You don't expect the chef, waiter or sommelier to join you at your table though.
That's fine, but other who do not, including the french, are only causing problems forothers.
do they often drink more than that? or are they respectful?
I have been a registered business since the inception of my B&B and have the proper licences to sell alcohol & breakfast beverages as well, have always followed the reg's, but when I have a full house and have to cook and serve the "set-menu" meal, I cannot always sit through the whole meal with guests...it is not physically possible for one person to be in two, even three places...I wonder if Hotels can?
Thanks Wendy, and you're not breaking any regulations...you eat with your guests, no ammo there ;-) all is good!
Jane, I do, in effect, offer a set meal in that everyone at the table eats the same meal (so far as allergies / diets permit) and, to date, we have so far always eaten with our guests. So I hope I'm not breaking any regulations! But I do think that I am offering a service and if I can be flexible to my guests needs, that can only be good, surely?
It's only happened once, Natalie, and we seemed to manage it OK. I have, somewhere in my small print, listed that the wine allowance is half a bottle per person and I reserve the right to charge extra if they drink more!
You seem to be missing the point. The whole idea of tables d'hotes is that it is a set meal and you eat with your guests.
If you come to live in France and set up in business, you cannot choose what regulations you wish to abide by or to ignore. You can lobby for change, as have the hotel industry in their successful campaign to up the tva because of their perceived threat to their restaurant business from other food outlets. They look upon chambres d'hotes who do not operate within the regulations as small hotels taking their business and sheltering behind a different tax regime,probably AE. Whether you agree with that point of view or not, by not operating within the regulations, people are giving them more ammunition to go on being protectionist!
For instance, I cannot offer breakfast or evening meal to guests in our gite without registering it as a chambres d'hotes as well as a gite.
Wendy,
Thanks so much for your input, I haven't gotten much so far - there must not be very many of us food enthusiasts willing to share with our guests!
Do you find any problems with some people asking for a 2-course and a 3-course in the same evening, and how do you handle that? I do get the not wanting as much food in the evening. And about wine, looks like most include it with the meal/price, is it unlimited or just a bottle or just a glass or how does that work in your budget? thanks again - and happy cooking...Natalie
Hi, I'm not a chef, just a keen amateur cook, but we offer table d'hote on any night of the week provided our guests request it either at time of booking (if they want a meal on arrival) or before 10am on the day required. That way, I have time to go shopping and prepare a decent meal. There's no minimum number, I have served a meal to just one guest on a number of occassions. Usually we eat with out guests, I prefer it this way, but I always ask them whether they'd prefer to eat privately (no-one has ever wanted to).
I offer a choice of a two-course meal or a three-course meal now, at two different prices. Both options include wine, mineral water and coffee/tea. I used to only have a three-course option but found a number of people (usually English) not wanting a starter! The two-course option is quite popular, being cheaper, even with some French people who've had their main meal of the day at lunchtime and don't want the full works in the evening.
I serve a range of foods, English, French, Italian, Indian and even Mexican! I always ask the first guests to request a meal for their dislikes / allergies / preferences and then suggest a menu to them for their agreement. If a second set of guests then want a meal on the same night (we only have three rooms and this has only happened a few times), then I tell them the intended menu and check that it's OK - it always has been apart from the odd vegetarian, which is not a problem as I don't eat red meat and have often been doing an alternative to the meat dish for myself anyway.
As to the cost issue - we don't make a profit, I'm sure, but I enjoy the work as I love entertaining and we look on it as a 'free' meal for ourselves with the benfit of new people to talk to!
I think it gave the hoteliers some ammunition to take to the government. As a group they certainly see chambres d'hotes and gites as a challenge instead of an opportunity for extra tourists to eat in their restaurants.
They certainly do not want to take a long hard look at what they are providing and see if it matches what the tourist wants. Too much like hard work!!
Thanks Jan for the insight - and I agree about seasonal cooking, not only less expensive, but also better for our health!
Do you really believe that the new TVA was put in place due to the fault of Tables d'hotes owners not eating with their guests?
One of the problems here in Burgundy, is finding seasonal food.
Cooking seasonally is the way to go and usually cheaper.
One of the requirements of running a table d'hote is that you eat with your guests and it is a fixed menu, otherwise you are running a restaurant. If you find that it is too difficult for you to do that, for instance, I have seen that people who have young families don't always join in, you are breaking this requirement. This is why the french hotel lobby managed to obtain the new increase in tva on food outlets.
We, as Brits,might think that all they have to do is up their game, but competition is not understood or welcomed here in France, you are interfering in their well defined territory.
I know what you mean about 'almost adequate' compensation...it always seems to cost more than charged, which is why I am looking at changing how I do things, thanks for the input and info - Enjoy cooking!
thanks for the input - appreciated!
From our experience, we no longer eat with our guests. Tended to run too long and with all the other responsibilities of running our business we feel this the best arangement. We offer a meal on arrival, as that is often much appreciated after a long journey getting to us, and thereafter perhaps one more time preferably in conjunction with an other guests request. The profit on meals compared to the work involved made us rethink beeing to easy on offering each time and to everyone this service. We have for all the guests a list of good restaurants in our area which we have researched and each season updated so this is now a comfortable situation for us! Cheers
Good morning.
Because we are chefs by nature and teach cooking on request we prefer to offer
the benefit of our exsperiences. In over words we offer a fine dining experience
without the semaliar but at the table. No hiers and graces...a nicely presented table
but not 3 star Micheline.
Always include wine, of a very good fairly local quality, mineral water and coffee
from a commercial coffee machine. We prepare everthing here and therefore spend
the best part of an afternoon and eve prepareing and serv ing the meal so we ask for
4 people min and charge adequately...well almost adequately.
Kathrin, thanks for your input - all helpful. Do you have set pricing or do you cater that to the meal and do you require advance notice? Natalie
thanks again - and you are right, where all the other table d'hote cooks? they must be cooking!
Up to now (and it's the start of our 9th season) we've had no problem with different dislikes/can't eats, even when we're full and have 14 at the table. There's always, particularly if you have French guests, plenty of people who say 'nous ne sommes pas difficiles' and will eat everything. So, in a word, the meal is the meal, unless we have a non meat eater...which is a different kettle of fish.
We don't have a minimum number of guests we'll cook for and will always cook for just two - if they enjoyed it they'll be back! We cooked for just one couple on Saturday who'd previously stayed for 4 nights in the summer, and who were en-route for their home in Brittany. We, and they, had a very pleasant meal and evening. What we won't do is cook if we get a very last minute booking and haven't time to prepare a meal properly. We'd rather say sorry but no than do something that isn't up to our normal standard.
Hope someone else posts - we're not the only ones here who do table d'hôtes!
Jan