Star in its time, this restaurant brand is forced to sell one of its establishments.
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. And this famous chain, launched in Burgundy in the 1960s, where all French people have eaten at least once in their lives, has yet to sell one of its establishments.
It is an interminable decline that is underway for this legendary chain, whose dozens of restaurants throughout France have delighted the stomachs of motorists for years since they have long been installed along the roads. Moreover, this new establishment of the group which is today for sale is located along the RD1131, in the Mercières ZAC, in Compiègne. 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. For a long time remaining 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.
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.
