Provision of meals etc

[Suandpete]

We have just one gite and are resident here - this will be our third

year of letting.  Up until now we haven't offered anything such as

barbecues or evening meals - we were just wondering what kind of

take-up other people get.  I know that quite a lot of people

routinely offer these extra services - do the majority of guests

actually take you up on the offer or not?  We offered a shopping

service last summer - told people that if they e-mailed a shopping list

we would go out and get the food and put it in the fridge/cupboards

ready for their arrival but only one family actually asked us to do

it.  Just thinking about adding a range of services really and

wondering what the reception is likely to be.

[Opalienne]

I have never heard of this with gites.   With chambre d'hotes, yes, but friends of ours who used to offer evening meals gave up because it was such a tie and guests were always complaining that they didn't like this or that, so they ended up cooking separate dishes for different people.

[CatherineS2]

I would not expect or welcome anything like this if I were staying in a gite. The whole point of renting a gite is that  you want to be away from other people and have the place to yourself, I certainly prefer gites where the owner is not on site.

But that is just my personal opinion, perhaps others would feel differently.

[Suandpete]

I know exactly what you mean - when we used to come on holiday to

France and stay in gites I always ignored places where the owner was on

site - however we have found that not everyone feels the same.  We

have, until now, always stayed away and left people to themselves

however there are quite a few gite owners who do offer these services -

maybe for one night during their stay people might enjoy dining close

to home but without having to cook.

[Teamedup]

You would need to take out extra insurance against intoxication alimentaire too. Would it be worth it?

We have never stayed in a gite that did this and I would not expect it. The most we have ever had is a cake left as a welcome when we got there, but that was it.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="Teamedup"]

You would need to take out extra insurance against intoxication alimentaire too. Would it be worth it?

[/quote]

Ever the optimist, eh?!

You will probably find that the third party liability insurance on your

business covers you for this, but it is worth a check anyway. In any

case your best insurance is a clean kitchen, careful choice of produce

and plenty of hand washing.

We offer a range of meal services. The take up is variable, but it is

not core business for us, just an extra service. We have had parties

that have not cooked for the duration of their stay, others who have

had nothing. The margins are small (we genuinely do use the best

quality raw materials, and they do not come cheap), but some groups

really value the service - we have one rebooking this year from a group

who are coming back because they liked the food so much.

Owners on site...we have one gite adjacent to our house, two on another

site in another village nearby. The gardens need looking after and

pools need cleaning, but we keep our profiles low. Many of our guests

prefer having someone nearby in case of problems. Each year we have to

accompany a couple of visits to the doctor / hospital, the odd broken

down car and (once) an entire family's worth of mislaid passports. We

have our uses.

[Missy]

When I first opened my gite some 20+ years ago, I used to cook meals, freeze them and leave a list in the cottage of what was available. Prices where kept reasonable and food was as much as possible locally grown and bought to help my local community. All they needed to do before going out in the morning, was to leave me their 'menu'.

During the day I would go shopping if needed, take their choice out of the freezer and have an entire 'à la carte' meal ready...all defrosted, cooked, starters and deserts ready etc... table laid, flowers, candles, food in oven keeping warm, once had to make a 40th [<:o)] birthday cake as a surprise, wine and drinks was up to the customer as I don't have a licence.... All ready for whenever they returned from their day exploring. Which I thought was a VERY good idea as I would LOVE something like this when I am on holiday, when too tired to cook after a day of exploring and trekking and to even contemplate an evening out ...

After 2 or 3 years of offering this service, I had to stop because my husband and I ended up eating this stock of ready meals. I had but a handful at the most availing of the service over an average of 26 to 30 weeks booked a year... [8-)]

I then put out a nice letter : "In an effort to make your holidays more enjoyable, is there anything you would like us to provide or help you with whilst you are here? We will do our very best to endeavour... " ..... Well... not had many takers on that either, except for the rotten weeks when it rained (Wales here!) and the request was for some sun or at least a dry day to get the blessed [A] rugrats out of the house !! Most kids staying on holiday that my 2 met, thought they were mad!! out all day running in the fields as they couldn't have cared less it rained or sunshined... So many times, with their very best effort to be friendly, polite etc.. my 2 used to entice them out of the cottage to go up the mountain to see the lambs, done by the river to play, in the woods to climb up trees, help Mr Farmer etc... but every time came home disgruntled as all those holiday kids prefered to watch TV....[:(]

Also did try the shopping list thing as you have tried, only to discover to my horror [:O][:@] that their cars were full to the rafters of Sainsbury, Tesco or whatever supermarkets they happened to stop at, first thing after leaving home for hols. My local green grocer, my multi-award winning butcher, my corner shop were none too impressed about it after having told them of my intentions to help boost their revenue!....

