Gourmets set their sights on a revolution beyond French cuisine

Chef Yannick Alléno used to offer a menu of 395 euros including langoustines and foie gras in his three-star Michelin restaurant near the Champs Elysées.

However, since France is preparing to allow the restaurant to reopen for outdoor service next week after the restaurant is closed for six months, he will offer burgers in his wine bar at a fraction of his price.

Superstar chefs like Alléno, who have more than a dozen Michelin stars in their high-end restaurants from Courchevel to Marrakesh, are changing their strategy, which highlights the challenges facing the French difficult Great restaurant When they seek to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

When he talked about Pavillon Ledoyen, he said: “We must stimulate people’s curiosity to encourage them to come here.” Pavillon Ledoyen is a neoclassical building that houses several of his restaurants, including the three-star Alléno Paris.

Such a French food temple has long catered to wealthy foreign tourists, as long as they have experience, they will be happy to pay more than 1,000 euros for a meal for two people. French art of living. However, due to severe restrictions on international travel due to the pandemic, such customers are not expected to return for a period of time.

Attracting locals is a new challenge, while retaining employees, many of whom have already left the industry, and the working environment is extremely challenging. After obtaining state-guaranteed loans to survive the crisis, many restaurants are still burdened with heavy debts.

Alleno said: “I still have three years of struggle.” He added that half of the group’s cash reserves of 4 million euros have been used up. “For a three-star restaurant, there will be many casualties.”

His flagship restaurant used to earn three-quarters of its revenue from foreign diners, most of which came from Asia and the United States. Without them, there is almost no place to reopen, so the doors will remain closed until September. Alléno will now experiment in informal settings, as he plans an overhaul to seek to drag refined eating into the 21st century.

He said: “Everything must change.” He quoted the title of the book co-authored during the lockdown. In it, he called for all improvements in service style (warmer and more personalized) to staffing (more flexible and family friendly).

French High gourmet Its origins can be traced back to the visionary chefs of the 19th century, such as Auguste Escoffier and Marie-Antoine Carême, who created cuisine based on rich sauces and elaborate (usually dramatic) service. For decades, it has been considered the best in the world and has become an important part of French identity.

However, because competition first comes from the magnificence of molecular gastronomy and then the reduced Nordic style, its popularity has gradually declined in recent decades.As french Haute cuisine Losing the land, it becomes more expensive, which discourages many people.

Joerg Zipprick, co-founder of La Liste Group, said: “This epidemic has exposed that the business model of high-end French restaurants is not working at all,” one of the founders of La Liste group, which ranks the world’s best restaurants. One.

“This is a relatively new development. It used to be like that… Local doctors or managers will come to these places to celebrate special days. Not anymore.”

Zipprick said that for top chefs, the key to success lies in their willingness to adapt, and many of these top chefs have tried takeout and catering packages in the past year.

He predicts that people who eat do not want to be picky and experimental when they come back, but want to eat delicious food in a good restaurant with friends and family.

“There are no more technical ingredients or foods that require a waiter to explain the fermentation process in detail. People don’t want their meals to become works of art.” Zipprick said.

The last innovation in French cuisine was in the 1970s, when chefs such as Paul Bocuse and the Troisgros brothers created New kitchen. This sport is less gorgeous and less calorie than the previous exquisite diet, puts fresh and high-quality ingredients in the first place, and the service becomes less formal.

Alléno believes that top restaurants must tailor their experience by discussing the time of dinner with their customers, their tastes and tastes.

This “concierge service” approach will allow the menu to be better planned, thereby improving the customer experience and the economics of the restaurant.

He said: “If I knew that only three people would eat langoustines on a given night, then I wouldn’t have to order six kilograms, just in case.” “This really changes the situation in the kitchen.”

Others have become more radical. Daniel Humm (Daniel Humm) will no longer provide meat and seafood when the three-star Eleven Park in New York reopens next month. This Swiss chef is trying to prove sustainable development and An environmentally conscious diet can complement luxury.

However, Éric Fréchon, the three-Michelin-star chef behind the Epicure restaurant in the five-star Paris Hotel Bristol, played down expectations for a fundamental change.

Fréchon said: “Things will be restored to the original state as before.” He pointed out that the hotel restaurant has a large customer base in the local area. “People missed High gourmet For a long time, they are eager to come back. ”

Fréchon said that he will retain some of the innovations of the coronavirus era, including a “food and bed” package worth 1,390 euros, which is a one-night stay plan for locals, which includes dinner in a suite or hotel room.

He said: “On New Year’s Eve, we have 60 servers running back and forth to the room, which is really difficult.” “But it allows us to reach new customers who may not want to go to a three-star restaurant. Now we have to keep them. “

Domitille Alain’s other reports in Paris