Au revoir, France's bistro culture?

[Gifted Gourmet]

Guardian UK

They are as French as demonstrations, croissants and good railways; an essential part of any British tourist's holiday and of the social and cultural life of the nation - and they are rapidly disappearing.  France's bistros are shutting so quickly, according to new statistics, that within 10 years they will all either have closed down, become 'theme bars' or been swallowed up by large chains. A survey by the catering trade union Synhorcat has revealed that there are at least 5,000 bistro owners who are planning to sell up in the next 12 months. With only 45,000 bistros in France - a fifth of the number of 30 years ago - that has left the industry with a nasty taste in its mouth.  'The typical French cafe is disappearing' ... 'Especially in the provinces there is a process of bistro desertification. There are whole swaths of the country without a bistro in sight.'

This article explains the main reasons for this phenomenon ... is this accurate from your experiences in France lately?

The reasons cited here include: French bureaucracy, recent campaigns against drink-driving, strict gaming regulation which restricts pinball, the growing use of the internet, replacing face-to-face discussions, and finally, the very strong possibility of a new law banning smoking in public places.

Do you see this happening too?

[John Whiting]

For the past ten years I've been seeing statements by experts that 5000 French bistros a year were closing. Of course the number of what we would call bistros is going down. It's part of a world wide trend, but it happens more slowly in countries that still value such institutions. Foodies on the go will still be able to find the sort of places they want, though with a bit more research, but it's hard on locals when their favorite places disappear. There will be new ones opening, but more and more up-market, until cuisine du terroir can be afforded only by the rich.

[Gifted Gourmet]

There will be new ones opening, but more and more up-market, until cuisine du terroir can be afforded only by the rich.

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Are you saying that only wealthy people will find what they desire in the newest of places?

So, would you believe that it is still worthwhile to attempt to open a bistro in France?

[John Whiting]

There will be new ones opening, but more and more up-market, until cuisine du terroir can be afforded only by the rich.

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Are you saying that only wealthy people will find what they desire in the newest of places?

I'm suggesting that this will be an increasing tendency.

So, would you believe that it is still worthwhile to attempt to open a bistro in France?

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I think that it will, as usual, depend on location and motivation. Paris, for instance, still keeps John T. working flat out! But the small towns that once maintained a Hotel de la Gare, complete with zinc and slot machine, will be lucky if there's a Big Mac within driving distance. In fact, they'll be lucky if the Gare is still functioning. Edited July 2, 2006 by John Whiting (log)

[Ptipois]

What is disappearing is, of course, the troquets (the cafés, complete with pinball, coffee machine, sometimes cigarettes and PMU), not the bistrots in the modern sense of the word. So let not there be any confusion on words.

Bistrots and troquets are now completely different things. Troquets are vanishing, not bistrots. "Bistrot" now means restaurant.

Increasingly, for the last 30 years, as bistrots (i.e. restaurants) were getting back in style and chefs were opening theirs, the word has come to mean "food bistrots" and much less cafés. Bistrots are not particularly disappearing, they're thriving. Cafés are becoming scarcer (in the country they have been for about 50 years really, but in cities the crisis is more recent).

Funny that the insane rise of prices induced by the Euro, as well as the increasingly unmanageable cost of living, weren't counted amongst the causes for that disappearance. Given the advantageous position of French cafés, at street corners and intersections, they are frequently replaced by banks. Or sometimes by Starbucks' or fast food chains. It's not just cafés that are going out of business. Many small food stores and local commerces are no longer able to make it, but the generally large surface and exposed location of troquets are very desirable. And their replacement is very fast, and noticeable.

Some café owners have tried to attract customers by investing in heavy cosmetic changes, in the "lounge bar" style (silly-looking, brightly-colored velvet armchairs, fancy type on the awnings, mojitos, background music, etc.) but I'm not sure that even makes it. A few of them have hired very good designers, and beautiful cafés have blossomed (this is particularly true of chic, expensive troquets like Le Rostand in Paris, or more modest corner cafés like Le Mirbel near my place).