I now just provide the cottage. It comes inclusive of linen, electricity & gas, TV-VCR-DVD, a cupboard full of games (Dominoes, cards, Monopoly, Scrabble, Trivial pursuit etc...!)  shelves full of books (local interests and all kinds of interests and genre)...

I now have no end of praises as to how peaceful things are around here... Well it would as we have more or less mothball our farming business and my 2 are now grown up and have fled the nest...

It is very difficult to please everyone and anyone but one can try... [:D]

[zeb]

You could try a barbeque one evening in the week with your guests supplying the booze! That may go down well if the gite is out in the sticks. Saves guests cooking and also they can have a meal cooked for them and drink loads of wine without having to worry about driving. Make sure that they agree to it though so that you are not left with loads of work for nothing!

We watched the No Going Back programme on TPS the other week of the couple in Italy who held a barbeque/pizza evening. Was a bit of a washout due to the weather so they all bundled into the gite to eat (owners included) and the guests looked none too happy. The food didn't look too brilliant either.

[Teamedup]

jond, what on earth has that got to do with optomism, all you need is some iffy fish or sea food or goodness knows what else and voila someone can be ill.

One doesn't have to 'do' anything out of the way for it to happen.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="Teamedup"]

jond, what on earth has that got to do with

optomism, all you need is some iffy fish or sea food or goodness knows

what else and voila someone can be ill.

One doesn't have to 'do' anything out of the way for it to happen.

[/quote]

Frankly anyone daft enough to serve "iffy" fish or seafoods deserves

everything they get. Good food hygine is entirely straightforward and

food poisoning is not a result of chance, it is a result of negligence.

Would it be worth it? Well, this is a competitive industry and anything

that improves the customers' lot and make them more likely to holiday

with us (or in France in general for that matter) is worth examining.

Discarding ideas out of hand, as your post seemed to suggest, is not a

sensible option these days.

[Teamedup]

Ah come on, so next you will be telling me that no one who is careful should take out this sort of insurance as they don't need it.

 

These things happen. Be insured, one cannot be 'responsible' for everything one purchases.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="Teamedup"]

Ah come on, so next you will be telling me

that no one who is careful should take out this sort of insurance as

they don't need it.

 

These things happen. Be insured, one cannot be 'responsible' for everything one purchases.

[/quote]

Don't try and put words into my mouth.

One should of course be properly insured, but insurance is frequently

invalid where negligence can be demonstrated. Giving someone food

poisoning is almost always a result of negligence. Therefore, my

payments to AXA notwithstanding, good hygine is good insurance.

EDIT: I've said "almost always" but I can't actually think of a circumstance were negligence wouldn't be the cause....

[Teamedup]

Ah as they say these days .......... whatever.......... you are obviously knowing enough to avoid all these problems, so good for you.

[nimportequoi]

One more thing on this issue, a lot of people run their gite business as a micro-bic, but if you want to offer food as well, which is classed as a service, do you have to change your business régime (as per Chambre d'hotes)?

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="SusanAH"]One more thing on this issue, a lot of people run

their gite business as a micro-bic, but if you want to offer food

as well, which is classed as a service, do you have to change your

business régime (as per Chambre d'hotes)?[/quote]

Have sent you a PM.

[Miki]

Legally,  yes  you would have to

but.....................offering food has many rules and regs but it

will depend on your regime as to what regs you will need to

follow. Not sure that many legal beagles will be bothered too much though, as

long as it is not a resto in disguise of course [;)]

As far as insurance against food poisoning, it is certainly obligatory

for anyone doing table d'hôte with G de Fr. We have just (or will be

doing so at the end of this summer) changed our business and house

assurance contract to a company specialising in offering exactly what

B&B's need to insured for, including loss of earnings and that

includes folks on CMU. That part doesn't affect us but it sure will

make sense to many others doing C d'hôtes

It is a first as far as I can recall, as the stumbling block for many

years has always been that if one was not registered at the C de Com

and had no siret number, could not qualify for that part. I have

informed a few local French friends, who like me, think the whole deal

is very good and for anway, it will save us a few bob as well.Our old

assurers were always too loose on these matters and our old policy was not a very tight

and tidy contract, this is much more to our liking

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="Miki"]Legally,  yes  you would have to

but.....................offering food has many rules and regs but it

will depend on your regime as to what regs you will need to

follow. Not sure that many legal beagles will be bothered too much though, as

long as it is not a resto in disguise of course [;)]

