LES SARDINES la marque

What LES SARDINES la marque does

LES SARDINES is a privately held French bar and guinguette (open-air festive bar-restaurant) brand founded in 2013 by Lydia Becerra in Pau. The company operates a network of five venues across the Béarn, Basque Country, and Landes departments of southwestern France — specifically Pau, Lons, Bizanos, Biarritz, and Capbreton — under the 'Les Sardines' and 'La Guinguette des Sardines' trade names, with a smaller-format sub-brand 'La P'tite Guinguette des Sardines' in Bizanos. The core offering centers on tapas and sharing plates (signature items include côte de bœuf and patatas bravas), a curated selection of wines, cocktails, and beers, and a layered event program of themed evenings, DJ sets, live concerts, blind tests, and pétanque/darts activities. The flagship Biarritz venue operates from lunch through late night with weekend dancing, while smaller locations focus on animated weekend evenings.

The technology stack is deliberately lightweight: reservations and customer accounts run through a Shopify-powered storefront (store ID 90314473801) with location-specific landing pages, and the brand maintains six dedicated Instagram accounts and multiple Facebook pages for community engagement. No proprietary software, mobile app, API, or AI/ML capability is disclosed; all differentiation is experiential and operational rather than digital. Payment options on the platform include American Express, Apple Pay, Cartes Bancaires, Klarna, Mastercard, PayPal, Shop Pay, and Visa.

The business model is direct-to-consumer food and beverage sales at physical venues, supplemented by event-driven demand generation. Revenue is not publicly disclosed, and there is no evidence of institutional funding or external capital partners. The brand has expanded organically from a single bar in 2013 to five locations by 2025 and is now extending growth through a formal franchise program ('Devenir franchisé'), recruiting entrepreneur-partners to open new guinguettes. Customer concentration is low — there are no anchor B2B accounts, and revenue is built on long-tail walk-in and reservation traffic augmented by media-driven and celebrity-driven visibility (Jean Dujardin, JoeyStarr, Conrad Smith, Frédéric Michalak, Arnaud Ducret, Frédéric Beigbeder have all been noted visitors, with coverage in Madame Figaro, France Bleu, Sud Ouest, and Guide du Pays Basque).

Name

LES SARDINES la marque

Legal name

LES SARDINES

Website

https://sardines-guinguettes.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

LES SARDINES is a French guinguette and tapas bar brand founded in 2013, operating five venues in Pau, Lons, Bizanos, Biarritz, and Capbreton. It serves social diners and nightlife seekers with sharing plates, cocktails, live music, and themed events, and is expanding through a franchise program.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Casual Dining Restaurants

NAICS

Full-Service Restaurants (722511), Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) (7224)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Supper Clubs & Dinner-Theater Restaurants (THAFACAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Cocktail Bars & Lounges (CRANACAD)

Keywords

• Tapas bar restaurants
• Guinguette dining concept
• Live music venues
• Franchise restaurant group
• Sharing plates cuisine

Headquarters

HQ city

Pau

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Food and Beverage Sales: Revenue from selling tapas, sharing plates, cocktails, wines, beers, and other beverages at restaurant locations. The concept centers on sharing plates like côte de bœuf, tapas, and patatas bravas alongside drinks.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Les Sardines operates a chain of guinguette venues (open-air festive bar-restaurants) in southwestern France that serve homemade tapas, sharing plates, wines, cocktails, and beers alongside nightly entertainment including DJ sets, live concerts, themed evenings, and games. Customers reserve tables online through the brand's Shopify-powered website and visit the physical venues for dining and social experiences.

Product overview

LES SARDINES operates a network of guinguette (French open-air festive bar-restaurant) venues across southwestern France. The portfolio consists of five locations: Les Sardines Pau (the original venue, opened 2013), La Guinguette des Sardines Biarritz, La Guinguette des Sardines Lons, La P'tite Guinguette des Sardines Bizanos, and Les Sardines Capbreton. Each venue offers a similar concept centered on tapas and shareable plates (including signature items like côte de bœuf and patatas bravas), cocktails, wines, and beers, with animated evenings featuring DJs, live concerts, themed nights, and games (pétanque, darts). Reservations are managed through the Shopify-powered online store.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• La Guinguette des Sardines Biarritz

Named customers8 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Red BullminorOthersRed Bull is displayed as a partner brand in the partners section of the website, indicating a beverage supply or sponsorship relationship.
• Jack Daniel'sminorOthersJack Daniel's whiskey brand is featured as a partner in the beverage section, suggesting a supply or promotional partnership.
• La Cave de LiliminorOthersLocal wine merchant La Cave de Lili appears as a partner, likely supplying wines for the restaurant's wine program.
• CanteloupminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCanteloup (French TV show) collaborated with Les Sardines for media content, featured in the press and media section of their website.
• Radio BiarritzminorGTM or Marketing PartnerRadio Biarritz collaborated with Les Sardines, with content featured on the company's media page.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Big Mamma Group: Operates a portfolio of festive, design-forward trattorias across France (East Mamma, Ober Mamma, Mamma Primi, etc.) combining Italian sharing plates, cocktails, and high-energy atmospheres. Direct peer to Les Sardines' guinguette-with-DJ model targeting social diners and nightlife seekers.
• Maison Mère (Maison Mère groupe): French restaurant group known for festive bistros and guinguette-style venues featuring live music and sharing cuisine. Strongly comparable on the music-plus-tapas positioning and Parisian regional overlap with Les Sardines' gourmet-festive positioning.
• Bouillon Pigalle / Bouillon Chartier: Iconic French festive casual-dining venues reinvented as energetic, design-forward restaurants with shared seating and live programming. Directly comparable on casual festive French dining with mass appeal.
• Chez Janou: Long-standing Provençal bistro in Paris known for convivial atmosphere, sharing plates, and drinks. Comparable on the convivial-French-tapas-plus-beverage model Les Sardines operates, though localized to Paris.
• La Guinguette du Jardin (and other named guinguettes): Independent French open-air guinguette venues offering food, music, and dancing — the same category-defining format Les Sardines has scaled into a brand. Direct comparables on outdoor festive bar-restaurant concept.

Regional players

• Le Train Bleu (Gare de Lyon): Iconic Parisian brasserie-restaurant offering immersive dining atmosphere and live entertainment. Comparable on the experience-led festive French dining positioning, though primarily Paris-centered versus Les Sardines' southwestern France focus.
• Southwestern France guinguette independents (e.g., Guinguette de l'Été, Guinguette Lafitte): Local guinguette-style venues serving sharing cuisine and live music across the Béarn and Basque region. Closest regional competition to Les Sardines, operating similar formats in overlapping geos.

Broad incumbents

• Groupe Bertrand: Major French hospitality group operating brasseries (Brasserie Lipp, Le Procope) and festive dining concepts across Paris and major French cities. Overlaps with Les Sardines on casual-dining-plus-atmosphere, with significantly broader scale and footprint.
• Mama Shelter (Ennismore / Accor): Restaurant-hotel concept with a French origin and global footprint, blending design-driven dining with bar and entertainment programming. Comparable on the casual-with-atmosphere positioning, though broader as it also includes lodging.

Emerging players

• La Felicità (Station F): Large festive food-and-drink venue in Paris combining multiple restaurant concepts, cocktails, and DJs. Comparable on the high-volume, entertainment-led, multi-format bar-restaurant model Les Sardines employs at its larger Biarritz and Lons guinguettes.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Lessardinespau
• Instagraminstagram.com/les_sardines_officiel
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/lessardinesbar

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about LES SARDINES la marque