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I'm just about to start up our B&B but wish to get an idea of whats expected of me if I provide an evening meal. Do I have to supply wine at the table? How many courses do I have to do? I was thinking of doing 3: starter, main, dessert or cheese as well as the obvious coffee/tea. And how much does everyone charge per head? Is €10 per adult and €7 for under 16's ok?

I'd appreciate any info

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You can offer more or less what you want but three courses seems to be the norm. Dinks must be part of the inclusive cost (although the drinks you offer don't have to be wine) as you are not allowed to charge extra for these. You will need to obtain a Class II License from your local dounes (customs office) but this is usually provided free of charge. You could probably get away with charging a little more for the adult meal. Somewhere from 12€ to 15€ would not be unreasonable for an evening meal including drinks and coffee.

Don't forget that you will also need to conform to the new regulations, Décret n° 2007-1173 du 3 août 2007, which require you to register with your Mairie by 31st December, conform to a maximum of 5 bedrooms or 15 persons, comply with hygene regulations and, if it is your main activity / source of income, register with the Chambre de Commerce.

Good luck.

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Eslier

Can you provide another link to the regulations you've cited above as I couldn't get anywhere with that one? I'm interested in the comment about the hygiene regs. As a small hotel owner (6 rooms) it's fantastic news to hear that finally France is coming into line with the rest of Europe with regards to hygiene in B&Bs and I'd love to know how rigorous it's going to be.

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Magnolia - if you only charge 10 euros a head then your guests will bite your hand off, you'll be cooking for the rest of your life and you won't make any money.   Most people do want wine (you could charge extra I suppose - but extras don't go down well) and anyway soft drinks e.g. Coca Cola work our dearer.   We charge 20 euros for 4 course meal with apero/wine/coffee and 10 euros for light meal (salad/pud/glass of wine).  Going to put the price up next year as it's not really very profitable.  Depends what you serve, of course, but we reckon as the cheapest menus are in the region of 20€ at restaurants round here and apero/wine/coffee adds up to at least another 10 per head then we are a bargain.  Trust me, it is exhausting cooking for the assembled hordes every night and you have to eat with them and be nice as well - not always easy when you are tired.  Barbeque for 18 last night and - joy of joys - a weekend to look forward to catering for carnivore French who don't like veg much and a group of Brits who are strict vegetarians is making me think of giving up the whole cooking idea!

 

 

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[quote user="Ariege Auberge"]

Eslier

Can you provide another link to the regulations you've cited above as I couldn't get anywhere with that one? I'm interested in the comment about the hygiene regs. As a small hotel owner (6 rooms) it's fantastic news to hear that finally France is coming into line with the rest of Europe with regards to hygiene in B&Bs and I'd love to know how rigorous it's going to be.

[/quote]

The full text can be found at:

http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/UnTexteDeJorf?numjo=ECER0759563D

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Thanks guys

I'm even more nervous than I was before now . I will definately revise the prices and include the wine.  However, I don't like elaborate cooking and prefer the basic home cooking ie. bolognese, fish pie etc so i'm a bit dubious to charge too much (even though i've never had a complaint yet). I love cooking and baking and eally don't mind spending half of my day in the kitchen but I really can't be doing with fussy. I guess the answer is that you can't please everyone so i'll give it a go and see what happens.

The copy of the regs is great and i'll be off to chat to the Mairie on monday morning.

Thank you all so much for your help and i'm all excited cos the suns just come out - hoorah!!!

I'll be off now to tend to my roses

Jacqueline

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"I was thinking of doing 3: starter, main, dessert or cheese as well as the obvious coffee/tea. And how much does everyone charge per head? Is €10 per adult and €7 for under 16's ok?

I'd appreciate any info"

 

Magnolia

 

Our local Les Routiers charges 11 or 12 Euros for good basic meals providing 4 courses including (very basic) wine and coffee. For your home cooking I think you should ask 15 Euros minimum and more if you are including better wine.

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If you are going to do meals I would rather scrimp on the food than the wine, if you intend to offer it. The French know their wine. The local cafes do 3 courses for 8 euros including wine and I wondered how they did it. I found out that they served 'bag in box' wine, something I would never touch myself let alone serve my guests. All additives and preservatives. We are connected to a winery and I know how this stuff is made. You can do simple, inexpensive but tasty meals as long as you keep the ingrediants down to a minimum. But if you want to serve wine be selective. Also with the cheese as well. We have learnt this from the French.
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Perhaps one way to find out what your 'competition' is charging (and you need to be around the same amount) is to look at one of the big advertising sites like Visit France of French Connections (If you want the URL's for these sites drop me a pm and i'll send them to you) for B&B's in your area and see what they charge. It will also give you an idea as to the room rates as well.
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[quote user="Eslier"] Don't forget that you will also need to conform to the new regulations, Décret n° 2007-1173 du 3 août 2007, which require you to register with your Mairie by 31st December, conform to a maximum of 5 bedrooms or 15 persons, comply with hygene regulations and, if it is your main activity / source of income, register with the Chambre de Commerce.

Good luck.
[/quote]

I had a look at the link you gave and perhaps I got this wrong but it appeared to be talking about the bathroom and toilet being hygienic and clean. Although not specific in what the sentence was relating to it was in the same paragraph and directly after the bit about bathrooms and toilets. Also, and again I might have read it wrongly, it implied that each bedroom should have a bathroom and or with toilet. Are they saying there are CDH's out there with no washing and toilet facilities or are they saying toilets (with the curtain round it), washbasins and showers can no longer be in the same rooms as the bed?

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Hello,

We are in the process of converting an old winery into a B&B. Work should start next week and we will not be opening until next march. Do I have to register with the mairie before the 31st of December our chambres d'hotes (which will not be operational by then) or can it wait until we actually are ready to open?

Thanks.

Franglaise

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