In a forum whose publication is scheduled for Monday, professionals in the sector indicate that they are suffering from inflation and implore communities to increase their remuneration by 9%.
Inflation invites itself to the table of school canteens. A forum written by collective catering companies, which will be published on Monday and whose The Parisian has already revealed excerpts, sets the tone. “With every meal served in a canteen, companies in our sector lose money», they are alarmed, indicating that their «sector is experiencing the deepest crisis in its history” due to “price rise“.
These companies that manage school canteens on behalf of local authorities therefore require “at least 9% increase compared to the prices charged on 1er January 2022“. Sign of their distress, they add that “if this is not possible, we ask to be able to break the contracts“. This level of increase will not make it possible to completely compensate for the rise in prices which collective catering has had to face for some time, specifies the forum.
Force majeure
A representative of the sector indicates that the price of foodstuffs suffered an inflation of 7% in the months of June and July, then of 10% in August, 12% in September and up to 13% in October. “According to forecasts, we should approach 18% in November!“, he exclaims in The Parisian. Harvests “catastrophic” potatoes don’t help matters.
The cries of alarm seem to be heard very little by the communities. Already this summer, the first warnings from major companies in the sector, Sodexo and Elior in the lead, had hardly been followed up. Only a few cities have agreed to pay an amendment to the contract, often passing it on to the families, as was for example decided in Metz, in Moselle. No choice, they justify themselves, since the cities themselves are victims of inflation.
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“We understand (school catering companies) because we have the same problems. Town halls also suffer the effects of inflation very violently“, thus defended David Lisnard, mayor of Cannes and president of the Association of mayors of France, with the Parisian. The elected official does not approve of the principle of a 9% increase in budgets, because this would impact “the family budget“that he wishes”defend“. “If (…) it becomes too complicated, the cities will go into state management and will no longer have recourse to these companies“, he threatened.
For the time being, the law prohibits companies that supply school canteens from unilaterally terminating the contracts that bind them to communities. They ask to be able to do so in the face of the urgency of the situation. “These are thousands of jobs threatened by the spring“, confides the representative of the sector. If the situation does not improve, small and medium-sized enterprises on the verge of bankruptcy could apply to the courts for force majeure.
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