One other thing café owners do to remain in business is upgrade the place to "bistrot" status, i.e. serving food and trying to do it right. Or serving more food (when the troquet already had a menu, i.e. omelettes, salades and croque-monsieur) and trying to attract attention to it. It all depends on the food but that does seems to help.

However, I would miss the troquet if it were to disappear, with its noises of spoons and china, the continuous puff of coffee machines, the smoky atmosphere, the grumpy owner wearing a Naples yellow tie on his bordeaux red shirt, the acrid coffee, the half-dead obese German shepherd dog dozing on the floor tiles with everybody tripping on the beast when going to the bathroom, etc. Often, the dog is the nicest person in the whole café. But I'll still miss that.

Edited July 2, 2006 by Ptipois (log)

[Ptipois]

I think that it will, as usual, depend on location and motivation. Paris, for instance, still keeps John T. working flat out!  But the small towns that once maintained a Hotel de la Gare, complete with zinc and slot machine, will be lucky if there's a Big Mac within driving distance. In fact, they'll be lucky if the Gare is still functioning.

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True. But there is no reason to worry for the bistrots, the places that keep John T. busy, for there will always be new ones opening, even in small towns. They're the new trend and they're successful. What is threatened is the cafés, with the zinc, pinball, slot machine and table soccer. Quite another category of place, run by a different culture and economics. Sometimes they intersect with the bistrot culture (when they serve proper food at lunch) but the two are now very distinct.

[John Whiting]

French bistros may be thriving, but not necessarily their kitchens. As Dominique Magada Cahill documented at length in the [London] Daily Telegraph, much of the food is arriving in lorries at the back door:

The days when the plat du jour in the local bistro was entirely prepared and cooked by the chef using products from the market may be gone.

Instead, the majority of restaurant owners now shop in Metro, the Frankfurt-listed German distribution company which, in the past 15 years, has established an impressive presence in France. Metro sells everything from fresh meat, fish and vegetables to ready-made sauces, pre-cut onions, buckets of fruit salad and even vacuum-packed ready meals made especially for restaurants and catering companies under the Metro Filière label.

"It's quite frightening to see what restaurants can buy in Metro," says a young French chef, who recently opened his own restaurant in Alsace after working in top restaurants. "You can buy practically everything - the frozen boiled egg in a tube I find particularly off-putting. They can't even boil an egg any more. A meal in a village bistro today is very often ready-made. The products are the same all over the country; we're losing local specificity."

Of course, many chefs still care for their cuisine and the ingredients they use. But they tend to be the ambitious ones who covet culinary guides' distinctions, rather than local bistro owners.

Edited July 2, 2006 by John Whiting (log)

[Felice]

Thank you Pitipois for clearing this up.

Ididn’t know the word “troquet” and thought of the places referred to as simply cafes. Was the author wrong to call them bistros? They are certainly not what I think of when I think of a bistro. I’m glad to see that the article was not really talking about what most people think of as “bistros”. When I came home last night, rather late, and read this topic, I found it surprising to read that bistros were on their way out, especially since they seem to be the “in” thing, at least in Paris. Is this why you often see the word “neo-bistro”?

[BonfireCuisine]

If I might add more salt to this issue – its not so much a decline in “bistros” or “small cafes” but a shaking out of places that just made it by. True you can buy that boiled egg in a bag but if given a chance which would you rather chose? At least here in Washington there are clearly a few different core selections to be had. As in “Fast Food”, “Diner (aka Denny’s)”, “chain restaurants”, “upscale restaurants” and “fine dining”. Each one finds their own niche – no really look around you. Those that were able to stay had something to offer (location, profit, staff, food, etc…). I think if a company has their books in order then they will make it*. First off I’m not talking about trend restaurants but places that the owner operates it and is the one charge of the bottom line. Personally you need to be able to be flexible and adjust to the business climate. If you don’t you’re done – look at the recent places that have closed. Why did they close? Money flow? Food quality? Consistently? Service? What was behind it? Right now restaurants can’t just be “we open and they will come”, today restaurants need to be not only good chefs and good servers but good business people. Negotiate good leases, get good produce, determine trends, hire good staff and of course put it all together.

