The former XV star of France, famous for his big beard and his devastating tackles, did not rest on his laurels after his career.
Chabal is a name and a mouth in the world of French rugby and sport in general. The bearded colossus made the buzz for several years by its physique and its devastating tackles, like those inflicted against New Zealand and the fracture of the All Black jaw, Ali Williams. An image that has gone around the world and the fame of French.
In 2011, he ended his career in the French team with more than sixty selections. Two years later, he will definitively stop his professional career at the Lou to embark on new projects. Thanks to its popularity, French does not need to look far to sign advertising contracts (cars, equipment supplier …), but also to embark on creation, management and investment in businesses.
“Ruckfield”, a line of clothing for men, was one of his first big blows (2009). He will become the owner a few years later (2019) after being the face for ten years. He also opened several catering establishments, including “at the Coq field”, a brasserie located in Lyon, but also “in the hair”, a brand focused on the maintenance of beards and hair for men. At the end of 2024, he embarked on an astonishing new project, far from Ovalie.
Sébastien Chabal is now behind the “Jo Burgers” in the company of Tony Mathis, his partner in Ruckfield, and Joannes Richard, world champion in Burger. “This is a hybrid model that does not exist to date,” describes Sébastien Chabal for the magazine Undertake. “No question of offering yet another restoration offer, we wanted to create a win-win model, based on partnerships with already active restaurants, selected according to the quality of their kitchen,” he said.
The originality of the concept: Each week, a restaurant in your city offers an event around the creations of Joannes Richard. “Our idea is akin to that of the Pop-up Restaurant: we set up our concept on the first Wednesday of the month at restaurateurs, in order to bring them differentiation and communication opportunities”, explains Sébastien Chabal as a good businessman.
At the beginning of 2025, the first assessment was positive with more than fifty establishments which accepted this project, even if the objective is much higher with 1000 members. It is the very first time that Sébastien Chabal has seen himself as a real “entrepreneur”.
“In the next five years, the idea is to set up the brand in France, in neighboring countries culturally close to us and, if everything goes as planned, to go to master franchises OJ burgers In around thirty countries “explains the old third line with ambition.