Belgian Beer Café

Belgian Beer Cafe
Company type	Private
Industry	Restaurant, beer cafe
Founded	1998
Headquarters	Leuven, Belgium
Number of locations	60+
Website	www.belgianbeercafe.com

Belgian Beer Café is a chain of concept cafe-restaurants specializing in Belgian-inspired food and Belgian beers. The company was founded in Brussels in 1998 by InBev and now is part of the Anheuser-Busch InBev Group.^[1] Currently,^[when?] Belgian Beer Cafés can be found in 50 cities spread out over 19 countries.^{[citation needed]}

History[edit]

The Belgian Beer Café concept pairs Belgian beers with Belgian cuisine.^[1] The Cafés were designed by Creneau International, inspired by the look of Belgian Cafés during the interbellum and incorporating many elements of Belgian Art Nouveau architect Victor Horta.^[2]

Belgian Beer Cafés come in two slightly different concepts: rural and cosmopolitan.^{[citation needed]} The rural version imitates the typical Belgian brasserie, which is rather spacious with a large amount of seating and a good view of the comings and goings.^{[citation needed]} The cosmopolitan-orientated Cafés are furnished in a more efficient way, less roomy and are targeted to a different audience.^{[citation needed]}

At first, the beer menu was limited to only original InBev brands but over the years the number of participating breweries has grown.^{[citation needed]}

At the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China, a complete Belgian Beer Café was constructed in the Belgian EU pavilion,^[3] drawing some 110,000 visitors.^{[citation needed]}

The Belgian Beer Cafés were also represented in 2011 at the Cleveland Wine Festival.^[4] During the festival, a Belgian Beer Café served Stella Artois (premium lager), Hoegaarden (white wheat beer) and Leffe (abbey beer).

International expansion[edit]

As of 2011, Belgian Beer Café locations can be found in 51 cities spread out over 20 countries and 4 continents (Europe, Asia, North America and Australia).^{[citation needed]} Most of the cafes are located in city centres, but the Cafés can also be found in hotels and at international airports.^{[citation needed]}