In Le Bouillon Chartier in Paris, the recipe for perfect beef, carrots, butter, butter and “Coquillettes”, is a small pasta pasta. It is cooked for at least three hours. It must be affordable, and therefore the price cannot be more than 10 euros per dish.
Since 1896, Belle Epoque has been the Parisians destination for cheap French fare. It is a noisy calamity with meals that give energy for today, as someone can eat a living wage with less than what he earns within an hour.
But it was rarely difficult to control, as is the case today in the history of Boelon Chartier.
The restaurant, Christophe Jolie, said that the elements that enter the meat of the Borgwain beef, including electricity for the restaurant as well as wages for loud employees in the servers and chefs, are higher than 30 to 45 percent of what they were five years ago. And maintain a A fixed price for the best -selling Bouillon Chartier dishes (which costs about $ 10.80), he cut his family’s margins by his family by up to 20 percent.
“The price of everything that has risen mainly,” said Mr. Jolie on one of the last week in the restaurant in the ninth accuracy in Paris, one of the three Chartier sites in the city. A line has been formed nearly two blocks since 11:30 am, when the doors swing to mobilize lunch. “But our battle is to always provide a decent meal at a decent price.”
The challenges facing Mr. Jolie reflect the broader impact of sticky inflation throughout Europe. Inflation in the euro area increased to 2.4 percent in February after cooling last year. The European Central Bank reduced interest rates for the sixth consecutive time on Thursday, but it faces an inaccurate road as an increase in military spending and potential tariffs on the horizon.
The inflation decreased from a record number 10 percent after the Russian invasion of Ukraine tumors and epidemic panels. Prices of energy, meat, dairy, even glass utensils and table files, do not rise quickly. But it is still stubbornly higher than the outbreak of inflation.
The higher prices also grant other companies in Europe, which pushes factories and intense energy trade, including restaurants, to the edge of the abyss. In homes all over the country, people trying to put food on the table find that the price of the supermarket has decreased slightly.
Mr. Jolie said these forces in Boullelon Chartier, these forces are soft across The Beef Bourguignon, the most symbolic dishes in France: the total costs that make them almost double since the epidemic.
The price of the beef that it demands from suppliers has long increased three times, driven by the costs of feed and high fertilizers, and the energy to operate the slaughterhouse, gas for tractors and transportation.
The price of other components has decreased from its peak, but it remains high, according to the France Statistics Agency.
Mr. Jolie’s electricity bill for his restaurants has increased to 1.5 million euros annually, from 500,000 euros three years ago; Last year, he managed to negotiate a fewer contract, but this did not compensate for the losses. The wages, which constitute about 40 percent of the price of Porgoyen cow, increased by 15 to 20 percent during that period as workers demanded higher salaries to keep up with inflation.
“Every morning I go to see my purchasing manager to find out what we can buy,” said Mr. Jolie. “It is like playing the stock market.”
Le Bouillon Chartier began as a famous shell, which has been famous in Paris more than a century ago by the Cartier brothers, who presented broth-or Polone-and the heart fare of blue-collar workers. In the end, the workers of white collars, along with tourists, who flowed in larger numbers these days after the restaurant appeared in the “Emily in Paris”.
In the era of insecurity, the Bilonun, as is well known, has become a refuge in cooking from the living crisis that attracted the spending of the average French citizen. The most expensive element in the list is the Fritz Meat Steet at 13.50 euros, and it is the third to half the cheaper than it will be in the Pistos and restaurants. In recent years, nearly ten cheap counterparts have been opened in Paris, and crowds were attracted.
But Bouillon Chartier was not always strong. Mr. Jolie said that he had ruled an inexpensive eating scene in Paris until mid -2000, when eating habits changed, and more people were attracted to fast food. He was on bankruptcy when his father turned, a restaurant that began as a waiter in the French Pistos in the 1970s, with his son to save him. Together, they run Groupe Joulie, an institution that also includes 12 small Parisian bar.
The duo renewed the restaurant in the ninth circle, which is now a historical memorial, while maintaining its original decor of the arts of ART Nouveau Globe, wood panels and the red achieved table mattress. Huge mirrors hanging on the walls that inspired the Azar, the loud French restaurant in New York City.
To maintain low prices, Mr. Jolie should work with size. 1.5 tons of beef per week are only requested for the beef Bourguignon dish in The Three Bouillons, which offers more than 4000 restaurants per day. Average customers spend 20 euros per ticket.
When the prices rise too much, some items will fall from the list. For example, the famous duck Confness was neglected when he could not keep the price at 12.50 euros. In early January, Mr. Jolie was forced to remove Bourguignon beef for one week due to a jump in beef prices. He maintained the cost of the dish at 10 euros for four years.
Mostly, he chose to get the money out of the margins of his company. He said: “We can do this because we are an institution run by a family, and not owned by the stock market or investors.”
“Even now I have succeeded,” he added, referring to the Phalanx of Diners, who sits the elbow to the huge hall, decorated with the giant chicken that the Painter Germont in 1929 to push the late tab. 20 parallels in black jackets and white buttons around the tables, took requests and pressed to the kitchen. The cut glasses and silver utensils were placed on white panels decorated with the logo of the chart, placed on top of the paper table covering where the bill was written by the bill with a ink.
Despite the duct, Mr. Jolie said that the lesion of inflation is mired under the surface for all dinner. Traffic has slowed in its restaurants, and in restaurants and besteros around France, after an increase after birth. By the end of 2023, continuous energy and food prices in the living crisis are deepened; Even in Popon, customer request is lower.
Ali Bilkak and his friend, a long time ago, has a long -standing chocolate moussor at 3.20 euros after eating the Portgini and Andlete, or tribi sausage, and washed all of them with a cup of home red wine. “We do not eat what was before,” said Mr. Bilkakim. The men, retired, who lived nearby, were on a fixed income and were financially pressed, especially throughout the year and a half last year, by highly stubborn and food, as well as clothes and gas.
“When they say that inflation has decreased, this is not the reality,” said Mr. Bilkakim. “Our shopping basket for some items increased by 40 percent.” They dealt with a midday meal in Chartier, because it was delicious and economical.
Mr. Jolie wiped the dining room and looked at Mr. Belcacem, pushing his bill.
“The high prices hurt me many people,” said Mr. Jolie. “Now more than ever, it is important to keep things affordable.”
