QUICK,THE FIRST HAMBURGER RESTAURANT BRAND OF EUROPEAN ORIGIN

Legend has it that in 1968, while his plane was flying over the Grand Canyon during a study trip to the United States, Baron Vaxelaire, founder of the first Belgian distribution group, GB INNO BM (GIB Group), asked his right-hand man to send a team to study the fast food restaurant concept that was developing successfully on the other side of the Atlantic.
Two years later, the idea gained ground and GB INNO BN established Quick Belgique, a chain of hamburger restaurants, a first in Europe.

In 1971, the first two restaurants opened in Schoten, in the province of Antwerp, and in Waterloo, south of Brussels, in the car parks of GB brand hypermarkets. In these restaurants, the potatoes were peeled by hand every day in the kitchens.

In 1975, the pace of development hastened as the chain expanded culminating in the decision to leave expansion in the periphery behind and invest in town centres. As Belgian consumers have different eating habits and a different relationship to restaurants from American consumers, Quick reoriented its positioning from a snack formula to that of a full-fledged restaurant.

1978 was a key year that marked the beginning of the franchise expansion. The first restaurant operated by a franchiser opened its doors in the Bascule district of Brussels.

In 1980, Quick began to become known in France with the first French Hamburger restaurant located in Aix-en-Provence. The previous year, the GIB and Casino groups joined forces to create the company France Quick with a 50-50 share.

In 1983, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, in turn, discovered the good taste of Giant and the “drive-in” service was inaugurated in France in Plan de Campagne.

The purchase of the O’Kitch and Freetime chains in 1998 took the number of restaurants by 65 new locations. In 1997, Burger King left France and Quick purchased a number of its former restaurants.

Quick continued to grow in the new millennium in an increasingly competitive environment and a market hit by the mad cow disease crisis. After motorways and stations, Quick opened its first airport restaurant in Nice Terminal 2.

Meanwhile, Quick Restaurants purchased Casino’s share of France Quick (1992) and floated 43% of its capital on the Brussels stock exchange (1993).

2006 saw a new turning point as Quick switched to fly under a French flag. CDC Capital Investissement initiated an OPA via a venture enterprise investment fund for the entire capital of Quick Restaurants SA on the Brussels stock market. The security was removed from the Brussels Euronext list in 2007.

Since 2007, Quick has broadened its horizons with the opening of restaurants in Algeria, Russia and New-Caledonia.

40 years of a story of taste that adapted the American fast food restaurant model for European tastes. Quick is still the first fast food hamburger restaurant in Belgium and Luxembourg, and the only challenger in France.

To be continued...