Marie Blachère, the bakery and restaurant chain owned by Groupe Blachère, is seeking to enter the UK through franchising, Propel reported on 15 October 2026. The plan follows the group’s appearance at the National Franchise Exhibition in Birmingham on 2 and 3 October, where it presented the brand to prospective partners.
The brand belongs to Groupe Blachère, which Bernard Blachère founded in 1985 as a fruit and vegetable business. According to the group’s own site, the first Marie Blachère bakery opened 19 years later. The group now runs several franchised brands, among them the Café Marie Blachère coffee-shop format. No UK site, partner or opening date has been announced, and the group has not published franchise terms for the UK market, unlike the bakery and pastry franchises already recruiting here.
Two formats in the franchise range
The group presents two related concepts to prospective franchisees. The Marie Blachère bakery kneads and bakes its bread on the premises and serves fresh food prepared in store at different times of day, with permanent promotional offers built into its pricing.
Café Marie Blachère is a coffee-shop format with a snacking menu. Neither the group nor Propel has said which format would lead a UK launch, or whether the two would open together.
A first pitch at the Birmingham exhibition
The group used the National Franchise Exhibition at the NEC as its first public pitch to UK candidates. Its franchise account posted from the show floor that its international expansion was continuing.
Jean-Marc Conrad, who led the group’s team at the event, wrote before the show that Marie Blachère was “continuing its development and heading for Birmingham”. Neither post sets out the type of partner the group wants, whether a single-site operator, a multi-site franchisee or a master franchisee for the whole country.
How a UK agreement would be set
A UK launch would mean new contracts written for this market. The franchise terms on the group’s own site are not presented as UK terms, and no sterling fee, investment level or contract length has been released. Any UK partner would sign a franchise agreement whose terms are set by the contract itself. The brand’s pricing model, built on permanent promotions, would also sit within UK competition law, under which a franchisor can recommend retail prices but fixing them for franchisees is treated as a hardcore restriction.
How franchising is governed in the UK
Franchising in the UK is governed by general contract and competition law. There is no franchise statute and no statutory pre-contract disclosure requirement, so the information a candidate receives depends on what the franchisor provides.
What has not yet been announced
The group has not said how many UK sites it is aiming for, which cities it is looking at, what investment a UK bakery would require or when the first unit might open. Propel’s full report sits behind a paywall, and the group’s own channels carry no UK announcement beyond the exhibition.
The first concrete step to watch is the signing of a UK partner or the naming of a first site, which would also show whether the group has chosen the bakery or the café format to open the market. Until then, prospective partners can compare terms across the UK franchise directory.