Sorry for the length but I frankly don’t believe that all bistros will become “boil in bag” or “ready made” establishments. True there will be some that will do this and “fake it” but I also believe that there are those that have the skill, knowledge and management to do it right. Its every where, remember that old guy that just polished the silverware at the hotel? He’s gone and automation is in and doing his job for 3rd of the price. I’ve been in restaurants since I was 14 (now 37) and I’m not ready to say that we will all be eating out of “boil and bag” dinners or playing with “mushroom foam”. But what I do believe is that in order to make it, if you don’t have some kind of business/marketing/accounting experience/knowledge then the odds are stacked up against you.

Jason

[Ptipois]

Thank you Pitipois for clearing this up. 

Ididn’t know the word “troquet” and thought of the places referred to as simply cafes.  Was the author wrong to call them bistros?  They are certainly not what I think of when I think of a bistro.   I’m glad to see that the article was not really talking about what most people think of as “bistros”.  When I came home last night, rather late, and read this topic, I found it surprising to read that bistros were on their way out, especially since they seem to be the “in” thing, at least in Paris.  Is this why you often see the word “neo-bistro”?

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"Troquet" is half-slang but has the virtue of dismissing any confusion. The word is commonly used in French. So is "café", which leaves no ambiguity. Was the author wrong to call them bistros? I supposed so right from the start, and now that I read the latest messages by John and BonfireCuisine, which both linger on the confusion — the subject of the article is not restaurants but cafés —, I cannot doubt it.

Until the 1980s the word "bistrot" could mean a café and that's indeed the original meaning. Much less so nowadays. Now a bistrot is a simple, medium-priced or low-priced urban restaurant serving a certain type of food (traditional - modernized - personalized, etc.), and that is by no means on the way out. On the other hand cafés are on the way out, and it would have been less misleading if the author had not used the word "bistrot" in the first place.

"Néo-bistrot" is a recent trend, and one more proof of the vitality of the bistrot phenomenon. It is meant to describe restaurants serving a modernized version of the typical bistrot fare. Since traditional bistrot fare has become hard to come by, that makes a lot of néo-bistrots around indeed. "Bistronomique", even more recent, is a contraction of the terms "bistrot" and "gastronomique" and the terms speaks by itself. The word has become synonymous of casual restaurant to such an extent that it hardly ever associated with cafés anymore.

No worry, friends, the French bistrot is doing very well. Now some bistrot chefs (and gastronomique chefs too) may be buying from Metro but 1) that's not a tragedy, Metro is very useful for some stuff and not everybody buys frozen boiled egg, and 2) that's a different topic.

Edited July 2, 2006 by Ptipois (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

"Bistronomique", even more recent, is a contraction of the terms "bistrot" and "gastronomique" and the terms speaks by itself. The word has become synonymous of casual restaurant to such an extent that it hardly ever associated with cafés anymore.

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New York Magazine discusses briefly and gives some examples of "bistronomique" ...

The global food- casualization movement has turned up here as bistronomique (a combination of bistro and economique, bien sûr). Some are run by Michelin-star-wearers; others are simply cheap(ish), friendly, and give the chefs a chance to play with comfort food.

[John Whiting]

Now a bistrot is a simple, medium-priced or low-priced urban restaurant serving a certain type of food...

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Urban? That narrows the field of discussion considerably. From what I'm told, it's the village and rural bistros that are particularly suffering. As for purchasing from Metro, it may be a "different topic", but it is integrally related to the survival of bistros as more than merely a label.

[Ptipois]

Urban? That narrows the field of discussion considerably. From what I'm told, it's the village and rural bistros that are particularly suffering. As for purchasing from Metro, it may be a "different topic", but it is integrally related to the survival of bistros as more than merely a label.

