Tagedine Messouak, in his new mini-market, in Montpellier -
N. Bonzom / Maxele Presse
In Montpellier, a restaurateur decided, faced with the crisis, to transform his establishment, which offered much appreciated oriental cuisine, into a mini-market.
While customers were delighted with its take-out offer and the Internet reviews rave, there was not enough demand “to make it viable”.
"We must not give up in the face of the crisis," resumes the Montpellier.
When you are an entrepreneur at heart, you must not stop doing business.
"
“I still have people calling me, they want couscous!
», Smiles Tagedine Messouak.
However, 22, place du Millénaire, in Montpellier (Hérault), no couscous or tagine have been prepared since the start of the year.
The entrepreneur, whose restaurant, specializing in oriental cuisine, has been delighting gourmets since 2019, has decided, due to the Covid-19 epidemic, to transform his establishment ... into a mini-market.
Dar Tej has become Antigone Market.
"I have always had a fighting spirit," confides this boss, who has practiced karate at a high level.
We have tried, for many months, to keep the restaurant running, offering take-out meals, since the first confinement.
The delivery partners still take a 30% commission ... "But, continues Tagedine Messouak, if the customers were delighted and the glowing comments on the Internet, the demand was not sufficient" for it to be viable " .
“You have to know how to bounce back!
"
"And resigning yourself to staying closed, that wasn't really my thing," says the Montpellier resident, whose story is interrupted by the traditional "ding dong" of small grocery stores.
A young man comes to buy something to drink the aperitif.
"Did you retrain?
So much the better, you have to know how to bounce back!
», The customer is surprised.
Tagedine Messouak, a former retail executive, already had in mind the project of opening a mini-market.
The Covid-19 epidemic, which forced the tables in his restaurant to close, gave him the opportunity to realize it.
In a few weeks, the entrepreneur ordered shelves, gondolas, a checkout mat, and solicited suppliers.
If the cooks have left the establishment to work elsewhere, the two waitresses have received training and now work in the mini-market.
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"We must not give up in the face of the crisis," he continues.
When you are an entrepreneur at heart, you must not stop doing business.
"And, he continues," all the furniture, the decoration, the paintings, the furniture of the restaurant, which were the result of a long work of research "and which gave the Dar Tej such a special atmosphere, are preciously preserved by the entrepreneur.
And the Montpellier resident does not rule out reviving his oriental restaurant.
In this room on the Place du Millénaire, or elsewhere.
"When the good weather returns!"
», Smiles Tagedine Messouak.
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