On this day of family libations, the daily records of contaminations hardly seem to affect the attendance of butchers, bakers and cheese makers. On the other hand, caterers and restaurateurs have a string of cancellations.
As the minutes pass, the queues grow longer. In front of butchers, pastry shops or even fishmongers, the sidewalks are full this Friday morning in the center of Issy-les-Moulineaux (Hauts-de-Seine). To clear your way, you have to slalom between the carts and big shopping bags. When you must not step over a child who has ventured a little too far from his parents.
One would have thought that with the record wave of contaminations hitting France, many family evenings were canceled at the last moment due to positive tests or contact cases. And that, in fact, reservations for cheeses, turkeys or logs are melting in shops in the Paris region.
It is not so. Like every December 24, Covid or not, traders are overwhelmed. Neither has the time to answer journalists’ questions in the face of the wave of customers. “We’re completely underwater today, sorry”, lets go a busy pastry chef for only answer, without even taking the time to look at us.
“Children, grandchildren, everyone will be there”
In front of his establishment, about twenty clients wait calmly in single file. “I just took a twenty-five minute wait at my butcher’s, when I had ordered. I’m leaving for a ride here ”, laughs Anne-Marie. At her house, Christmas is only celebrated on December 25. But the octogenarian preferred to take the lead, worrying about not finding any stall open the next day: “This year, we will celebrate as a family, like every year. Children, grandchildren, everyone will be there. We’re all double or triple vaccinated, so I don’t worry. We didn’t even try to get tested. ”
The speech is more or less the same for Jean-Christophe, 53, met a few meters away, come to look for the last dishes of his New Year’s meal from a cheese maker. “We haven’t changed anything, we’ll just be a little more careful. So far we’ve all been spared, so we continue to keep our fingers crossed. By force, we are starting to get used to it, it’s a bit of a continuation of last year. “
“Waterfall effect”
Frank Delvau, president of the Union of trades and hospitality industries in Ile-de-France, expected to see food shops fill up despite the wave of contamination. “People stay at home and indulge themselves with good products. Obviously, the shops are full ”, he analyzes.
But if businesses are rubbing their hands, restaurateurs and caterers are suffering a wave of cancellations equal to that of the omicron variant. Franck Delvau speaks of a “Cascade effect”. “First there were the company meals, many before Christmas, which did not take place. Then the return to teleworking which has inevitably penalized restaurant owners. And finally, this is perhaps the most important, all the customers who will prefer not to come to the restaurant on the evening of the 24th and 31st because we cannot now have a dance party ”, recalls the president of the organization, who asks the government for new aid.
Owner of several restaurants in Paris, Xavier Denamur confirms : “It’s a bit of a disaster. We are seeing chain cancellations, especially those from foreign tourists, and a little from the French who have caught the Covid. At least the people are nice, they warn us! “ Unwelcome postponements when usually the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is for this restaurateur “By far the biggest of the year”.
Since the beginning of the month, seeing the contaminations increase, Xavier Denamur has also started to reduce his stocks and to stock up as much as possible on a day-to-day basis. A way of anticipating potential cancellations, as well as a closure that he does not rule out if the health situation continues to deteriorate. However, despite the gloomy climate, it do not let down: “As Beckett said: when you’re in shit up to your neck, all you have to do is sing.”