Catering: non-homemade dishes will have to be explicitly indicated by 2025, announces Olivia Grégoire

News that would have delighted Charles Duchemin. The gastronomic critic of Aile ou la Cuisse, played by Louis de Funès, sees his fight for “homemade” taken up by Olivia Grégoire. The Minister Delegate in charge of consumption, commerce and crafts is rolling up her sleeves to protect customers and restaurateurs. In the columns of La Tribune Dimanche, the former government spokesperson outlines the outlines of a new obligation forcing establishments to explicitly indicate on their menu dishes not prepared on site. The goal? “Promote the function of master restaurateur, protect the consumer and preserve French gastronomy,” details the minister’s office in Le Figaro.

“The measure will come into force by 2025,” says Olivia Grégoire’s office. “Today there is an inequity between restaurateurs who play the game by purchasing and working with fresh products and those who obtain everything from wholesalers. Especially in times of inflation where fresh and raw are much more expensive than processed!” explains the minister’s entourage. At the end of a three to four month consultation, Olivia Grégoire therefore intends to establish, via a government decree, the obligation to mention non-homemade dishes. Valid for the 175,000 restaurateurs in France, this new standard will be added to the “homemade” label created in 2014, “unknown to the general public and optional”.

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“Praised by consumer associations and professional federations, such as the Groupement des hôtelleries et restorations de France (GHR), this new standard will change the situation,” believes the minister’s office, “we are moving from a declarative and voluntary system to an obligation to mention. The Union of Hotel Trades and Industries (Umih) also sides with the minister. “We support the measure,” said a spokesperson to Le Figaro. The first federation of the sector considers it “important to revalorize this traditional restaurant which generates jobs, quality, symbol of the French art of living and pride of our country”.

It remains to be determined what form the latter will take, namely “an asterisk, a logo…”. The government also intends to ask the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) to strengthen its controls. In the event of non-compliance, the restaurateur is exposed to the sanctions established by the Consumer Code for misleading omissions.

“It’s a good thing,” reacted Alain Fontaine, president of the French association of master restaurateurs (AFMR), in reaction to the minister’s statements. Only 7,000 of the 175,000 restaurateurs in France offer entirely home-made dishes, the chef estimated at Franceinfo. The obligation to report industrial dishes will, according to him, “reassure customers” and “make French agriculture work”. As the 2024 Olympic Games approach, “It is important for tourists and ordinary customers to know what they are going to eat, if it is homemade,” believes Alain Fontaine.