17 starred chefs, including Anne-Sophie Pic, Georges Blanc and Régis Marcon, question Emmanuel Macron on the difficult situation experienced by many French restaurateurs since confinement. In a column published today, they suggest possible avenues for a future reopening.
“Mr. President, the chefs are asking you to reopen the restaurants.”
The request is clear and direct. It is formulated by the Collège Culinaire de France, in which three starred chefs from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes sit: Anne-Sophie Pic, Régis Marcon and Georges Blanc. In column published Monday April 20 in Le Figaro17 chefs are worried that the catering sector, which yesterday guaranteed more than a million jobs, is today at a standstill: “Many of us risk not being able to to recover if the cessation of their activity continues.
They demand from the President of the Republic that “a partial deconfinement of responsible citizen restoration be promulgated as soon as possible”.
For Régis Marcon, starred chef from Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid (Haute-Loire), “this is not a letter of demand but of perspectives. We must now look forward to the future. “Let the profession think about a way to prepare the ground so that customers can be reassured.”
Same story for the chef of Vonnas in Ain, Georges Blanc, co-signatory of the letter: “I want restaurants to reopen by applying strict health measures but not too dissuasive to scare away customers. When the restaurant is large enough, this can be achieved, for example, by the spacing of the tables. Everyone needs to think about it and adapt.”
In the letter, the Culinary College of France proposes 5 major commitments that responsible citizen restaurants could undertake to implement as soon as lockdown ends: daily meetings with staff to take stock of practices; more communications with customers on the health measures put in place in establishments; total transparency on the products used; provide customers with a list of artisan producers with whom restaurateurs work; and finally favor local artisan producers as a priority.
Georges Blanc: “this crisis is giving us a big blow in the face. Now we have to get up and adapt. I am afraid that the functioning of our establishments will be profoundly modified, but our survival depends on it.”
Régis Marcon: “Let’s take advantage of this cataclysm to rethink our work. Work more, even more than we already do, with the agricultural world, question every product we use. We must demonstrate innovation, including in service. Customers would understand very well that we could serve dishes with masks and gloves.”
The Collège Culinaire de France aims to promote the quality of catering in France and around the world. It brings together 1,800 establishments out of the 160,000 restaurants in France.
#Coronavirus #confinement #Star #chefs #AuvergneRhôneAlpes #worried #future #catering
