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Crisis of purchasing power, confinements during the Covid pandemic … The years of lean cows follow each other for restaurants: 7,000 establishments had to put the key under the door in 2023. To escape this spell, some found the magic formula: an anti-crisis menu. Example in Nancy, on Place Stanislas, with “Special Envoy”.
In Nancy, in Lorraine, for three months that an address is transmitted by word of mouth. It is a restaurant where you come for its specialty: the “anti-crisis menu”. This formula is the idea of Marie-Odile to relaunch the establishment she has been holding for twenty years with Jérôme. Very well located in the famous Stanislas square, it was however deserted by customers … due to inflation.
If we want to hold the bet of this offer which offers entrance, flat and dessert at only 10 euros – an unbeatable price, and everything is homemade – you have to be smart … Do not hesitate to recycle the remains (here, beef cheek to make a rillette intended for the toast that will be served as a starter) and to scrupulously weigh each ingredient. In the kitchen, “It’s up to the gram” For Marie-Odile, who did her calculations: if she does not want to work at a loss, she must not exceed 1 euro in raw materials for entry as for dessert (that day, a mango-coco pie), and 3.50 euros for the entire menu.
With their menu at broken prices, Marie-Odile and Jérôme play their survival. In 2023, 7,000 restaurants closed, victims of the rise in food and energy prices (+ 30% since 2021). They lost, in four years, 500,000 euros in turnover.
So to find your way around, it is better to lengthen the magic formula “anti-crisis menu” a little … with words like “grenadine” (2.90 euros), “beer” (5.50 euros) or “coffee” (2.20 euros). Jérôme, the restaurateur, put on all additional sales, these little pleasures that we can afford when we have made a real meal for a low amount. “The 10 euros they put in the menu can be an opportunity to afford a small cup of champagne, a coca or a glass of white wine” … These extras increase the score by 50% on average. Compared to the spring of 2024, the restaurant’s turnover has already increased by 8%, and Jérôme intends to offer this anti-crisis menu that could help him get his head out of the water.
Extract from “Anti-crisis menu: the magic formula?”, A report To see in “Special Envoy” on June 19, 2025.
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