Meet the Aussie who introduced Paris to the flat white
Tom Clark opened Coutume in early 2011. Now it’s a chain of 15 cafes, with more than 100 employees. Oh, and there’s a wholesale roasting business, too.
Early in the 2000s, Tom Clark was an Australian law student on a university exchange in Paris. He was living the dream – not many classes, lots of time to enjoy that Parisian buzz and joie de vivre – but one thing bugged him. It was impossible to get a good coffee.
Tom Clark, co-founder of the Coutume café chain, believes the French obsession with food and drink hadn’t extended to coffee before. Nathan Laine
Hans van LeeuwenEurope correspondentHans van Leeuwen covers British and European politics, economics and business from London. He has worked as a reporter, editor and policy adviser in Sydney, Canberra, Hanoi and London. Connect with Hans on Twitter. Email Hans at hans.vanleeuwen@afr.com
