The Waterloo Street, Sunderland branch of Baguette Express, the fast-growing sandwich chain franchise, is marking its first anniversary on18th July with a great new offer where all filled baguettes and baked potatoes will be sold for a credit crunch-busting price of just £1.
In addition, every customer will be given a voucher to win an iPod. And that’s not the end of it, for every Tuesday and Saturday all the way through to 17th August, all filled baguettes and baked potatoes will be on sale for just £1.
Sunderland franchisee Jaz Hayer, said: “This is our way of saying a thank you to the people of Sunderland who have made our first year of trading such a great success. Our five-strong team at Baguette Express is now firmly established in Waterloo Street and we’re determined to keep serving the population with our delicious range of healthy snacks.
Baguette Express, which celebrated its 10th anniversary earlier this year, anticipates it will have around seventy stores operating by the end of 2009 and sales of £15m. It now employs 540 people across the UK and that figure will rise to around 750 as the openings proceed. Mr. Hayer himself plans to take up a second Baguette Express franchise by opening in Shields Road, Byker, within the next few months where up to five people will be employed.
The North-East Master franchise of Baguette Express is owned by Azeem Arshad, a successful local businessman, who is in charge of recruitment and business development in the area as well as having input to expansion strategy.
A new outlet will open in St Mary’s Place, Newcastle in August and Mr. Arshad expects to be operating a Baguette Express outlet in a prime site in Gateshead’s Metro Centre by the end of the year. He plans also to oversee the opening of stores in a territory which stretches from Alnwick in the north to Middlesborough and Darlington in the south and Hexham in the west.
He said: “We are determined to see up to fifty outlets in the region, creating as many as 500 much needed quality jobs over the next few years.”
Baguette Express is the brainchild of Scots entrepreneurs Robin and Billy Stenhouse, who established it to provide an alternative approach to the world of healthy snacking.
The stores cater for all tastes, though success has been driven by concentrating on a core market of young professionals, students and office workers who are attracted by the policy of a fixed price for all baguettes and the personal, friendly service and relaxed atmosphere of the colourful outlets.
