In July, South Beach's iconic, 22-hour French sandwich spot La Sandwicherie will open in Wynwood on the corner of NW Second Avenue and 22nd Street. The following month, another is planned for North Beach on the corner of Collins Avenue and 73rd Street.
"Both of these are areas that have become and are becoming more and more popular," says La Sandwicherie's owner Franz Leforestier, who purchased the legendary sandwich shop in 2015.
He wouldn't say how much he and his wife Elise paid for the brand. Yet it's likely slinging saucisson sec and brie cheese on crusty French bread ($9.70) piled high with veggies like cornichons, cucumbers, hot peppers, and black olives, all doused with their famed vinaigrette, cost a hefty sum.
Earlier this year Olivier Farrat, who sold his interest in the company back in 2006, sold a Miami Beach spec home for $6 million, according to the Real Deal. In 2017, he sold his Bay Road mansion to Burger King executive Eric Hirschhorn for $5.5 million.
Now Leforestier, who owned restaurants in Paris near Notre Dame and in the Montmartre neighborhood before moving to Miami in 2011, seems ready to capitalize on the brand and has partnered with an undisclosed bakery who can produce fresh rolls and croissants every six hours to keep pace with demand no matter the location.
Beyond the two forthcoming locations he said he'd also like to expand to Orlando and other parts of the state, but that would depend on finding a bakery that can make product that's up to snuff.
"In France, we eat bread every day, even from the before the time we are in kindergarten," he says. "It is the most important thing in the world to us, and I'd it is impossible to truly know bread unless you are French."
La Sandwicherie. 229 14th St., Miami Beach; 305-532-8934; lasandwicherie.com.