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Well, John, I'm afraid you're still confused on the meaning of "bistrot" in the article. The word is used rather improperly. What the article is about is really the cafés (and, yes, particularly the rural ones, but not only). Bistrots are doing better than ever. It's the cafés that are doing badly. Reading the article makes it quite clear.

If we are to deal with the (true) bistrots now, i.e. restaurants, well — nearly everybody goes to Metro. For certain things. And goes to Rungis for other things, and sets up their network of small producers too. Nothing incompatible there. Many bistrot owners do all of that. The problem is not going to Metro, it's what exactly you buy there. Have you ever been to a Metro? I warmly encourage you to visit one if you have a chance.

As for the "bistrots" or restaurants that serve the really unmentionable Metro foods, I don't think they're the kind we're interested in here anyway.

Edited July 2, 2006 by Ptipois (log)

[John Whiting]

As for the "bistrots" or restaurants that serve the really unmentionable Metro foods, I don't think they're the kind we're interested in here anyway.

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I'm told that their number is growing. To write them off as not worthy of consideration bears an ironic resemblance to a TV program I'm watching at the moment about the Battle of the Somme. More thousands dead? Keep attacking!

[John Talbott]

Guardian UK

France's bistros are shutting so quickly, according to new statistics, that within 10 years they will all either have closed down, become 'theme bars' or been swallowed up by large chains. ....... There are whole swaths of the country without a bistro in sight.'

Do you see this happening too?

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I've been sitting by and watching and holding back but I've gotta get on this.

1. "France's bistros are shutting so quickly" Well, a bit true and a bit hyped.

2. But....and there's always a but, non?, with five new places opening/changing chefs/ownership/etc and/or reviewed each week in Paris alone in Figaroscope, A Nous Paris, etc. and until 3 weeks ago Zurban, and one hopes soon in Hachette's co-rival Pariscope, one is not exactly facing the end of the bistrot world as we know it.

3. I realize Brit news-sheets live on bad news and esp. on bad French news, but from where I sit and having eaten at two thriving bistrots in two days I'd say that like Mark Twain "The reports of....death are greatly exaggerated."

[Ptipois]

New York Magazine discusses briefly and gives some examples of "bistronomique" ...

The global food- casualization movement has turned up here as bistronomique (a combination of bistro and economique, bien sûr). Some are run by Michelin-star-wearers; others are simply cheap(ish), friendly, and give the chefs a chance to play with comfort food.

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"Bistronomique" is not a combination of bistrot and économique, bien sûr, but of bistrot and gastronomique.

[Ptipois]

As for the "bistrots" or restaurants that serve the really unmentionable Metro foods, I don't think they're the kind we're interested in here anyway.

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I'm told that their number is growing.

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"I'm told", "their number is growing", I'm afraid that doesn't mean a lot. And shopping at Metro doesn't mean anything particular, as you may quickly understand if you visit one of those places. Can you name some bistrot worthy of interest (the kind we praise here) that serves that appalling produce mentioned in the article? There are many things to buy at Metro apart from the industrial, processed substitutes.

I believe we're digressing, though. The topic is really on the slow disappearance of French cafés.

Edited July 2, 2006 by Ptipois (log)

[Ptipois]

3. I realize Brit news-sheets live on bad news and esp. on bad French news, but from where I sit and having eaten at two thriving bistrots in two days I'd say that like Mark Twain "The reports of....death are greatly exaggerated."

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I've noticed that, too. Also that the articles on French news, good or bad, are often out of focus. However, that article is pretty accurate for once, except that it is not dealing with bistrots at all.

[Dave Hatfield]

Don't know that I can add anything other than personal observation here, but from what I can see the bistror is hanging in there.

Being in the sticks I don't see much of what's happening in the larger towns & cities. Out here within the 30-40 km radius that I know well enough to comment on we seem to be about breaking even. We have closings, but roughly an even number of openings. About normal I'd say.

