REPORT. "We have doubled, even tripled the figures": the anti-crisis menu, miracle solution or false good idea for restaurateurs?

"We are a large family, so we can't really go to restaurants anymore, they are too expensive. We love this new formula," enthuses Marie-Laure with her daughter, who had not been to a restaurant for over a year. Like Marie-Laure, many families in France are increasingly skipping restaurant outings, considered too expensive, since the high inflation of recent years.

A phenomenon that is not without its drawbacks for restaurateurs who see their number of covers decrease every day. A hard blow for many, but an opportunity for others, who are now banking on " anti-crisis menus ", these starter-main course-dessert formulas at a knockdown price. In France, around thirty restaurateurs already offer this formula, such as in Budos, a small village near Bordeaux.

Today for Marie-Laure, the formula opens with an egg cocotte with chorizo ​​as a starter, then a pork stir-fry with curry. Only the dessert that day - a slice of iced log - is not homemade. If the presentation is not neat, Marie-Laure does not care: " The quantities are very generous, there is flavor. The taste buds, they sing well," she jokes.

A no-frills formula, to use the words of Marina, currently unemployed: " It's nice to see people, sharing the same meal as us. It's true that it adds some noise, quite simply some life," adds the young woman.

“It’s good for morale to know that going to a restaurant is something that can be done.”

Marina, a customer of a restaurant with an anti-crisis menu

franceinfo

Like many customers, Marina has already planned to return next week. Loïc and Laurine, the owners of the establishment, who have only been using the formula for two weeks, are already seeing an increase in attendance . "In recent times, for a small village restaurant, we would serve between eight and twelve meals. Today, we served 27 meals. So, we have doubled, even tripled the figures," explains Loïc.

Good news for Loïc and Laurine, because the restaurant was not doing very well financially. It was when they learned about the story of this small restaurant in Haute-Vienne, which had made the rounds of the media for its anti-crisis formula, that the owners thought they had found the solution to their problems.

"We earn about 1-1.50 euros on the menu. Then, when people take the 8.90 euro menu, they take a beer, they take wine, they take coffee: it's on drinks that we make the biggest margin," Loïc explains. A bet that could quickly prove to be a winner.

Not all restaurateurs who launch an anti-crisis menu have the same recipe. Some rely on fresh produce, others on foods close to their expiration date. Loïc, for his part, plays on promotions and quantities: " We make eyes at suppliers and try to bleed them dry as much as possible ." Since Loïc and Laurine have no employees, this formula allows them to break even while making themselves known. The restaurateurs are even considering offering this anti-crisis menu several lunchtimes a week.

Be careful, however, warns Thierry Marx, the president of UMIH, the Union of Trades and Industries of the Hotel Industry: this formula is not a miracle formula, and can be tricky. The chef calls in particular not to " confusing turnover and net profit : it's not the same thing at all. It's true that it's reassuring. We see people in the restaurant, but if at the end, there's nothing left to pay the employees... Fixed costs are something that will drag you down ."

If the company's costs remain very low, as is the case with Loïc and Laurine, Thierry Marx recognizes the intelligence of these menus. However, be careful, again, with the message conveyed: " People want to save their establishment, but it always seems to be a little bit of the energy of despair", concludes the president of the UMIH, who sees above all in these cut-price menus the symbol of the general crisis in the hotel and restaurant industry.