It was the canteen for many companies and administrations in the Vesoul urban area. The collective restaurant at Point habitat jeunes in Frotey-lès-Vesoul closed its doors permanently on December 23 for financial reasons. A heartbreak for the association La Backup, manager of the restaurant, which also had to part with five of its employees.
A veritable institution, the collective restaurant has been around since 1977 and at one point offered up to 300 seats for the lunch break. Office and construction workers came to meet there to enjoy a full meal at a lower price.
Faced with a drop in attendance, linked to the health crisis and the generalization of remote work, the collective restaurant will not have resisted. Open midday and evening on weekdays until 2020, the self-service was hit by several complete closures during Covid. The evening meal for the young people from Marcel Rozard’s education center was never resumed.
“It punished the financial health of the association”
“We have seen a spectacular drop in the number of meals distributed,” says Gilles Valladont, general manager of the Haut-Saônoise Association for the Safeguarding of Children to Adults (AHSSEA).
From 60,000 meals consumed in 2012, self-catering increased to 48,000 meals in 2019, then only 14,000 in 2021. “It was still up again in 2022 with 25,000 meals, but the damage had been done. We had a structural deficit,” he explains. “So we had to take this painful decision to close the catering part because it was detrimental to the financial health of the association”.
Hard blow for regular customers
Originally reserved for staff and residents of the Foyer Jeunes Travailleurs, this self-catering area was “gradually opened to the outside”. “We had an agreement with several companies”, recalls Gilles Valladont. Especially construction companies, which are very poor.
“It was the best”, summarizes Maxime Rodeschini, head of the company of the same name. “It was easily accessible, we could park easily with heavy goods vehicles and the schedules were flexible”. Of the 50 employees in his business, “about fifteen ate there every day”.
“We have to find another solution”
“The guys ate well, they were warm, they drank coffee. Now we have to look for another solution,” he laments.
Same scenario for the company Henry Travaux publics based in Varogne. “We could come without a booking, it was practical”, blurts out the manager, Thomas Henry, who every morning looks for a place to eat for his employees.
The announcement of this closure also affected Suzanne Lambert. Former chairman of the association, now retired, she ate lunch there every day for 45 years. “For me, it’s my whole life,” she says. “It gave me the opportunity to keep in touch with my colleagues”.
