Summary

One year ago, Magnolia Bakery was just beginning the next chapter of its extraordinary story: bringing one of America’s most recognizable bakery brands to U.S. franchising.

This week on Franchise Today, I revisit my conversation with Bobbie Lloyd and Jason Mattes of Magnolia Bakery — but with an important update.

Since our original interview, Magnolia has onboarded 19 new franchise owners representing 79 bakeries scheduled for development over the next 36 months. Its first two domestic franchise locations have already opened in Salt Lake City and Louisville, with six more expected before the end of 2026 and approximately 30 domestic franchise bakeries projected to be open by the end of 2027.

That makes this encore much more than a trip back into the archives.

Our original conversation explored how an iconic New York bakery became a globally recognized brand, why cultural relevance and authenticity matter so much when scaling, and what has to happen operationally before a beloved consumer brand is truly ready to franchise.

A year later, we now get to see how those principles begin translating into real franchise growth.