I think the era of 'just' cafes has long since passed. There are few here now days that don't serve food of some description at least at lunch time. Some buy in a lot, but most don't. They can't afford it.

Being still mostly family affaires they try to do their best as cheaply as possible which means using free family labor. If some member of the family turns out to be good with food they do well, if not then they struggle. They very much cater for local tastes. As Serge, our local village restauranteur, tells me: he depends upon local custom. The locals like their traditional dishes. So no matter how much he'd like to be more adventerous & up to date in his menu he doesn't quite dare. So he survives, but only because he employs no one outside the family.

My take is that there are probably different worlds going on depending upon whether your 'bistrot' is in a city, the suberbs, a large town or a village. My hope is that a critical mass manage to work it out & can make a profit.

Its up to us, those who care about food, to do our best to support & encourage the small guys who are doing an honest job of trying to provide good palitable food in a nice ambience at an affordable price.

Sorry for the soapbox, but I'd just hate to see France succomb to the mass marketeers.

[Ptipois]

My take is that there are probably different worlds going on depending upon whether your 'bistrot' is in a city, the suberbs, a large town or a village. My hope is that a critical mass manage to work it out & can make a profit.

The status of the café is very different in the country. The village café is often an important center of activity, where the social life concentrates. Sometimes it is the only place that remains alive in the Winter. Go to Brittany in January and you'll instantly see what I mean (Brittany has a thriving café culture; some cafés are even libraries). Generally the country café is much more than a café and serves as the local newsstand (it is often a café-tabac-journaux-PMU-billard-public TV set, etc.), but it rarely is a restaurant, unless you have a guinguette type. It may serve crêpes and sandwiches but, unless the café-tabac is attached to a hotel-restaurant (a common feature in the country), they don't usually serve more elaborate food. In the latter case, food will be served in the restaurant hall, not at the café.

Many of those country cafes have been closing for decades. For different reasons than those that force urban cafés to shut down. In the country, the culprit is the "exode rural", the gradual abandonment of villages by their population, and this has been going on since at least the late 19th century. However, the thriving period for cafés-tabacs-journaux-guinguettes of our regions was still going on before WWII. Many rural cafés-tabacs started disappearing during the 60's, mostly because no one was willing to take them over, and the decline has been constant since. Indeed the cafe was a center for social life but the countries were so depopulated that there was no social life worth mentioning left.

I hear that in some places things are looking up, people from the cities are settling down in the country and some old abandoned cafés are bought; I hope that's true.

Its up to us, those who care about food, to do our best to support & encourage the small guys who are doing an honest job of trying to provide good palitable food in a nice ambience at an affordable price.

Again: the bistrot of the type you're mentioning here (as a place that provides good palatable food, etc.) is not threatened in any way, it is experiencing one of its most favorable periods in history. The difficulties are there, as in every form of commerce or service in hard times (the French are going through hard times now). But the French cafes are indeed threatened, and food is not their main point. I guess it's meaningful that cafes that manage to make it are the ones that decide to serve food and become restaurants, i.e. bistrots as we understand them now.

[BigboyDan]

From what I've seen, the need for the cafe has been somewhat replaced by the tabac - the French version of a convenience/general/hangout type store.

Edited July 3, 2006 by BigboyDan (log)

[John Whiting]

Ptpois, your clear description and analysis of the seminal importance of the café goes beyond any terminological disagreement we might have. What you make clear is their integral involvement in local life, so that when that life itself fragments and disperses, the cafés inexorably go the same way.

In an interview in 1999, André Daguin lamented that “Every year, three thousand restaurants in France go bankrupt, usually to be replaced by fast-food joints.” It would be interesting to know just what word had been translated as restaurants. But as to their overall replacement by fast-fooderies, there can be no question. A detailed report from Research and Markets documents it:

The French fast food market has experienced rapid growth in the 1999-2003 period. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the period of 9.8% the market was worth $5.09 billion in 2003, an increase of 45.3% since 1999. This growth is considerably stronger than the European market itself…. In 2008 the French fast food market is forecast to have a value of $7.8 billion, an increase of 53.5% since 2003. The compound annual growth rate of the market in the period 2003-2008 is predicted to be 8.9%.

