Boulangerie Drive-In Joly:250 customers daily

[Gifted Gourmet]

article from the CS Monitor

Here, the once- and often twice-a-day stroll to the neighborhood boulangerie to buy bread just minutes from the oven is a cherished tradition. The French are so passionate about their breads that it's not unusual for a family to buy its baguettes from one shop, its sourdough or pain de mie from another, its tarte tatin from yet a third... France is abandoning too many of its culinary traditions, critics say, and therefore has lost its status as the world's gastronomic leader....  "When buying bread, people like to point, to touch, to smell, to discuss...  "A big part of the pleasure of going to the boulangerie each day is that in just a few minutes, you come away knowing everything that's happening in town. In France, fresh news comes with fresh bread."

If you live in, or have recently visited, France, have you seen one of these drive-in bakeries?

Think that it will only serve to create more of its kind?

Is there anything delicious about this new concept?

The boulangerie is so much a part of the French way of life ... think it will always be so? The tactile, sensual aspect, might just be a victim of speed and convenience? Comment très triste ce serait !

[artisanbaker]

m. kayser has one.

in a sentence: tradition dies hard.

(especially in france.)

[robert brown]

Guess what, GG. What may be the best sourdough loaf in the Nice-Monaco area is in one of those drive-in places in Cap d'Ail. It's part of a chain called Ribeireau (sp?). Each outlet differs in quality, but this particular one is where we always stop if we are within ten miles. Jellybean can vouch for me, and he's an extremely serious amateur chef who buys bread there frequently.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Guess what, GG. What may be the best sourdough loaf in the Nice-Monaco area is in one of those drive-in places in Cap d'Ail. It's part of a chain called Ribeireau (sp?). Each outlet differs in quality, but this particular one is where we always stop if we are within ten miles. Jellybean can vouch for me, and he's an extremely serious amateur chef who buys bread there frequently.

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I am quite impressed with this, robert brown! Thanks for this information and your personal input on the concept!

[bleudauvergne]

When buying bread, people like to point, to touch, to smell, to discuss... 

I think Hermann Van Beeck got a little carried away there, with his description, replacing the urge to touch with the action in his mind. To touch? It's certainly not looked upon in a friendly way in the boulangeries here. I'd say yes, the smell upon entering a boulangerie, choosing your loaf if it's in the way of doing things at that bakery, yes, that's common, asking questions if they feature a bread that I'm not familliar with. But not touching. No. In fact if I went into a boulangerie where people off the street were allowed to touch the bread I was going to buy, I'd think twice about purchasing my bread there. You do see people squeezing baguettes in grocery stores where they're out for self service, mainly due to their general mistrust that the bread's fresh.

As for the drive throughs, we will only see these when a boulangerie is located in a place generally inaccessible by foot from a large enough population to support their business. The drive through concept is bascially to keep turnover at a rate that supports the viability of the business.

For the French, fresh bread at mealtime is a very important part of the meal. The actual process of purchasing the bread can take on a ritual aspect in certain circumstances, weekends for example, when neighbors meet and share pleasantries if there is any significant line, but not at all times. It's a very quick interaction in most circumstances. Go, state your loaf, receive it, give exact change if possible and run back home to the table! As long as the drive through does not replace my neighborhood boulangerie, I say more power to 'em. Bring on the bread!

Guess what, GG. What may be the best sourdough loaf in the Nice-Monaco area is in one of those drive-in places in Cap d'Ail. It's part of a chain called Ribeireau (sp?). Each outlet differs in quality, but this particular one is where we always stop if we are within ten miles. Jellybean can vouch for me, and he's an extremely serious amateur chef who buys bread there frequently.

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I have also seen drive through operations just outside of Lyon. I think that the bakery claiming they are the first in France to do this may mean that they are the first in the Paris area to open up an operation of this kind.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Lucy,

I knew that you would come up with precisely the answer I was hoping to find! I have to concur with you, although I don't live in France, that

the actual process of purchasing the bread can take on a ritual aspect in certain circumstances, weekends for example, when neighbors meet and share pleasantries.

Thanks for your feedback on this item!

[bleudauvergne]

Lucy,

I knew that you would come up with precisely the answer I was hoping to find! I have to concur with you, although I don't live in France, that Thanks for your feedback on this item!

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It's true that it can, but not all the time. In most circumstances people get their bread and get back home without exchanging more than a bonjour...

[Bux]

People often rhapsodize with nostalgia for something they only think they've experienced. I love to read about that France Profond which for me means a black and white image from no later than the middle of the 20th century or at least an experience that conjures up a time and place unaffected by the 21st century, but I was stopped dead in my tracks and displaced by the "touching" as if someone described the joy of being in Paris and observing and touching the young women. The look on the vendeuse's face would not, I imagine, be much less aghast were I to touch her inappropriately rather than the bread.

To a large degree France is no longer the country of its legends. Small town and village centers have died and been replaced by the hypermarché for better or worse, or perhaps for better and worse. The pace of life outside Paris and other large cities is governed by the car as often as not. I do see people conversing with the bakers when we shop for bread, but I've never seen the bakery, either boulangerie, patisserie, or combination in a small town, as the agora where people converse with their friends and neighbors. We've not had any comments on how to make a sandwich or slice a tarte, although we've had advice on how to cook a chicken at the butcher's.

Americans in France may not be the best barometer of success for any endeavor, we tend to have too great a relationship with either the romance of being in France, or with quality. Convenience may rule the day for many natives.

[Jonathan Day]

Guess what, GG. What may be the best sourdough loaf in the Nice-Monaco area is in one of those drive-in places in Cap d'Ail. It's part of a chain called Ribeireau (sp?). Each outlet differs in quality, but this particular one is where we always stop if we are within ten miles. Jellybean can vouch for me, and he's an extremely serious amateur chef who buys bread there frequently.

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The chain is called Le Pétrin Ribeïrou. It specialises in pain au levain (sourdough bread); the bread has good character and it keeps well. The bread is baked frequently throughout the day. There's a pleasant variety of styles. It's a franchise operation with its own web page.

The branch we use, in Le Cannet, is not a drive-in but (like every other bakery in France I can think of) is usually busy. You don't swap stories with the vendeuse: you tell her what you want, you pay your money, and you give way to the next person in the queue. Start pointing, smelling, discussing, and you'll be asked, politely but firmly, to let others get the bread they are waiting for.

And what is this about touching? Bakeries in France almost never allow this. They choose the loaf for you. You don't handle the unsold stock.

[artisanbaker]

with respect to others posts, i think that it is correct to say that some bakeries are so busy one does not have time to chat.

on the other hand, i worked in a village bakery for 18 months and i can attest to the fact that the french bakery serves as a community focal point in many ways. conversations were commonplace and generally thought of as polite.

the drive thru bakery will serve to compliment this, and touch the market sector that's "busy."