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Tea Room


Frank
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Hi, I am thinking of opening a small tea room and was wondering if anyone had any experience of this in France or could point me in the right direction to check out the legislation etc.  All advice/pointers much appreciated, thanks
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 Suggest you look at the site for the English run Café Cake at Le Lude.....nice little tea room/café which seems successful, lovely cakes etc and a rather fun Fish Chips and Peas offering on a Friday night.  Maybe you could contact them ??
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All I can add is don't rush in, find a suitable location that would have the clientele and do plenty of homework on running a business in France - it is nothing like the UK and many small cafés and restos are struggling because of high horrendous social charges that have to be paid regardless of whether you have income or not and because the population are currently economising regarding treats such as meals out etc. You would do better in a large busy town or city or a popular year round holiday destination than out in the sticks where no one would use the place.Also not just tea but more coffee as tea english style is not popular in France and certainly not with milk etc.The rules for providing food and drink are very strict and for making your own cakes etc, they will want to inspect and insist you have proper equipment etc.
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If you are in a tourist area with lots of UK tourists then it may work, there are two around here that make a living.

If not then it should be a salon de thé and not a tetley or yorkshire teabag in sight nor milk!

Of the two mentioned above which are on the marked tourist trail one was always marketted as a salon de thé and only really succeeded once it started doing lunchtime meals for the French.

I think tha most salon de thé's are in large metropoles with a big footfall.

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You will have to follow a course in food hygiene in French.

At least one of the staff has to be qualified

http://www.lhotellerie-restauration.fr/journal/juridique-social-droit/2012-06/Obligation-de-formation-a-l-hygiene-alimentaire-en-restauration.htm?web=1

You should also take a course in running a small business and get to know French taxes and social contributions as well as accountancy.

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I picked up on Chancers comment that they only became successful when they started doing lunch for the French.

I vaguely remember someone telling me that lunch is subsidised with tax advantages for French employers. A way of protecting the trade.

Can anybody confirm that?

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[quote user="richard51"]I picked up on Chancers comment that they only became successful when they started doing lunch for the French.

I vaguely remember someone telling me that lunch is subsidised with tax advantages for French employers. A way of protecting the trade.

Can anybody confirm that?

[/quote]

Well of course the voucher system is a tax-efficient way of paying people in France, IIRC.
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[quote user="richard51"]I picked up on Chancers comment that they only became successful when they started doing lunch for the French.

I vaguely remember someone telling me that lunch is subsidised with tax advantages for French employers. A way of protecting the trade.

Can anybody confirm that?

[/quote]

My friend the roofer used to be given a few euros per day for lunch, is that waht you mean?

 

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[quote user="Théière"]

[quote user="richard51"]I picked up on Chancers comment that they only became successful when they started doing lunch for the French.

I vaguely remember someone telling me that lunch is subsidised with tax advantages for French employers. A way of protecting the trade.

Can anybody confirm that?

[/quote]

My friend the roofer used to be given a few euros per day for lunch, is that waht you mean?

 

[/quote]I think it is similar to the old luncheon voucher system. We had a similar system in Sweden and they were a non-taxable benefit .
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Over many years we've had various refreshments in many tearooms/salons de thé all around France, most of which had French customers having light refreshments and/or meals. A good number of our French friends enjoy places such as these too and drink tea, unlike us, which always seems to surprise French friends. Like others, I think any tea shop needs to be in a place where there are plenty of tourists.

Whenever we go to Anduze to ride on the steam train to St Jean or vice

versa or to the Bambousserie we've popped in to an English teashop in Anduze, Teapotes, which seems to do very well. They also have lots of other activities

going on as well as serving delicious teas, ice creams, cakes etc; they have various tea-linked

gifts on sale and a super seconhand bookshop upstairs, also book club, conversation groups, readings

etc and a newsletter by email.

http://www.tea-potes.com/english/browse.htm

There are quite a few salons de thé in our little town, which has a permanent population of around 9,000 but attracts a lot of tourists for most of the year.

Chez Cerise is only open for part of the year (can't think of the name, but it's flowery) and does very well, with mainly French customers, apart from on Saturdays and in the summer months - we have big market which attracts tourists from a wide area and it's a pretty town too. We had a drink there a few months ago and were shocked at the size of the bill; we decided we'd think of ourselves as tourists for that afternoon.thers in town

that I can think of are: La Nougatine, Curiosi'thé, La Trop'uzienne and there

are several others; these are all open most days of the year and offer everything from

a coffee to full meals. La Nougatine is very large, a bakers/cake shop, with

everything made on the premises and is open from about 06.30h till 19.30h;

Curiosithéand La Trop'uzienne are much smaller and only serve drinks, snacks

and meals, also open most of the year.

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Many thanks everyone, lots to go on!   Still in research mode, but I was thinking of keeping it very simple and along the lines of the very british 'cream tea' and nothing to complicated.  So it''s head down and research, research, research.  Thanks again

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A friend of mine opened a cafe on the main street of a little Breton town. Although she thought she would be busiest for morning coffee and afternoon tea, it was actually lunchtime that she was working flat out, making sandwiches for many local French customers.

Angela
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Hi Frank, do you intend this to be a full time money making business or a sideline or part time occupation. Cream teas will no doubt appeal to the British but whenever I am with French friends and suggest we have a coffee of tea they always decline a biscuit or cake to accompany the beverage. They don't seem to entertain the idea of eating between meals.[:$]

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Different in these parts, coffee/tea and biscuits or cake is the norm. Cannot get the older generation to use plates thought, they prefer to take them off the plate and break the biscuits up on the table.

Gateaux on a Sat/Sun afternoon is also a good alternative to a full meal. They even dunk those awful boudoir biscuits in the champers, sacrilege imo!
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Lehaut you are closer to the U.K. than we are so maybe that makes a difference[:)]

Visiting two stately homes near St Malo last Summer, what we really wanted afterwards was a cup of tea (and maybe a cake!).................but no, they just don't do that, such a missed opportunity. However I suspect it's the red tape and licensing that prevents this.

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