“Worried” Le Pain Quotidien still opens 15 locations

Belgian bakery chain Le Pain Quotidien has returned to the path of expansion (opening fifteen restaurants over the next six months), but says it is “worried” for the times ahead. Its current goal is just to finish the year without an operational loss.

Franchising is the way ahead

It will take some time to return Le Pain Quotidien to sustained profitability, CEO Annick Van Overstraeten admits. For the time being, she would be quite happy if the current year can be closed without any operational losses. In business newspapers De Tijd and L’Echo, she admits to be worried about the skyrocketing prices for commodities and wages. “Especially in Europe, we fear for a difficult rest of the year.”

Still, the chain has found its way to growth again: in the next six months, the chain will open fifteen franchise restaurants in countries as diverse as Greece, Luxembourg, Morocco, Saudi-Arabia and Uruguay. After the restart in 2020, the chain switched from mostly self-owned restaurants to franchises and the number of the former dropped from 160 to 60. American group Aurify Brands bought the chain’s US restaurants and is now further adding to the chain.