Our History
The story aboutMagazine
11 October 2024
A family affair
Alain Coumont learned the beauty of baking when he was just a little boy. Too small to reach the counter, his aunt Simone would pull a chair over for Alain to stand on so he could watch her make the dough for bread. On Sundays, they’d bake, not just loaves and boules, but a dozen tarts too. His taste for baking up happiness reaches far back into the legacy of his past. Alain’s mother’s parents owned a restaurant near Liège in Belgium, and his father trained as a chef. Alain even studied at the same hotel school that his father attended in Namur, Belgium. He followed in their footsteps until it was time to mark his own path.
Chapter 1
Our History
Perfectly imperfect
As a young chef in Brussels, Alain hunted, tasted, and 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. And so, Le Pain Quotidien was born from his quest to taste the familiar.
Chapter 2
Our History
16 Rue Dansaert, Bruxelles
Once Alain Coumont decided to open his bakery, he needed to decide on a name. He recalled a memory of his father exclaiming “moi, ce n’est pas mon pain quotidien!” literally translating to “it’s not my daily bread.” Alain knew he needn’t look any further for the words to hang above his bakery door. Welcome to Le Pain Quotidien, “the daily bread,” where the past meets the present and the future is today.
The first Le Pain Quotidien opened in Brussels in 1990, and within a few months 10 more locations opened, all serving the classic, rustic loaves Alain grew up with. Seven years later, Alain’s dream to open in the United States was realized with a flagship bakery on Madison Avenue in New York City, and now, his vision of fresh-baked, traditionally made bread has become a tradition for neighbors and friends at over 250 Le Pain Quotidien locations throughout the world.
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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.