Our Story
Le Pain QuotidienMagazine
11 October 2024
Le Pain Quotidien (French for “the daily bread”) is a bakery-restaurant group founded in Brussels in 1990 by Alain Coumont. As a young chef dissatisfied with the quality of bread available in Brussels, Coumont started making his own organic sourdough bread with just four ingredients: flour, water, salt and time. Le Pain Quotidien now has more than 210 bakeries in 19 countries. Our mission is to create meaningful connections in a home away from home, with simple but delicious and authentic and local cuisine made in-house.
Chapter 1
Our Story
The story of Le Pain Quotidien
The story behind Le Pain Quotidien and Alain Coumont’s passion for food began long before Alain’s first bakery. As a child in Belgium, he spent countless hours perched on a chair, watching his aunt make bread. As a young chef in Brussels, Alain searched for bread that lived up to his childhood ideal. Coming up empty-handed was perhaps the most fortunate stroke, for Alain realized that the only way to satisfy his yearning for the rustic bread of his youth was to recreate it from memory. Passionate about quality, he returned to his roots and opened a bakery where he could knead flour, salt, and water into the rustic loaves of his childhood. The first Le Pain Quotidien opened on Rue Antoine Dansaert in Brussels, an avant-garde quarter of Belgian fashion in those days. At a local flea market, he found a long table where his guests could sit to eat together; it became Le Pain Quotidien’s first communal table.
Chapter 2
Our Story
At Le Pain Quotidien...
… you’ll enjoy your moment outside of time, inspired by a homely atmosphere, good food, and shared moments. Our story started over 30 years ago, with a traditional Belgian bakery at the heart of Brussels. Today, you still experience how we pass on this rich heritage, as we prepare our natural food with pure, simple, and locally sourced ingredients.
… you are welcomed at our communal table, a crossroad for new and meaningful interactions. You can also choose one of the many other cozy spots in our interior, which balances timeless elegance with contemporary influences. Just like you do as a guest, our partners and hosts feel good here. They work with us in a warm and positive atmosphere, the result of the efforts we make for sustainable relationships with everyone in our community. However, you want to spend your moment, whatever you pick from our generous menu: we always welcome you wholeheartedly. Come again, whenever you need to step out from the hustle and bustle. We’ll be there for you.
Quote from Alain
Our Story
“The idea behind Le Pain Quotidien is simply to make a good daily bread, a handmade bread with a good crust and a firm slice, the kind of bread that makes great tartines. Bread not only to nourish the body but the spirit as well. A bread best shared around a table, to be savored among friends.”
- Alain Coumont
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Our tartines
One slice of bread… and countless variations…. The slices of our handmade 2kg bread serve as the canvas for a myriad of seasonal ingredients. They come together to become our tartines, the Belgian take on the sandwich. Other than the closed-faced sandwich, a tartine is an open-faced version popular in Belgium. At once simple and elegant, our tartines bring taste to the table and delight to the palate. Did you know the word tartine etymologically stems from the old French, diminutive of tarte (tart)? The word tartiner in French literally means “to spread”; in our case: to spread butter, cheese, and ingredients on a slice of sourdough bread.
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Relationships forged around a communal table
Our first communal table on Rue Dansaert in Brussels was made out of wood recovered from the floors of Belgian trains that had been taken out of service. Those simple planks became a tradition. Today, this same rough, reclaimed wood continues to bring rustic comfort to our restaurants, and the communal tables have become our centerpieces. We believe that the community is what nurtures, inspires, and feeds the soul. Our tables are long enough for all to fit and narrow enough for all to talk; they are where friends reconnect, and new friendships, relationships, and career paths are forged over the shared appreciation of delicious food and good company. For every new table, the old wood is planed and sanded until it feels completely smooth, and the surface only gets better after years of guests’ hands touching it and hosts cleaning it.
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Welcome homeLe Pain Quotidien means "the daily bread". And to us, that means everything. It’s much more than mere sustenance; it’s a way of life.
Simple. Fresh. Honest.
Our dishesOur menu celebrates natural, honest ingredients, prepared freshly every day. And at the heart of it all is the bread that brings everything together.