• In Alsace, a food truck stops in villages where there is often no business left.

    Then Clément Nicaud unfolds his terrace and his “village bistro” comes to life.

  • “I thought that [this] would bring people together again,” explains the designer, who has had great success this summer.

  • “There are no more businesses here, so when someone settles, you have to support them.

    It allows the community to live, ”explains a client.

Rainy evening in Uttenheim this Tuesday.

Inside his food truck parked in this town in the Bas-Rhin, Clément Nicaud has put on his fleece.

Summer is over and it has to be said: the capricious weather has also put a damper on its clientele.

Gone are the often full village squares that resounded as he passed by and the queues to order a flammekueche...

“I stopped cooking it, it's not the season anymore,” smiles the young 27-year-old entrepreneur, showing his extinguished wood oven.

At the beginning of autumn, it only offers aperitif boards to taste, and of course many drinks: beer, wine, crémant, soft… All from suppliers in the region.

Like many cafes that have set up on the street.

He has been going from town to town since the beginning of August, when he launched his concept.

Which ?

That of the "village bistro", which will replace all these bars that have often disappeared.

"I had a totally different idea, but it was by crossing all these villages that I realized that there weren't any left", explains this former salesman at TF1 who "was fed up with the city ​​since confinement”.

Eight municipalities selected

So he wanted to return to his region of origin, precisely in the canton of Erstein where he was in high school.

“I knew him well, it was an asset, and I didn't want to go too far either, explains Clément Nicaud.

I told myself that moving there would bring people together again.

It was almost the social aspect of my project!

I wanted to make myself known and I also offer private events on weekends, where you can rent the truck.

»

His Citroën Jumper, restyled with a vintage water green bodywork, has already had great success.

The eight municipalities selected, with a passage every two weeks "to build loyalty and also create a lack", responded present.

"From the first evening, there were more than 100 people," laughs the young man, who even had to ask his girlfriend for help for the heavy crowds.

"I had selected villages between 400 and 1,500 inhabitants, not too small either," he says again, promising to come back next summer.

"I don't want to betray them!"

»


Seated a little further away with friends, Laetitia and Cyrille would have taken it badly otherwise.

“We were there the first and since then we have always come back”, explains the first quoted.

“There is no more business here so when someone settles down, you have to support them.

It keeps the community alive.

We saw a lot of people coming to eat here, it was a bit of a party in the village!

»

Which will stop for several months, less conducive to staying on the terrace that Clément Nicaud installs each time.

"I'm going to sell drinks in the markets, I don't know which ones yet, but it will be villages," he promises.

“Then, in the spring, I planned to take over the bistro, but in villages I've never been to before.

I had lots of requests!

» To the north of Alsace.

Where other municipalities no longer have a bistro either...

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