2023-10-11 14:39:45
Jean-Pierre Xu manages two restaurants in Quimper (Finistère), with an all-you-can-eat buffet offering Asian and Western dishes. He noticed that there was more and more waste, as people tended to have their eyes bigger than their stomachs and fill their plates without finishing them. A process which led him to take a radical measure: a surcharge of €5 per plate not finished without a valid reason.
“In our time, we cannot tolerate this kind of behavior, both for ecological and financial reasons. We use products that come in particular from Asia, wheat noodles, rice pasta and everything has increased. As natural disasters occur, the price is impacted and we can only order in limited quantities,” indicates the restaurateur.
“Some customers do not feel concerned about inflation, ecology, the environment”
Jean-Pierre Xu, manager of the restaurants L’Aigle Royal and L’Atlantis in Quimper
Raw materials whose prices are increasing, just like energy. However, Jean-Pierre Xu did not significantly increase the price of the menu: “We turned to other solutions, margin reset, more efficient use of raw materials, preparation process and cold chain more meticulous. And we have taken measures against deliberate waste… Some customers, generally people passing through, fill their plates to the brim at the buffet, eat the pieces that interest them and leave the rest. They get up and move on to the next plates. This is unacceptable and also disrespectful to our cooks who prepared everything. Real incivility! »
Small “Stop food waste” signs stipulating a charge of €5 per unfinished plate at the buffet have been installed in the two establishments. “There are signs on the placemats, on the buffet circuit. Customers bend down, raise or turn their heads and see the message, assures the restaurateur who is warned of the waste by his staff. I then go to the table concerned to ask why the customer(s) have not finished their plate and I act wisely…” The €5 is charged at the end of the meal.
€45 surcharge for a table of 8
The customers concerned are not necessarily very happy and are taking it quite badly. “These customers do not feel at all concerned about inflation, ecology, the environment and do not understand my approach. Fortunately, they are rare. I still had a whole table of 8 people whose plates were left half full because they wanted to taste the entire buffet. They got €45 more on their bill. »
Generally speaking, the regulars of the two restaurants support the restaurateur’s approach, far from shocking them. The messages of encouragement continue to flood in. The restaurateur has also set up packed lunches made up of dishes left at the end of service. For 5 or 6 €, en passant par l’application Too Good To Go, we reserve then we come to collect the basket. A system that works very well.
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