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Serving meals using your own produce - regs?


Abbaye
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Hi, if you have a chambre d'hotes and you want to serve meals using your own produce (including meat, eggs, veg etc) can you do this? I am just pondering if we would be better to become a "ferme auberge" or whether its poss to do B&B on a smallish scale but still be able to serve your own food produced by you.

Does anyone do this and what do you have to comply to?

Many thanks in advance.

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Providing you stay within the regulations for Tables D'Hotes i.e. eat with your guests, everyone sits at the same table and do not offer a menu/choice then there are no regulations about where you get the food from although where ever possible it should contain some regional produce.

If you don't meet all of the above mentioned points then you are a restaurant and its another ball game completely. I don't know about running a restaurant in France but I do know you will have to have a separate kitchen (thats been inspected) separate food storage (again inspected), a different licence and of course all food you use must be traceable back to its source.

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Quillan thats helpful.

Can you really not offer a choice even between meat or fish main course?

And how you do eat with the guests if you are serving them - ie what if they come in at different times?

How stringent is that rule?

Thanks
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I guess if you had a veggie (or somebody with a particular intolerance) then you would have to cook a different meal to accommodate them which I think would be acceptable. Its what we do and I have not had a problem. To be honest there are so many 'exciting' recipes available for veggies now if I have one stay I give everyone the same food.

I think I should explain what Tables D'hotes really is which should give you a better idea of what you should be doing (excluding what I have already said).

The loose translation is 'Table of Hosts'. This means that when you have your dinner at night you offer your guests the opportunity to join you at your table eating the same food as you. You are not offering the same service as an English B&B.

Therefore YOU state what time you are going to eat and 'invite' them to join you, hence you must be siting at the table and they must eat the same food as you. To have people turn up at different times and serve them separately is not Tables D'hotes and therefore makes you a restaurant and all the things I mentioned before click in to place. The ability to use your own kitchen and offer this service is a 'dispensation' allowed by the government and is unique to Chambres D'hotes.

One tip, get a hostess trolley, worth their weight in gold and means you can prepare things up to 2 hours in advance and makes it easier to sit with the guests.

I should add that its up to you what you actually do (some people don't eat with their guests for example) but those are the rules and you never know who is visiting. We have had French people who own Chambres D'hotes stay more than once and have commented that it nice to see us doing things properly. I also sleep well at night knowing I am doing things correctly (well to the best of my knowledge anyway).

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You make a very interesting point, Quillan. We have stayed at many Chambre d'hotes over the years. As far as I remember, only those on farms have actually sat with us and eaten. At other places it has been rare to have the hosts sit or eat with us. I didn't know it was a rule, but can see how it all started out.

GG  

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We always eat with the guests and enjoy doing so, it's our social life as we live in quite a remote spot and I would find it too lonely without them. We have had some v memorable evenings! We usually join them at breakfast too as it's just more convienient to serve it at the same time. We use our own produce which GdF have encouraged ,so I presume there's no problem.
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[quote user="water rat"]We always eat with the guests and enjoy doing so, it's our social life ......we have had some v memorable evenings! [/quote]

We're with water rat on this one.  If you're organised and don't rush between courses you can even get the kitchen more or less straight by the time you've finished dinner!

Jan

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We always eat with ours in the evening and have system where we both do part of the work and OH clears up while I have coffee with them.  Don't find it more stressful than any other dinner party, although sometimes I wish they'd be happy with just one dish!  By the end of the season I never wish to see a fancy dessert or a plate of cheese again.

However, I could NOT have breakfast with them - that would drive me mad.  I'm an early riser and I'd be starving to death by the time most of them came down.  Breakfast on my own then walk the dog before the day starts - gives me a bit of peace and sanity.

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Yes, I must admit  we don't have breakfast with them if it's really late!

We usually organise the table D'hotes by not having the starter so we have time to cook the mains. This is also a bit of entertainment for the guests as we have a kitchen/dinning room. We were worried about this at first ,but they do appreciate seeing their food cooked and it makes them feel more at home.Although, one has to learn to curb one's language !

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Also, not wishing to be 'funny'; Actually Quillan, to be pedantic, 's' or no 's' depends on how many of the hosts there are - one host, no 's'; more than one, an 's'! The thing above the 'O' is called a circonflexe. Also, technically has two 'l's'
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