As far as insurance against food poisoning, it is certainly obligatory

for anyone doing table d'hôte with G de Fr. We have just (or will be

doing so at the end of this summer) changed our business and house

assurance contract to a company specialising in offering exactly what

B&B's need to insured for, including loss of earnings and that

includes folks on CMU. That part doesn't affect us but it sure will

make sense to many others doing C d'hôtes

It is a first as far as I can recall, as the stumbling block for many

years has always been that if one was not registered at the C de Com

and had no siret number, could not qualify for that part. I have

informed a few local French friends, who like me, think the whole deal

is very good and for anway, it will save us a few bob as well.Our old

assurers were always too loose on these matters and our old policy was not a very tight

and tidy contract, this is much more to our liking

[/quote]

Miki - as I alluded above, we do this

through AXA, though we are exclusively gites. When the nice lady explained

about the lost of earnings cover I confess that I couldn't believe my ears. We

gave her a figure for annual income, and that is what we will get if the solids

hit the punka.

As you say, SIRET number required.

It has been made very clear to us that while we

can enjoy regulations far less stringent than would be expected from

restaurants, all food services (and, indeed, any additional services)

must be for lodging guests only or death by one thousand cuts may ensue.

[Miki]

Jond,

Just to straighten one thing, my post was purely as a reply to the

questionner SusanAH, I was in no way whatsoever doubting your business. As you

are registered, it would be quite normal for a multirisk type insurance

policy to have that included but for those who are not obliged to

register, this new policy we will have makes it clear, that it is for

agricole, non registered and registered alike and I thought that was

pretty good.

[nimportequoi]

Thanks for the info Jond and Miki, I'm with AXA and will check out the loss of income side of things. I don't suppose there is a policy which exisits which covers you against guest damage (over and above the security deposit)????

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="Miki"]Jond,

Just to straighten one thing, my post was purely as a reply to the

questionner SusanAH, I was in no way whatsoever doubting your business.

[/quote]

Didn't think for one moment that you were!

I would be interested in knowing to whom you talked though, if you

would be willing to email or PM me details. A competitive quote is

always interesting, particularly since we are due to renew in May.

[Coco]

[quote user="Miki"] We have just (or will be doing so at the end of this summer) changed our business and house assurance contract to a company specialising in offering exactly what B&B's need to insured for, including loss of earnings and that includes folks on CMU. That part doesn't affect us but it sure will make sense to many others doing C d'hôtes

It is a first as far as I can recall, as the stumbling block for many years has always been that if one was not registered at the C de Com and had no siret number, could not qualify for that part. I have informed a few local French friends, who like me, think the whole deal is very good and for anway, it will save us a few bob as well.Our old assurers were always too loose on these matters and our old policy was not a very tight and tidy contract, this is much more to our liking

[/quote]

This sounds interesting Miki.  Could you share the company details with us?  I am due to update my insurance as we've had a couple of rooms added to the house and so am looking for some new quotes.

[Miki]

Hi to both of you.

Emails sent.

[Miki]

[quote user="SusanAH"]Thanks for the info Jond and Miki, I'm with AXA

and will check out the loss of income side of things. I don't suppose

there is a policy which exisits which covers you against guest

damage (over and above the security deposit)????[/quote]

There are policies, we have it in our one but remember, in France any

guest is expected to have their own insurance in place to cover any

damage they cause (with heavy franchise attached !!). The problem with

having British guests in ones gîtes, is that after the security deposit

money has been used up, so to speak ! one would have quite a

job to get compensation for further costs needed to repair the gîte.

Best put it down as the risk of the job really. Putting up the security

deposit will simply put some people off booking.................

[Chauffour]

we give each client a welcome pack, plus we offer dinner on arrival and gourmet dinners (french or italian), or our pizza  menu, last year every client has tried at least one of them, and several clients had 3 or 4 every week!

the clients can have the dinner on their own place or they can join the pizza club and share their pizzas with the other 'members' (normally expats living locally), it normally end up with everyone singing 'o sole miooooo.....' after a few glasses of limoncello....[:)]