Bordeaux (AFP)
In Bordeaux, on a quay along the Garonne, the Italian restaurant is about to close due to coronavirus: disciplined customers, bags in hand, place an order for the stock of cold meats or cheeses, "at cost price", says his director. Other restaurateurs preferred to "give rather than throw".
In front of the Papa Lello restaurant sits a simple high table. A queue is created to take orders. "We have instructions from the town hall, take a meter between you, please," says Louis De Courson.
Latex gloves on his hands, a cloth tied around his mouth, the director hopes to sell in the afternoon, from his fridges, 50 to 70 kg of cold cuts, cheese or burrata di bufala.
"These are products with a short use-by date. We would have had to throw them out," he says when he has already had to dump "300 kg of pizza dough".
In the historic streets of the center, some 500 prepared meals, quiches or sandwiches were taken from the shelves of the Paus'K fast food store, all for free.
"I hadn't planned to close this evening," explains Pierre Skawinski, owner of six stores in the Gironde capital, "I don't know if I will have access to my suppliers and in my business model, I deal a lot with volume. I need to know where I'm going and I preferred to take the lead, "he says.
In addition, "I do not want my staff to be faced with risks" or do not show up for hire, he adds, so "give as much as throw away".
At the beginning of the afternoon, all the stock of its stores gathered in one place had found takers.
- "We helped a little" -
The restaurant owner managed on his own, others posted their ads on a Facebook page, "Resto & nous", created on Sunday in Bordeaux to connect customers and traders.
"Free flowers in front of the store", says a message, "I sell the rest of my stock" to such an address, says another while a third boasts his fish which "comes from the auction of St-Jean-de-Luz ".
Sunday morning, "it was a restaurant friend who told me that he was in trouble," says Léa Mathieu, 29, who manages the page.
"We were a group of ten friends, we went to buy his products, for example he had 250 eggs, we distributed them to passers-by," added this young marketing employee to the Bordeaux public transport network. "He was super happy to collect the money and not throw it away. And we said to ourselves, why not share?" She adds.
Little by little, since Sunday, more and more restaurateurs are offering their offers on the page, "my phone rings every second", she said, assuring that the initiative is "a small action, just to say that 'we helped a little ".
In front of Papa Lello, Grégoire came because he knows "the quality of the products and also to help them". "I hope they will manage to pass the course and reopen," he said before going to stock up at another restaurant: "It's for the days to come, I already have stuff in the freezer".
Guillaume, 33, discovered "by chance" the Facebook destocking ad. For 14 euros, he fills his bag with mozzarella and desserts: "Tonight, we're going to eat well".
© 2020 AFP