Marc Coucke takes majority stake in Amadeus as Belgian rib chain plans steady expansion

Amadeus began in Ghent

Place

Ghent

City where Amadeus was founded in 1987 and where it operates two restaurants.

Why it matters

City where Amadeus was founded in 1987 and where it operates two restaurants.

About

Ghent is a city and a municipality in the East Flanders province of the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the province and the third largest in the country, after Brussels and Antwerp. It is a port and university city.

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Place

Brussels

City and region hosting one existing Amadeus restaurant.

Why it matters

City and region hosting one existing Amadeus restaurant.

About

The City of Brussels is the largest municipality and historical centre of the Brussels-Capital Region, as well as the capital of the French Community of Belgium, the Flemish Region, and Belgium. The City of Brussels is also the administrative centre of the European Union, as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions in its European Quarter.

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Place

Antwerp

City hosting one existing Amadeus restaurant.

Why it matters

City hosting one existing Amadeus restaurant.

About

Antwerp is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest municipality in Belgium by area at 208.22 km2 (80.39 sq mi). With a population of 565,039, it is the most populous municipality in Belgium, and with a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million people, the country's second-largest metropolitan area after Brussels.

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The geographical spread matters. Amadeus is not a standardised roadside chain; its restaurants are associated with distinctive central locations and elaborate décor. The Brussels branch gives international residents and EU staff an accessible encounter with a particularly Flemish form of convivial dining, while the Ghent and Antwerp restaurants are woven more closely into their cities’ nightlife and visitor economies. The planned Bruges opening will test whether that combination of recognisable food, spectacle and informal abundance can work in Belgium’s busiest heritage-tourism market without becoming merely another tourist formula.

Thevelin and Dobbelaere only took over Amadeus from its original owners in 2023. Het Nieuwsblad reported at the time that they intended to retain the chain’s familiar character. Since then, they have concentrated on renovating and professionalising its kitchens, according to the new investment announcement. Their continued involvement is therefore important: Alychlo is supplying financial weight, but the operators who have managed the recent transition remain responsible for the concept’s daily execution.

Opening one restaurant a year sounds cautious beside the rapid franchising associated with international food brands. In Belgium’s labour-intensive hospitality sector, however, even measured expansion requires suitable premises, trained staff, food-safety systems and disciplined purchasing. Statbel recorded 11,665 Belgian business bankruptcies in 2025, the highest annual total since 2013. Its figures also show substantial employment losses linked to hospitality failures, illustrating the difficult environment in which Amadeus is choosing to grow.

That contrast is the broader business story. Amadeus already has a recognised name, considerable customer volume and a repeatable core menu, all of which can make expansion less risky than launching an unfamiliar concept. Alychlo also has experience investing in Belgian leisure and hospitality assets. Yet scaling a restaurant built partly on atmosphere is harder than reproducing a logo and recipe: each new site must feel individual enough to retain the brand’s charm while operating consistently enough to support a larger group.

The owners’ stated emphasis on affordability will be closely watched as food, wages, rent and energy costs evolve. Belgian hospitality businesses set their own prices, but the Federal Public Service Economy says menus must display the total price clearly, in euros and including VAT and mandatory charges. Diners should therefore check the current menu for the chosen branch rather than assume that older prices found in reviews or social-media posts still apply.

Amadeus locations operate in Belgium’s different language environments. Dutch is the main public language in Ghent, Antwerp, Kruisem and Bruges; Brussels is officially bilingual in French and Dutch, while English is commonly understood in central hospitality venues but is not an official administrative language. When booking, diners should use the restaurant’s own current website or contact the branch directly to confirm opening hours, group arrangements and accessibility. Those details can differ by location and may change as the chain expands.

Anyone with allergies or dietary restrictions should ask the individual restaurant for its current allergen information before ordering. The unlimited-ribs offer is the defining product, so vegetarian, halal, kosher or other dietary needs should not be assumed to be covered simply because alternatives may appear on a menu. Belgium’s Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain, known as FAVV in Dutch and AFSCA in French, also provides a public Food Hygiene Rating search. Consumers can look up a restaurant by name and municipality — gemeente in Dutch, commune in French — to see registration details and the latest published basic hygiene-inspection result.

That official database is more useful than relying on an old online review. It reports establishment-specific information, meaning customers should search for the precise Ghent, Brussels, Antwerp or Kruisem unit rather than treat one branch’s result as applying automatically to the whole chain. New establishments, including the planned Bruges restaurant, may not show a completed inspection result immediately.

For Coucke and Alychlo, the attraction is a Belgian brand with a simple proposition and room to expand domestically. For Thevelin and Dobbelaere, the partnership brings resources without requiring an immediate exit. For regular customers, the central question is whether greater scale can preserve the generous, idiosyncratic experience that made Amadeus recognisable in the first place.

The next confirmed milestone is the Bruges opening in autumn 2026. After that, attention will turn to the location of the seventh restaurant, whether expansion remains company-owned or eventually includes franchise partners, and how prices and staffing develop. Alychlo has announced an ambition of one new restaurant per year, not a binding timetable. Until further sites, budgets and dates are named, the most defensible reading is steady Belgian growth rather than a rush abroad.