Courtepaille was France's iconic grill chain — six owners, two bankruptcies, 1,500 lost

Courtepaille was a French institution: a chain of roadside grill restaurants with distinctive round thatched-roof buildings and an open fireplace at the centre. Founded in 1961 by Jean Loisier, it grew to nearly 300 locations — roughly a third franchised — and became the place French families stopped for grilled steak on long drives. The formula was simple, consistent and beloved.

Between 2000 and 2020, Courtepaille changed hands six times — Accor, Barclays Private Equity, management, Fondations Capital, ICG — each transfer loading the company with more LBO debt. By 2017 revenue was declining and the chain was losing money. Then came the Gilets Jaunes protests, which kept drivers off the roads, followed by Covid-19. Courtepaille filed for receivership in July 2020. Buffalo Grill bought it out of insolvency for €17 million.

The recovery never came. Courtepaille filed a second receivership in March 2023. By then it had shrunk from 287 restaurants to 144. The second rescue, by La Boucherie, kept only 82 — and another wave of closures followed. By 2025, just 60 restaurants remained, most of them franchised. 1,500 employees lost their jobs across the two restructurings. A brand that had defined French roadside dining for half a century was reduced to a shell.