The narrowly defined artisanal bistro may be doing well in relation to its own market, but it would be interesting to know what percentage of the total dining-out market they represent. For comparison, organic food sales in Britain have gone up by about half, but this is only a niche market expanding from about 3% to 4½% of total food sales. It is totally reliant on national prosperity; an economic recession, which is by no means unlikely, could virtually wipe it out overnight.

I suspect that the careless use of “bistro” to include a lot of borderline cafés is, by narrowing the definition, giving us a misleadingly optimistic picture. Instead of protecting the territory we are increasingly defending the Alamo. I hope that the food and ammunition hold out.

Edited July 3, 2006 by John Whiting (log)

[Ptipois]

Ptpois, your clear description and analysis of the seminal importance of the café goes beyond any terminological disagreement we might have. What you make clear is their integral involvement in local life, so that when that life itself fragments and disperses, the cafés inexorably go the same way.

I'm not surprised by the disagreement, it is only based on lexical definitions. "Bistrot" in French hardly means "café" any longer. The article should indeed have used the word "café", for the use of "bistrot" could raise some unjustified fears in the food-loving community. Applying to the bistrot, in a French context, what was really happening to the café was certainly misleading.

In an interview in 1999, André Daguin lamented that “Every year, three thousand restaurants in France go bankrupt, usually to be replaced by fast-food joints.” It would be interesting to know just what word had been translated as restaurants. But as to their overall replacement by fast-fooderies, there can be no question.

Of course I can't tell for sure, not having read the interview, but it is quite likely that he used the word "restaurants", for "bistrots" are counted as restaurants. Speaking as a restaurateur and as a representative of the corporation of restaurateurs, he couldn't mean cafés. And he would have used the term "cafés et débits de boisson" if he had meant that. Now restaurateurs have difficulties like everybody else. But as far as the bistrot, in the contemporary sense of the word, is concerned, it is doing quite nicely.

I suspect that the careless use of “bistro” to include a lot of borderline cafés is, by narrowing the definition, giving us a misleadingly optimistic picture. Instead of protecting the territory we are increasingly defending the Alamo. I hope that the food and ammunition hold out.

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Sure, but the article was not narrowing the definition, it was only a bit beside the point.

Now it is absolutely true that good casual restauration and wholesome, cheap French food do need to be supported, but this is a different debate from the one regarding the cafés.

Edited for two commas and one character.

Edited July 3, 2006 by Ptipois (log)

[John Talbott]

In an interview in 1999, André Daguin lamented that “Every year, three thousand restaurants in France go bankrupt, usually to be replaced by fast-food joints.”

Yes, but as Ptipois pointed out he was representing the mainstream restaurateurs in France and I do recall the context; it was his argument for lowering the TVA in restos to that of fast-food places and he used this figure as ammunition. Now I loved the family cradle, the Hotel de France in Auch, I love Adriane Daguin's food in the US as well as brother/son Arnaud's cooking in Auch/Washington/Basque-land; but, one must appreciate Papa's comment in its context.

As I pointed out above, with five places opening in Paris a week (excepting summer), it's not like we're starving. My lament would be that yesterday's old-fashioned French bistro is replaced by tomorrow's Italian-Japanese-Lebanese place or worse a lingerie or eye-glass shop, but I suspect the "Fooding"/Omnivore gang would not agree, arguing that French cuisine needs a foreign shot in the arm (of something other than EPO).

[John Whiting]

OK, forget Daguin, but don't forget the Research and Markets report. I'm interested in the long view. Sure, the up-market bistros are doing just fine at the moment, particularly in Paris, but it's the spreading morass of bubbling food factories that we'll drown in when the bubble bursts. (I don't know any financial experts who don't admit privately that it's only a matter of time.) I'm most concerned with what is our collective gastronomical bottom line.