Barcelona has over 300 franchised bakeries, four times more in one decade

Barcelona has registered a change of its bakery business model in recent years, with dozens of newly opened franchised bakeries welcoming daily customers. There are more than 300 such sites, based on figures from the Catalan city council, and one out of six establishments in the category is owned by one of the five largest groups.

Vivari, 365, Granier, Santagloria, and El Fornet are the leading brands citizens link to these franchised bakeries, which in 2014 were only 83. A decade later, the number has multiplied by four. These represent 17.1% of the 1,805 establishments under the 'bread, pastry, and dairy products' category in the city council's registry. In 2014, these brands only represented 3.7%.

The city's restaurant guild has been filing complaints for "unfair competition." However, these establishments say they are just "bakeries" and operate "under legislation." Restaurants are raising their voices because in some establishments, customers can sit down and enjoy their order, while franchised bakeries say that they are just "bakeries with a tasting area."

"The tasting area concept is an anomaly to refer to something that already has a name," Roger Pallerols, president of the guild, told the Catalan News Agency (ACN). "If a place has a bar, a coffee machine, tables, and chairs, this is a bar," he added.

Pallerols also complained about the city council's policies and "inactivity" as, despite warning authorities, "more than 90% of those sites under investigation continued to disobey the legislation."

Meanwhile, the bakery guild in the Catalan capital says "it is not their major problem" as they are trying to survive the generational change. Some of the more traditional bakeries are closing down and the "issues" that they could have faced, "had already taken place," Jaume Bertran, head of the guild, told ACN.

"Their main objective is not to sell bread," he added before saying that "a lot of these franchises are just restaurants dressed up as bakeries."

Ten years of changes

Back in 2014, there were only 83 establishments of such leading brands, based on data from the city council reported by the Catalan News Agency (ACN). Granier and El Fornet were already well established with 28 sites each, followed by '365 Obrador' with 17, Santagloria with nine, and Vivari, which only had one back then.

Ten years later, Vivari already has 86 establishments, and ranks second, just behind '365 Obrador' with 115 sites in Barcelona and 201 across Catalonia, counting property and franchised sites. The family company started in 1999 in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat.

Santagloria, on the other hand, has more than 30 bakeries in Barcelona, with Lorena Alcázar, Santagloria Coffee & Bakery, ensuring that they are at a "very sweet" moment and plan to continue growing in Catalonia and across Spain, where they have over 200 sites.

Alcázar says that they are not worried as they "operate within the legal framework," and despite having been under investigation, none of their establishments had had to shut down or request a different working permit.

"We transform the product, and we do not transform our businesses to bend the law," she added when asked about the restaurant's guild complaints.

A similar message to the one expressed by Patricia Cortizas, CEO of 365 Obrador, who said that they consider themselves "bakeries" and "are completely sure that they are operating within the legality, and are always open to learning."