Alain Coumont

Alain Coumont (born 4 March 1961) is a Belgian chef and restaurateur, and founder of Le Pain Quotidien.

Biography Coumont is the son and grandson of grocers. His grandmother ran a hotel in front of the train station in Huy, Belgium. As a child in Belgium, Coumont spent countless hours perched on a chair, watching his grandmother make bread.

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 several highly regarded restaurants including Michel Guérard (Eugenie Les Bains, France), Georges Blanc (Vonnas, France) and Joël Robuchon (Paris, France).

As a young chef in Brussels, Coumont could not find the right bread for his restaurant. Star restaurants. Alain Coumont share his time between New York City and his farm/organic food research and training center in the Languedoc region in the south of France

Alain Coumont also created Le Botaniste, a plant-based fast casual restaurant concept and natural wine bar, 100% organic and 100% botanical (vegan), and gluten free; the first restaurant opened in Ghent, Belgium in September 2015. A second restaurant opened in New York City in January 2016. With the success of the two first locations, the company decided to expand so a third opened at 127 Grand street in New York City in November 2017, a fourth in August 2018 in Brussels, Belgium in the EU Schuman area. The company aims to have 10 restaurants by mid 2020.

Alain is also a cookbook writer, with Minceur Exquise (1990), Cook & Book, Le Pain Quotidien cookbook, Le Pain Quotidien recettes originales.