“Chez Léon”: the boss of the emblematic Belgian restaurants committed suicide
Rodolphe (known as Rudy) Vanlancker, the boss of the Belgian gastronomy restaurants “Chez Léon” killed himself by hanging on March 2 in his restaurant located in the Sacré island of Brussels (Belgium), we were informed of the local media this Thursday.
Aged 63, Rudy Vanlancker had recently taken over another institution of Brussels cuisine, Aux Armes de Bruxelles, a restaurant located just opposite the establishment “Chez Léon” where he ended his life.
For many, this restaurateur created the fifth generation of the family that operated this chip shop, which has become a must in Belgium.
A complicated time
The reasons for his action are not yet known. According to his relatives, Rudy Vanlancker was going through a complicated period, in particular because of the health crisis which had a strong impact on the catering sector.
Retraining, loss of turnover and the drop in tourism have indeed had undeniable impacts for a good number of establishments.
Hard knocks that Rudy Vanlancker had named in the newspaper The Last Hour. From the columns of the Belgian daily, the restaurateur had indicated that the crisis had cost him “twenty years of savings”.
Founded in Belgium in 1893 by his grandfather Léon Vanlancker, the company had developed over the years. Nearly a century later, in 1989, it was introduced in France in the form of a franchise taking the name of “Léon de Bruxelles”.
In July 2020, in the context of the Covid, “Léon de Bruxelles” became “Léon” by immediately carrying out a major overhaul and reworking its concept.