Heritage Victorian bakery chain Ferguson Plarre’s Bakehouse recently unveiled a milestone store in Kalkallo, north of Melbourne. The Kalkallo store marks the 75^th store for the business. It will be run by new franchisee Nadine Yacoub.

“We are looking forward to having Nadine as part of our team and watch her hit the ground running in Kalkallo,” said Ferguson Plarre CEO Steve Plarre.

This latest store is part of the expansion plan that Ferguson Plarre intends on implementing into the future, with more franchises set to join the list.

“We have always planned between five and ten new stores each new year, but opening stores is a balance between interested franchisees and locations,” said Steve Plarre.

“We ensure franchisees are no more than 30 minutes from store locations, for a good work–life balance, and to be involved in the local community.”

At the moment, Steve Plarre is forecasting, for the long term, that there will be between 100 and 120 stores within 2–3 hours’ drive of Melbourne CBD.

The franchise has also recently had success with its first drive-through store, which opened mid last year.

Steve Plarre told Franchise Executives, “Our one drive-through is one of our best performing regional stores, and this model expands our capacity to grow. It suits a regional profile, but there are plenty of locations in Melbourne’s outer suburbs as well.

“There’s such a level of excitement around drive-throughs, so it’s a very competitive market. We are planning a couple of drive-throughs, but these are a couple of years away. But I’d like to think that within five years drive-throughs might be an accelerating factor to growth.”