la Madeleine signs eight-unit deal to enter Kansas City metro with local developer

la Madeleine, the Texas-based French-inspired bakery and café chain, will expand into the Midwest for the first time through an eight-unit area development agreement covering the Kansas City metropolitan area. The local partner on the deal is entrepreneur Eddie Musallet of Express Stop and The Musallet Group. The brand expects its first Kansas City–area café to open in late fall 2027.

The deal is an area development agreement for eight locations. la Madeleine describes this approach as part of its broader franchise expansion strategy, where multi-unit developments help the brand enter new markets and build a consistent regional presence. The cafés will serve la Madeleine's typical menu — French-inspired breakfast, lunch, dinner, freshly baked breads and pastries, and coffee and other beverages — in the chain's neighborhood café format.

Group is a diversified, multi-unit operator with existing investments around Kansas City. Its portfolio includes grocery and international market concepts, convenience stores, and other franchised businesses. Notable assets mentioned in the announcement:

• Nine Mercado Fresco locations.
• A 65,000-square-foot Fresh Market location under development at 75th Street and Quivira Road.
• Two World Fresh Market stores in Overland Park and Kansas City Northland, described as about 40,000 square feet each and offering fresh meat, seafood, bakery items, produce and prepared foods.

The group's background in multi-unit retail, real estate development, and food-related operations is the rationale la Madeleine gives for partnering with them to enter the Kansas City market.

Mark Ramage, senior director of franchise development and real estate for la Madeleine, said the company pairs expansion with partners who understand the community and can build for the long term, and that Musallet's experience makes them an "ideal fit to introduce la Madeleine to Kansas City."

The company expects the first café to open in late fall 2027. The announcement frames the initial opening as the start of a phased rollout across the metro area, with additional locations following as development progresses.

la Madeleine was founded in 1983 and operates nearly 90 corporate and franchise locations across the U.S., plus two international cafés in Bangalore, India. The brand is part of Groupe Le Duff, a global operator and manufacturer in bakery and pastry businesses.

• Site announcements and exact neighborhood locations for the first café and the subsequent sites.
• Staffing, construction, and permitting timelines that will determine whether the late-fall-2027 opening remains on schedule.
• Whether The Musallet Group leverages la Madeleine to drive traffic to nearby grocery and convenience assets or co-locates cafés with other properties in its portfolio.

For more information, the announcement points readers to laMadeleine.com and franchising.laMadeleine.com.