Icelandic sandwich and smoothie franchise, Lemon, is preparing to open its first European branch in Paris on March 1. The business will be located in the second arrondissement on Rue des Petit Carreaux, adjacent to a popular pedestrian street, Rue Montorgueil.
The franchise is owned and operated by Icelander Eva Gunnarsdóttir, who has lived in Paris for the past ten years with her husband and three children. The plans for opening the Paris branch have been in the making for quite some time, as Eva explains that French bureaucracy made it a challenge to obtain a business license. But now that the shop will be up and running in a month’s time, Eva is very excited.
Lemon has four branches in Iceland, including two in downtown Reykjavík, one in Hafnarfjörður, and one in Reykjavnesbær. While Lemon offers fresh sandwiches and salads, its real specialty is smoothies and fresh-squeezed juices. According to Eva, this type of cuisine has more of a hold in Icelandic culture than in French, and Parisians may take some time to warm up to the idea of fresh juices. However, she feels the younger generation is more open to new things, so she anticipates Lemon’s success.
The franchise has been aiming to open more European branches and hopes to expand to Great Britain in the near future.