At the restaurant La Grenouille à grande bouche, volunteers come to help out in the kitchen or in the dining room. - J. Gicquel / 20 Minutes

  • La Grenouille à grande bouche, a participative and supportive restaurant, has just opened in the popular Blosne district of Rennes.
  • Every afternoon, volunteers come to help out in the kitchen or in the dining room.
  • This allows the restaurant to generate profits which are then donated to local associations.

Usually so sad, the Torigné shopping center, in the popular Blosne district south of Rennes, has found a bit of excitement. For several days now, the La Grenouille restaurant with its big mouth has opened its doors there, taking over the room left vacant since the butcher's departure. We come of course to perk up for lunch with local, seasonal and inexpensive cuisine. But eating at La Grenouille with a big mouth is also supporting a great solidarity initiative.

Taking up the concept of the Robin des Bois restaurant in Montreal, the project is indeed "participatory and redistributive," said Nathanaël Simon, one of the three founders. Participative because the establishment works with the help of volunteers, coming from all walks of life, who come every midday to lend a hand in the dining room or in the kitchen. "It's without commitment and there is no need for experience, you just have to give three hours of your time," says Nathanaël Simon.

Profits donated to associations

Thanks to this solidarity, the restaurant can thus make a little profit which will be donated to associations in the neighborhood, such as the solidarity concierge Au p'tit Blosneur. "At the end of the year, we would like to donate 8,000 to 10,000 euros to three or four associations that we find socially useful," says the coordinator.

In the restaurant which can serve 85 covers, the volunteers are recognizable by their badge on which their first name is written. In the kitchen, their gestures are sometimes a little hesitant. Ditto in the room where the volunteers learn on the job the job of waiter. "But people are going to be forgiving!" "Smiles this waitress for a day. "Not too much either because we still have to meet the specific requirements for catering, namely the price, the quality and the speed of the service", underlines Nathanaël Simon, who takes charge every afternoon of coordinating the work of volunteers .

Learn alongside a chef

Among them, Agathe, who works in communication and who put on the apron this afternoon. “This concept of solidarity restaurant immediately seduced me, enthuses the young woman. And as I am passionate about cooking, it is also a way to discover how we work in a restaurant on a daily basis. ”

Along with the chef and his clerk, she will have learned during the morning how to handle her knife well to avoid injury and to make lemon supremes. Or how to combine business with pleasure.

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The Bigmouth Frog also has its review

Before the restaurant, La Grenouille à grande bouche had already launched its review in 2018. Available on newsstands or in bookstores, this quarterly, printed in nearly 5,000 copies, explores "society through what we eat". After milk, soup or the relationship between sex and food, the last issue, which has just come out, has the theme "The future is in the meadow".

  • Volunteering
  • Video
  • Rennes
  • Participatory
  • Live the city better
  • Restaurant
  • Solidarity
  • Society