Americans aren’t the only diners reigning in their dietary budgets these days… Incredibly—almost impossibly—so are the French.
“It strikes at the cultural heart of Europe, for the French, with their 35-hour weeks and two-hour lunches, have long set the leisurely eating standard to which the rest of the Continent always aspired. It established perspective and showed a respect for human dignity. If it goes, something rather deep will wither in the European soul.”
-Seattlepi.com from The Independent
To me, this is fairly unexpected coming from the country that brought us baguettes, an appreciation for fabulous wine, brie and various other stinky cheese delights. But it seems no one is immune to today’s toughing economy.
The strange part of it is that instead of adapting to the new French dining style (no aperitif, no end-of-meal coffee, etc.), some restaurateurs are reacting with indignation. The aforementioned SeattlePI.com article even says angry restaurateurs have kicked patrons out for refusing to order an aperitif. The article notes that 3,000 restaurants have gone under in the first six months of this year, and customer visits are down anywhere from 15% to 30%. While indignation may be the first gut reaction to such a loss of revenue, this also seems like an opportunity for restaurants to woo budget-conscious diners.
I read articles daily about American restaurateurs doing this very thing. Some have redecorated and redone menus to reflect a more casual (and less expensive) restaurant. Some offer smaller meal sizes at cheaper rates. Most seem to be stressing the meal’s value for the price. In all cases, these restaurant operators are adapting to their customer’s changing needs.
In all fairness, I imagine a great many French restaurateurs are also adapting to the changing times. (And I know from experience that rudeness is not a natural trait of French people, not even servers!) But this Seattlepi.com article illustrated one perfect example of what restaurants should NOT do if they want to survive tough times: give up.
