Jean-Luc Boujon 7:33 am, September 27, 2021

President Emmanuel Macron is visiting Lyon until Monday to celebrate gastronomy at Sirha, the food fair.

On Sunday evening, he had dinner with renowned cooks and pastry chefs from all over France, who asked him to continue supporting them.

This Monday, Emmanuel Macron continues his visit to Lyon, which began on Sunday, with a visit to Sirha, the food and gastronomy fair.

The President of the Republic took part the evening before in the dinner of starred chefs in the prefecture of the Rhône, where 200 renowned cooks and pastry chefs came from all over France.

The Head of State thanked them for standing firm during the health crisis.

For their part, the leaders welcomed the government aid granted to the profession during the harshest of the coronavirus crisis ... while hoping for others to support the recovery.

"We should have the means to pay our employees more"

Because today, it is the labor shortage that strongly penalizes all catering trades.

Sébastien Bouillet, the pastry chef from Lyon who had prepared the president's dessert (a segment of citrus fruits and his crunchy financier) asks for an effort on employer contributions.

"We should have the means to pay our employees more while having fewer charges," he explains.

Assures him to have already "enormously increased [s] his wages between before and after Covid to attract as many people as possible".

It is up to the state to do the rest.

"I think we need more help on this."

"If the health pass could be lightened a bit ..."

Same story with Christophe Marguin, chef at 33 Cité, in Lyon.

"We are missing 12 out of 33 employees. The solution is not very complicated. If we take 20% of the charges, we give them net to our employees."

And the chief takes up a figure in vogue: "there are a million jobs to be filled today in France, we need people so that the activity resumes."

Christophe Marguin also has another request.

"If Emmanuel Macron could tell us that the health pass will be a little lightened, that people have even more freedom, that would already be wonderful ..." Hopes that will be expressed again by the profession during the chef's visit of the State during the day at the food and gastronomy fair.