Worse than Cinderella with her carriage transformed into a pumpkin. Since midnight Saturday, all the cafes and restaurants have drawn the curtain of their activity without having had time to organize themselves in order to limit losses.
Today, chefs and restaurateurs fight against food waste and try to minimize their financial losses by making available their stocks and purchased goods in order to avoid any waste. Transmission to their teams, direct sale to take away in restaurants or points of sale, or donations to charitable associations, the chefs, restaurateurs and entrepreneurs are mobilizing and providing fruit and vegetables, fresh products, dairy products. "It's hard, but we are counting on our good vibes to stay the course," says Franco Colombian chef Juan Arbelaez, at the head of six restaurants. We're going to lock ourselves up to get out of this shit as soon as possible. "
“Great products” to sell
"With these closings, restaurateurs will play their survival," warns Bruno Verjus, chef of the Michelin-starred restaurant Table, in Paris. “Saturday evening, our cold room was still full of great products, monkfish and turbots weighing several kilos, large guinea fowl, what a pity! Once the disappointment had passed, we had to organize.
The two Italian restaurants Daroco 16 and Daroco Bourse, in Paris, embarked on Monday in the direct sale of all their fresh and quickly perishable products: mozzarella, fresh homemade pasta, bread, cheeses ... "We were taken by surprise by announcements on Saturday, admits Alexandre Giesbert, one of the co-founders of Daroco. We had this idea of direct sale to sell our freshest products. Its two restaurants are neither equipped for selling processed take-out products, nor for delivery. "We don't even have a bike, and today we can't buy one ..." Alexandre Giesbert hopes that "this situation will not last too long", and is preparing, in the meantime, to immerse yourself in reading books that you never have time to read ”.
Vegetables transformed into soup
Juan Arbelaez also does not plan to take-away. "We transformed all our vegetables into soups and put them in a vacuum", which he plans to share between his staff and associations. "We are going to technical unemployment but I will not part with any of my employees, not even those who were on trial," he says. It is a bet on the future. "
"In the immediate future, we are going to winterize and the twelve employees of the restaurant will leave with almost all of the fresh produce," Bruno Verjus plans. The restaurant has been open for seven years and we have been working like crazy, not to shut the door. We will have to be hypercreative. We may be selling wine, foie gras, raw or processed products. We can last a few weeks, but we shouldn't have to live this for months. "
Kindness and solidarity
While many retail businesses are planning to close their shops, such as Pierre Hermé who announced on Monday morning that he was closing not only all of his cafes, but also all of his macaroon, pastry and chocolate shops in France , out of concern for "civic responsibility, benevolence and solidarity", as he explains in a press release, Bruno Verjus is sorry to see that foodstuffs could now only be distributed in supermarkets only.
And Juan Arbelaez suggests that we do not forget the small producers who often only have restaurateurs as customers: "If you have them near you, do not hesitate to contact them rather than crowding in the supermarkets " And if you don't know how to cook, the former Top Chef plans to "set up little cooking tutorials" which he will post on his social networks.
Bruno Verjus is on the same wavelength: “I cannot imagine that one can be satisfied with grated carrots in sachet bought at the supermarket. If people can buy beautiful carrots, I would teach them how to make a vinaigrette with good olive oil, beautiful citrus fruits, a pinch of salt. To do this, he would see "the launch of a chain where chefs would give a little of their time, in turn", to explain how to cook and eat better in this period of crisis. “At least not everything will have been lost. "
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