Le Pain Quotidien facts for kids
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Le Pain Quotidien, Chelsea, London
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| Founded | 26 October 1990 |
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| Founder | Alain Coumont |
| Headquarters | New York City (U.S. division) |
Le Pain Quotidien (which means the daily bread in French) is a famous chain of bakery-restaurants. They sell yummy baked goods like bread, plus salads, sandwiches, and special open-faced sandwiches called tartines. You can also get different drinks there.
You can find Le Pain Quotidien in more than 260 places around the world. They are in over 20 countries! Some of these countries include Argentina, Belgium, the United Kingdom, France, India, Japan, and the United States. In some countries like the U.S. and Belgium, the company owns and runs the restaurants. In other countries, people can open a Le Pain Quotidien as a franchise.
A special thing you'll see in every Le Pain Quotidien is a long, wooden "communal table." This is a big table where different groups of people can sit together. It helps create a friendly, shared atmosphere.
History of Le Pain Quotidien
The founder of Le Pain Quotidien is a chef named Alain Coumont. He opened the first restaurant on October 26, 1990. It was in Brussels, which is the capital city of Belgium.
When Alain was a young chef, he wasn't happy with the bread he could buy in Brussels. So, he decided to make his own bread! He mixed flour, water, and salt, just like the bread he remembered from his childhood.
He found old cabinets from antique shops to decorate his first store. He also found a large wooden table made from old train floors. This was the very first "communal table" that became a special part of Le Pain Quotidien.
The first Le Pain Quotidien in the United States opened in 1997. It was on Madison Avenue in New York City.
By 2005, the idea was so popular that Alain Coumont was getting many emails every day. People from all over wanted to open their own Le Pain Quotidien restaurants.
In 2011, there was a small problem at one of their New York City locations. A customer found something unexpected in her salad. The company worked to fix the issue.
