사진 확대

CJ Foodville Corp., the operator of South Korea’s second largest bakery chain Tous Les Jours, is seeking to build a bread factory in the United States to meet its ambitious target of expanding outlets in its new key market United States by more than 10 times to 1,000 by 2030.

CJ Foodville is said to be reviewing a site for a bread production plant and a logistics center, which will be in charge of distributing bread products and ingredients to various outlets across the U.S. Texas and Georgia are floated as strong candidate locations for the new factory, according to food industry sources on Sunday.

A CJ Foodville official confirmed that the company has taken due diligence on sites, without specifying locations. The company will begin construction as early as next year, said the official.

The food distributor under South Korean retail giant CJ Group plans to expand the number of Tous Les Jours stores in the U.S. to 1,000 by 2030 from the current 82 stores. It also aims to enter 22 states in the country. Its first Tous Les Jours store in the U.S. opened in Los Angeles in 2014.

Given its target, CJ Foodville is expected to spend at least 100 billion won ($77 million) on setting up the new bread production and distribution base.

The company set the U.S. as its next key market for the bakery chain’s global push after its growth at home became restricted by strict local antitrust law, which bans aggressive expansion by a large food corporation to protect mom-and-pop stores, according to market analysts.