Alain Coumont
Encyclopedia
Alain Coumont is a Belgian chef and restaurateur, and founder of Le Pain Quotidien
.
, Belgium
. As a child in Belgium, Coumont spent countless hours perched on a chair, watching his grandmother make bread.
Then, in 1977, after a voyage to the United States
, where he was impressed by the success of Michel Guérard
, he abandoned his classical studies and enrolled in the Hotel School of Namur
in Belgium
. After graduating, Coumont worked in a number of highly regarded restaurants including Michel Guérard (Eugenie Les Bains, France), Georges Blanc (Vonnas, France) and Joel Robuchon (Paris, France).
As a young chef in Brussels, Coumont could not find the right bread for his restaurant. Passionate about quality, he returned to his roots and opened a small bakery where he could knead flour
, salt
and water
into the rustic loaves of his childhood. Coumont opened his bakery in rue Antoine Dansaert in Brussels
in 1990, in those days an avant-garde quarter of Belgian fashion. He named his bakery “Le Pain Quotidien
.” Brussels quickly took to the taste of this traditional bread. Alain evolved his offering to include simple salads and tartines, keeping bread the cornerstone of the menu. At a local flea market, Coumont found a long table where his guests could sit to eat together; it became Le Pain Quotidien’s first communal table.
Success was rapid and Coumont had numerous candidates who wanted to open other Le Pain Quotidien outlets. In the space of a few months, 10 locations opened in Brussels. Coumont then followed his dream to open restaurants in the United States. In 1997, Coumont opened his first store on Madison Avenue in New York City, which was an instant success. Shortly thereafter, he met a group of Belgian investors who backed his U.S. expansion plans. With this financial support, he opened several locations in New York City and later in Los Angeles.
Coumont currently serves as the Company’s Chief Creative Officer. In this role, he remains the driving force behind the brand’s dedication to organic ingredients. Coumont spends most of this time traveling to support the concept throughout the world.
Coumont is also the co-founder of BioGhetto.com, which he established in 2005 with Gilles Valeriani. The company produces a line of organic vins de pique-nique (picnic wines) under the RN13 label, which are produced in the Languedoc-Roussillon
region of France.
Coumont currently resides with his family in Clermont l'Hérault, France.
Le Pain Quotidien
Le Pain Quotidien is a bakery-café founded in Brussels in 1990 by Alain Coumont. It is now an international chain operating in many countries including the UK and USA. It sells organic bread and cakes in a homely, rustic style.-History:...
.
Biography
Alain Coumont is the son and grandson of grocers. His grandmother ran a hotel in front of the train station in HuyHuy
Huy is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region and Province of Liege. Huy lies along the river Meuse, at the mouth of the small river Hoyoux. It is in the sillon industriel, the former industrial backbone of Wallonia, home to about two-thirds of the Walloon population...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. As a child in Belgium, Coumont spent countless hours perched on a chair, watching his grandmother make bread.
Then, in 1977, after a voyage to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where he was impressed by the success of Michel Guérard
Michel Guérard
Michel Guérard is a French chef, author, one of the founders of nouvelle cuisine, and the inventor of cuisine minceur.- Biography :...
, he abandoned his classical studies and enrolled in the Hotel School of Namur
Namur (city)
Namur is a city and municipality in Wallonia, in southern Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia....
in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. After graduating, Coumont worked in a number of highly regarded restaurants including Michel Guérard (Eugenie Les Bains, France), Georges Blanc (Vonnas, France) and Joel Robuchon (Paris, France).
As a young chef in Brussels, Coumont could not find the right bread for his restaurant. Passionate about quality, he returned to his roots and opened a small bakery where he could knead flour
Flour
Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
, salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
and water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
into the rustic loaves of his childhood. Coumont opened his bakery in rue Antoine Dansaert in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
in 1990, in those days an avant-garde quarter of Belgian fashion. He named his bakery “Le Pain Quotidien
Le Pain Quotidien
Le Pain Quotidien is a bakery-café founded in Brussels in 1990 by Alain Coumont. It is now an international chain operating in many countries including the UK and USA. It sells organic bread and cakes in a homely, rustic style.-History:...
.” Brussels quickly took to the taste of this traditional bread. Alain evolved his offering to include simple salads and tartines, keeping bread the cornerstone of the menu. At a local flea market, Coumont found a long table where his guests could sit to eat together; it became Le Pain Quotidien’s first communal table.
Success was rapid and Coumont had numerous candidates who wanted to open other Le Pain Quotidien outlets. In the space of a few months, 10 locations opened in Brussels. Coumont then followed his dream to open restaurants in the United States. In 1997, Coumont opened his first store on Madison Avenue in New York City, which was an instant success. Shortly thereafter, he met a group of Belgian investors who backed his U.S. expansion plans. With this financial support, he opened several locations in New York City and later in Los Angeles.
Coumont currently serves as the Company’s Chief Creative Officer. In this role, he remains the driving force behind the brand’s dedication to organic ingredients. Coumont spends most of this time traveling to support the concept throughout the world.
Coumont is also the co-founder of BioGhetto.com, which he established in 2005 with Gilles Valeriani. The company produces a line of organic vins de pique-nique (picnic wines) under the RN13 label, which are produced in the Languedoc-Roussillon
Languedoc-Roussillon
Languedoc-Roussillon is one of the 27 regions of France. It comprises five departments, and borders the other French regions of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Rhône-Alpes, Auvergne, Midi-Pyrénées on the one side, and Spain, Andorra and the Mediterranean sea on the other side.-Geography:The region is...
region of France.
Coumont currently resides with his family in Clermont l'Hérault, France.