Formerly owned by a restaurant chain well known to the French, this establishment is now for sale after two years of abandonment.
It’s not just the famous ready-to-wear brands that are closing one after the other. In the world of catering, the crisis is also being felt… The proof with this restaurant, which until 2023 belonged to a famous chain launched in Burgundy in the 1960s, where all French people have eaten at least once in their lives, but which has since been abandoned and put up for auction.
This establishment which is now for sale is located along the RD1131, in the ZAC de Mercières, in Compiègne. Because, when it belonged to a chain, it followed the historical model of the group whose dozens of restaurants throughout France have delighted the stomachs of motorists for years since they have long been installed along the roads.
Placed in liquidation, the restaurant has been completely abandoned since it closed its doors two years ago. And so it is for sale at auction reports Oise News. Initial price: 462,000 euros. A sum well below market prices, but which could allow the place to reinvent itself. The hearing will take place at the Judicial Court of Compiègne, in Oise, on January 6.
We are talking about a restaurant here Courtepaillean establishment specializing in grilled meats and whose circular architecture is known to all French people: a thatched roof, a large fireplace and a red logo. Having long remained the essential stopover for French families on the holiday route, the brand Courtepaille went through a decade of turbulence that almost wiped his name off the map in the restaurant world. The decline began in the 2010s between an aging economic model, massive debt and difficulty in modernizing its image.
Then, with the pandemic, the company experienced its first legal recovery. It was bought by the Napaqaro group (then owner of Buffalo Grill) but the situation has hardly changed. In 2023, the verdict falls after a new bankruptcy filing: the Nanterre commercial court validates the takeover of the brand by the La Boucherie group, now Groupe Baudaire.
This operation, however, turned into a drastic dismantling, with the new management retaining only around 80 restaurants out of the 190 remaining. This radical choice led to the disappearance of more than 1,300 jobs and the permanent closure of dozens of historic houses across France. “The Group has taken over as many restaurants as possible among those which were not yet closed. The disappearance of 1,300 jobs is certainly not the responsibility of the Baudaire Group“, however, the group’s communication informed us.
And to specify: “The brand has stabilized its network at 60 restaurants in France following the takeover and is once again opening. The brand’s dynamic is about renewal, the menu, the decor, the marketing strategy has been revised to achieve the ambition of ‘regaining its legendary place’ with 100 restaurants by 2030.”
