The fourth edition of the “Clovisse d’or” has just marked a turning point in the history of this competition imagined by Frédéric Ruinet, manager of the educational restaurant Font Clowhere room service is provided by people with mental disabilities.
Like everyone
In this competition, intended to reward the best server, the employees were confronted for the first time with competitors from the “ordinary environment”, i.e. two students in the professional “catering-service” baccalaureate at the Léon-Blum high school in Dracénois. Laurelia and Angèle were motivated in the first place by “an experience of living with people in difficulty”.
Their teacher, Claire Boucher, saw it there “a good way to open the mindset of our students, who think that disability is a scary thing.”
For Jean-François Cheppio, director of the establishment and work assistance service (Esat) Var-est, “this opening went without saying this year: “Font Clo is part of the “Font Clovisse” life center, managed by the Red Cross and the Adapei (“Departmental Association of Parents and Friends of People with Mental Disabilities”, formerly “Departmental Association of Friends and Parents of Disabled Children”, editor’s note.) of the Var. He takes care of people with disabilities and we are always keen to take their know-how beyond the disability and show the public that these workers are capable of achieving great things. The fact of involving third parties is a form of recognition and it is also a way of allowing them to feel like everyone else.”
Victory for Cecilia
The two members of the jury responsible for marking the candidates “at their fair value, were not mistaken: “we are here to see the professionalism of each and how they behave on the technical side and customer reception”, explained Olivier Novelli, best worker in France for “Service and tableware”, and Eddy Bonjean, catering trainer.
A few minutes from being an officer in the room displaying full, the eight applicants for the “Clovisse d’or”, including representatives of the medico-educational institute (IME) of Saint-Raphaël, the apprentice training center (CFA) “Les Trois Caps” and the restaurant The Bercail showed calm.
“I feel relaxed, because I prepared myself well with Frédéric, my workshop instructor”, confided Cécilia Mercada, 28 years old and waitress at the Font Clo for five months.
At the end of the meal, which was attended in particular by the municipal councilor Françoise Morisse, who did not fail to recall that “the City is very committed to inclusive businesses”it was Cécilia who won the competition, whose philosophy Gilles Esquier, in charge of professional inclusion at Esat, summed up: “not only the level is very high, but, in addition, these people are recognized for what they know how to do and not what they cannot do…”
