Each pilgrim has his favorite on the way to Santiago de Compostela. Some cite the beauty of the landscapes, others, reflection and self-transcendence. But it is for the villages that Laure Bonnet-Madin cracks : “After three weeks, I realized that my favorite thing was to sit down at the café to chat with the locals. Finally, I felt good. » Because, when she leaves for a long hike, in September 2021, the thirties who grew up in the Paris region, graduated from Rennes School of Business, is not flourishing: “I have spent my entire career in real estate, from start-ups to Nexity, from sales to management. At the end, I felt like a hamster spinning in a wheel. I was just a pawn who was asked to make numbers, regardless of customer satisfaction. »
At 30, the condominium manager leaves her job, her companion, and takes another path, which introduces her to the epiphany in a village square. Two months later, the Parisian moved to Saintigny, a small rural town in Perche (Eure-et-Loir), which has barely 1,000 inhabitants. His new apartment overlooks a 12th century churche century, renowned for its medieval frescoes – and just promoted to historic monument, says the young woman. Sensitive to heritage, the neo-rural especially appreciates the business located on the ground floor of her new residence: a café, hers.
Because, back from her roaming on the way to Santiago de Compostela, Laure Bonnet-Madin applied for the “1,000 coffees” program. Supported by the SOS group, an association specializing in social entrepreneurship, this initiative aims to revitalize villages with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants by opening or taking over multi-service cafés which are in danger of disappearing.
Feeling of abandonment
Indeed, if the rural territories are not a uniform whole, they face a common trend: a feeling of abandonment linked to the loss of public services, essential shops and places of sociability. Thus, 53% of municipalities with less than 3,500 inhabitants do not have any daily shops or drinking establishments. And eight out of ten inhabitants of a rural municipality would like to see a café open in their municipality, underlines the team of 1,000 cafés. The initiative is financed both by own funds from the SOS group, by major private partners, and by the National Agency for Territorial Cohesion.
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