REPORTAGE. After their visit to the wholesaler, the restaurateurs are ready for the big day

I see them arrive with the banana, it’s nice. Before, they were sad. There, we feel that it is the real recovery, rejoices Fabienne Tiolet, fishmonger at Subway, premier independent catering supplier.

Despite a few jolts, since November, the aisles have been very quiet in recent months. Yesterday, the ballet of the great metal carriages pushed by conquering restaurateurs had resumed. We’ve been having a lot of juice since the end of last week, confirms Clément Fontaine, a seller in the fruit and vegetable department. Yesterday and this morning, customers poured in.

“I hope people will eat all of this now”

Noureddine Missaoui, owner of the restaurant Marrakech in Rennes pushes two carefully packed lambs on his cart. I hope people will eat it all now, he confides laughing. His specialties? Couscous and tagines!.

Since the announcement of the reopening of the rooms at 50% of their capacity, the boss has not been idle: Painting, cleaning, changing the icemaker, coffee maker, redone card …. Coming to stock up on meat and drinks, the professional is ready to find his customers.

It is the fear of the bosses of Sultan, in Chantepie south of Rennes: We hope that customers will come back. We are afraid that they have changed their habits. The cart filled with fries, salads, drinks, the pair will resume service after seven months without a room.

Comparable to post-vacation recovery

In addition to the stress of the recovery, some also had to deal with a few missing products. In the brewery department, stocks run out of steam in the afternoon, confirms the director of the Rennes Metro Frédéric Di Siena. Local beers are also out of stock, due to a lack of capsules, or even cold-related equipment, such as a beverage display cabinet.

Cross-checkout, Yves Cadieu, restaurateur in Chantepie, near Rennes, is rather relaxed. It’s a small recovery for us tomorrow. We have already reopened the terrace a week ago. It was important to anticipate to get used to the personnel and the computer equipment. We quickly forget the keys of the cash register!

Unlike many restaurateurs, it reopens Elbows on the table with its six employees. I called them regularly during the closing. It was my anguish to lose them, he admits.

While passing through Métro to pick up an order placed that morning, he also adjusted his shopping list after the lunch service. I do just in time to preserve my cash flow, he admits. Like many professionals, loans have piled up.

The restocking of restaurateurs is comparable to that of a resumption of vacation, observes the director, Frédéric Di Siena. With an average basket of € 550 per professional, we find levels equivalent to those of 2019. In delivery, it even climbs to € 1,200. The raw material purchased, the biggest remains to be done: the cooking!

– .