Drinking a coffee in the open air terrace of a restaurant or a bar, it was not come for almost 80 days. On Tuesday morning, everywhere in France, these hospitality venues have welcomed their very first guests, after weeks of anticipation. “It’s good to enjoy the sun with all colleagues,” smiles a young woman sitting with three friends, place Henri-Salvador, in the Ninth arrondissement of Paris.
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Bruno Soutavong is the manager of the coffee from this little place paris is situated between Madeleine and Opera. “I have not slept all night,” he says while laughing nervously. “After so many days we is very happy to see our customers but we do not know what to expect”. For all restaurateurs, these first 24 hours of opening have a taste test day, which is more, in Paris, where only the outer part of the facilities is permitted to accommodate guests, sanitary measures oblige. A rule that condemns, for example, one of the most famous parisian cafes, the Café de la Paix, place de l’opéra, to remain closed.
Between excitement and frustration
The mayor of Paris granted free of charge to the managers the permission to extend their seating to the outdoors – without disturbing the road – in order to earn more “covered” as they say in the jargon. “Today we are going to take the temperature and we will see”, continues Bruno Souvatong, who was able to win a dozen seats additional. An insufficient number to replace the twenty tables unused to the interior of his establishment.
I have slept two hours
Carole, manager of the Café Zéphyr
A little over the top, to the Grand Rex cinema on the Grands Boulevards, Carole, the manager of the Café Zéphyr, sees red. She has just been denied his extension by a police patrol. “I don’t understand, they have no tolerance. You realize ? I do not have the right to move my tables to forty centimeters !”, rebels-t-it. In addition to the stress of the reopening, Carole must also deal with the neighborhood, which is opposite to what it moved its tables in the passage Jouffroy which is adjacent to his restaurant.
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“I slept two hours”, says she stressed, behind his mask. But the clients brighten the smile. “Some of them go, and say to me “what a joy to find you !” It’s been really fun. I have reserved a table for this afternoon saying to myself “just an omelet it is enough for me, all I want is the sun”” she says. And as many of his regulars take their coffee at the counter in the morning, she reserves the same price… on the terrace.
