The Geoffroy-Guichard stadium is now one of the few football stadiums in France to have a restaurant. It opened its doors last week, just above the Greens museum. Inside, everything is in the colors of the Saint-Etienne club. We celebrate past glories, Roger Rocher, Robert Herbin. You can also admire a replica of the famous green Renault 5 convertible which went up the Champs-Élysées in 1976, as well as a very fine collection of old jerseys. And recently, therefore, lunch while contemplating the lawn of the mythical Cauldron.
200 seats… except on game nights
Jérémy Guichard, great-great-grandson of the illustrious Geoffroy Guichard, joined forces with two restaurateurs from Saint-Etienne, Grégory Descours and Guillaume Tardy, to open this brasserie. “It would not have been me, I think the project could never have seen the light of day,” he explains. As the stadium is the property of Saint-Étienne Métropole, it was indeed complex to build a restaurant there. But the three entrepreneurs overcame the obstacles and the result lives up to expectations. “In Saint-Étienne, this stadium is our Eiffel Tower! So we put the package on decorum. The lawn view is already very popular with customers,” appreciates Grégory Descours.
With a starter-main course-dessert menu at less than 20 euros and a cuisine favoring local products, the brasserie at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium, which has a capacity of 200 seats, should easily fill up. Open six days a week, however, it will not be able to accommodate the general public during matches. A somewhat frustrating situation. “The operator – in this case AS Saint-Étienne – has usufruct of the stadium. So we do not have the right to open, ”regrets Grégory Descours. The supporters of the Greens will be able, on the other hand, to console themselves by following from the stadium… the meetings outside, because the brasserie Geoffroy Guichard has planned to broadcast them all.