French bakery, café and restaurant brand PAUL is entering Angola with its first bakery-café in Luanda, with multi-brand operator Retail Group as its franchise partner. The upcoming opening brings PAUL’s French bakery concept to a new African market, combining freshly baked breads and pastries with coffee, breakfast and restaurant dining.
The Luanda outlet will offer PAUL’s core bakery range alongside café and dine-in options, extending the format the brand has developed across its international network. Retail Group has confirmed that PAUL is coming to Angola, describing the launch as another addition to its portfolio of international brands in the country.
The Angola launch adds to PAUL’s growing African presence. The brand’s current official international network lists markets including Algeria, Egypt, Congo-Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, Morocco, Mauritius, South Africa, Tunisia, Mauritania and Cameroon, while the new Angola operation expands that footprint further.
Founded in 1889, PAUL remains a family-owned French bakery business with roots in Croix near Lille. The company began developing its international franchise network in 1989, when it signed its first international franchise agreement in Japan. PAUL says the experience became a foundation for its international franchise model, with partners subsequently taking the brand into markets across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas.
PAUL’s latest franchise information shows the scale of that international development. The company says it opened its 57th country by the end of 2025 and its 500th Maison abroad in early 2026. International partners are trained in France as part of the brand’s approach to maintaining its bakery and service standards across markets.
The brand has also expanded beyond its traditional bakery format through concepts including PAUL le café and PAUL express, while continuing to combine bakery production, café service and restaurant dining. Its international offer spans breads, viennoiseries, pastries, sandwiches, meals and beverages, depending on the market and format.
Retail Group Takes PAUL into Another African Market
For Retail Group, the Angola launch builds on an established relationship with PAUL. The operator says it started in Libreville in 2016 with its first franchise agreement, introducing PAUL Bakery & Pastry to Gabon. It subsequently expanded PAUL into Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, in 2022.
Retail Group now operates across Gabon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola and Lebanon, with more than 30 outlets, 15+ brands and 900+ team members, according to its current corporate website. Its portfolio includes international brands such as PAUL, KFC, Pizza Hut, Pinkberry, MANGO and adidas, alongside its own concepts.
The group was created in 2025 through the merger of Resto Group and Mooda, bringing its food-and-beverage and fashion operations under the Retail Group identity. It remains part of CEDICOM Group, whose regional distribution, warehousing and logistics capabilities support Retail Group’s operations.
Retail Group’s role goes beyond brand licensing. The company says it handles functions including market entry, site selection, store development, recruitment, training, operations, brand management and supply coordination for international partners entering its markets. That operating model is particularly relevant to PAUL’s expansion, where bakery supply, staff training and consistency are central to the concept.
The Luanda launch therefore marks PAUL’s entry into Angola and Retail Group’s latest expansion of the French bakery brand in Africa, following its earlier operations in Gabon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. For PAUL, it adds another country to an international franchise network that reached 57 countries by the end of 2025; for Retail Group, it strengthens a multi-market portfolio spanning food, beverage, fashion and lifestyle retail across Africa and the Middle East.
