"We missed it too much!" : the reopening of the café terraces makes Parisians happy

On the Place d'Italie (in the 13th arrondissement), the terrace of the O'Jules café-restaurant is bursting with sunshine. Unlike cafes in the green zone, those in the capital - still classified orange as the entire Île de France region - can only reopen their terraces and not the indoor rooms. Never mind ! This Tuesday, June 2, many customers, regulars or occasional, came to have their first coffee on the terrace in two and a half months.

Installed on the turquoise blue benches and rattan chairs, Nouhed, Louis and Salah ordered coffee and orange juice. The three friends were impatiently awaiting the reopening of Parisian cafes, which took place on May 28 by the Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe.

"We're going to come back every day for at least a week! Today, we started the day here and we're coming back this evening," promises Louis. "We really missed not being able to come. The terraces are part of Parisian life!" Says Nouhed.

The O'Jules team had prepared for the reopening, but did not expect such a crowd from June 2. "I did not expect that there would be so many people at 10 am. I expected people, rather around noon," said Kumar Danesh, the director of the coffee shop.

"We will not make money"

Here as elsewhere, the waiters have added a mask to their outfit. Between the kitchen, the crate and the tables, they have regained their frantic pace, and sweat begins to bead under their masks. At least the gap between the tables - enlarged to respect the compulsory distance meter - allows them to move more easily.

To be able to respect this famous regulatory meter, Jacky, manager of the Petit café, rue Bobillot, has moved a few tables along the sidewalk. Behind his ocher mask, decorated with a small French flag, he says he is happy to have been able to reopen, but is "worried financially". Uncertainty still prevails among many traders.

Mourad Chalabi, manager of Il Posto, a pizzeria located near the Jourdain metro station, in the 20th arrondissement (northeast of Paris), doubts that the reopening of his terrace is really an advantage for his finances. "We open to open, to say that we are there and reconnect with customers, and put all the misfortune behind us, but it is certain that we will not make money," he predicts.

The town hall authorized him to install tables on the sidewalk to compensate a little for the closure of the room. "I get five more tables on the sidewalk. However, I lose 30 inside, for sure it is not profitable," laments the trader.

"We are happy to find you"

At the cash desk of the Petit café, the co-manager is more enthusiastic. "We are happy to find you after two and a half months," she says to a customer who comes to pay for his consumption.

Ben was there, under the red blind of the Petit café this Tuesday morning. Leaning with a coffee at one of the high tables on the terrace, he describes his relationship to this essential place in the neighborhood: "It's a habit to come here to meet colleagues, neighbors. I, in general, spend all in the mornings, because it's on the way to work. " For this regular in a red polo shirt, cafes are part of the daily life of Parisians. "These places, when closed, give the impression of a dead city."

Marzena Leska, manager of La Palissade, a bistro in the Sainte-Marthe district (10th arrondissement), can only confirm this impression. "I did not plan to open until tomorrow. But, when I installed the terrace to take photos and send them to the town hall, to have a green light, the people of the neighborhood rushed," she said. "So, I keep serving coffees. They’re all here, it's nice to see them again. Clearly, they were in need, it hurt their hearts. The neighborhood was so empty for weeks, streets without tables were sad, "she recalls.

A flagship place of social life

Laure Léveillé, she sat down at table on Tuesday morning, with a coffee and a book, on the terrace of the Mêlécasse, cafe in the rue de la Butte aux Cailles, in the 13th district. This historian, "follower of cafes", generally used to frequent Le Diamant, a few streets away, but the establishment is still closed this morning.

She made many friends there. People who, like her, come for pleasure, but also sometimes to work. "For a long time, and especially during the writing of my thesis, cafes have been a way of varying my work environment. The life around me helps me to concentrate, it is a support," she explains. .

As a single person, without children, cafes are for Laure Léveillé, a flagship place in her social life. "I feared confinement but, ultimately, it allowed me to reinvest my personal space […]. But there are people I really can't wait to see again! It made me aware of the place that the people I hang out with in the cafe had in my life. We built ties around a place. "

Coffee also has a special place in Paule's life. This resident of the Ménilmontant district (northeast of Paris), aged forty, settled with a friend from 7:30 am Tuesday morning on the terrace of L'Entrepot's, the popular bar-brasserie in the district.

"I'm more the type to stay at the counter, it's nicer, more convivial. But we're not going to complain, sitting here in the sun. We're happy to be there, it's a little home.”

"A test day"

The reopening of cafes is also delighting both customers and merchants. "It feels good to go back to work," says Constance Yvernogeau, director of the Café d'Italie, café-restaurant at Place d'Italie. The establishment had reopened on April 23 for the sale of take-out pizzas, but the customers really returned this Tuesday morning.

"People came this morning to have a little coffee and I think it will be a glass of rosé tonight," smiles the director, who says she still finds it "sad" to no longer be able to serve at the counter.

Here as elsewhere, it was necessary to organize to respect the sanitary rules linked to Covid-19. "Customers must wash their hands with hydroalcoholic gel when entering. We have masks and visors for the waiters. We have provided pods for salt, pepper and hot oil. We decant the carafes with water afterwards each use ", lists the director of the establishment. For her, this Tuesday is "a test day". "Tonight, we might be doing a lot of work, but we're ready," she said.

For most regulars in Parisian cafes, this reopening is already a success. On the terrace of the O'Jules, a woman in a gray T-shirt hands her blue card to a waiter to pay for her consumption. And, as if to share with the server the general impression of the clients of the day, she says: "How nice is the terrace!"

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