With more than 3700 worldwide locations, fast casual bakery-cafe franchise Paris Baguette has signed its first multi-unit franchise deal in northern California.

There are already 11 sites in the state, and local entrepreneur Joshua Kim expects his next store to open in Sunnyvale early next year.

Kim, who is Paris Baguette’s first franchisee since the company began franchising a year ago, opened his first store in San Jose in April. Kim, who has a degree in industrial engineering from DongGuk University in Seoul, grew up watching his mother run a restaurant in Korea. He went on to open a string of Belgian Waffle stores in Korea from 1997 to 1999. Now he is the owner of Refresh Foods and Paris Baguette San Jose.

“We expect the success in northern California to act as a catalyst for further expansion across the state,” says Paris Baguette chief development officer Larry Sidoti.

Paris Baguette entered the US in 2005. As well as traditional outlets, it has such non-traditional venues as airports, hotels and casinos. It has 47 US locations and can also be found throughout South Korea, China, France, Singapore and Vietnam.

Paris Baguette was born out of a concept which launched in Korea in 1945. The concept grew leading to the founding of Paris Baguette in 1988.