Albert-Louis Van Houtte, a French immigrant, set up his first grocery store in Montreal in 1919. Van Houtte stocked the store with specialty products from Europe, including coffee. Each day he would roast small batches of coffee in the back of his shop, and soon Van Houtte had built up a reputation in Montreal for selling quality coffee. In the more than 80 years since its founder began roasting European coffees, A.L. Van Houtte Cafe-Bistro has grown beyond Montreal and has expanded its menu. Today, each cafe-bistro serves a variety of specialty coffee drinks, as well as salads, sandwiches and desserts.

Van Houtte Cafes serve coffee blends and a wide variety of espresso-based beverages, featuring the choicest beans roasted according to traditional European methods. Cafes also offer an array of pastries, salads, sandwiches and small platters all prepared with the freshest ingredients. A market leader in its category since 1976, Van Houtte accurately responds to the trends of its core clientele. New design, new products, new marketing and merchandising concepts - if franchisees pursue this franchise opportunity, their customers will continually be stimulated by what they have in store.

The idea behind it is quite simple - How to better serve customers who are busier than ever, while serving fresh products? Over 50 recipes were crafted wholeheartedly and were tested before being launched on market. The final products were carefully selected, keeping in mind to offer our loyal customers nothing but the best. Everything was designed to meet our ever-changing society’s needs, where quality products can be eaten on the go, Café Van Houtte’s mission is to prepare hand-made products with natural foods. The company’s goal is to avoid additives and preservatives nowadays used in “prepared” and “quick” meals served everywhere.