlets with unmanned system

SPC Group, a major South Korean food and beverage company, said Friday its bakery brand Paris Baguette has opened 24-hour hybrid stores equipped with an unmanned operating system, marking the first such move in the local bakery industry. Paris Baguette's two hybrid outlets in Seoul operate with on-site staff during daytime hours and switch to an unmanned system late at night and in the early morning, enabling sales without time restrictions, SPC said in a press release. As is the case with unmanned convenience stores and side-dish outlets, customers can enter the store during unmanned hours through a credit card authentication process and make purchases by scanning product barcodes at kiosks. "Starting in 2026, we will steadily adopt the hybrid store model nationwide, focusing on urban areas with high late-night foot traffic," a company official said. Since 2004, SPC has expanded the Paris Baguette brand to 15 countries. The number of its overseas outlets has recently surpassed 700, while domestic stores total about 3,400. The group currently operates industrial bakeries in China and Mala