This thirty-something Flemish couple saved eight estaminets in five years

“Have pity on the old: for their retirement, drink the aperitif”, invites a yellow and red sign hanging on a wall of the Lille estaminet (North) Au petit vie. Photos, postcards, mirrors and old blue earthenware plates decorate the place nicely. The typical setting of estaminets, these warm traditional restaurants of the North, in which Anne and François Caulier move like fish in water.

Originally, this thirty-something Flemish couple, with clear eyes and frank smiles, saw themselves working in construction. For several years, she worked as an architect, he as a construction manager. Until “the opportunity that changed everything” presented itself: in 2020, they decided to take over the estaminet in the village of Hondeghem, where he grew up, and in which she worked as a waitress during her studies.

“It has existed for more than a hundred years: during the First World War, an English soldier took a photo in which its facade appears in the background,” enthuses François Caulier. A real institution, with its wooded setting, its hops drying on the ceiling, and its dishes “like at home”. On the menu, Flemish carbonade (a dish mainly composed of beef marinated in beer) and potjevleesch (mixture of chicken, rabbit, pork and veal in jelly) take the lion’s share.

“We have always loved welcoming people, creating connections,” observes the duo, formed by the former owners of the establishment. Before turning into restaurants, estaminets were for a long time cafés where people met for a drink, chat and play, they recall. “They kind of disappeared at one point, before a revival from the 1980s, when they became professional. » The state of mind, “no fuss”, they wanted to maintain.

A sixth Lille address could see the light of day

So much so that a few years later, “a little by chance”, when the opportunity presented itself to buy five of the most emblematic estaminets in Lille (Chez la Vieille, Au Vieux de la Vie, La Vieille France, etc.), they did not hesitate long before making an offer.

For these young thirty-somethings, this represents a very big investment, but they believe in it: the passion is there. “We love our land, our territory of Flanders, it was a way of sharing that. We found our place, it makes sense to us,” explains Anne Caulier. In the capital of Flanders, the very popular estaminets are on the rise.

The couple succeeded in their bet, and are continuing it, with new openings in Dunkirk and Saint-Sylvestre-Cappel. A sixth Lille address could also see the light of day soon, say Anne and François Caulier, who already employ a good hundred people, and have just acquired a small local fries company to guarantee the quality of this essential accompaniment. These estaminet lovers, young parents, have already found the name of the establishment: it will be Colette, like their child.