French catering unions have admitted that hospitality staff in French bars and restaurants are “surly, service-slow and hygiene horrendous”.
According to The Guardian newspaper, Andre Dugoin, president of the catering industry’s UMIH union, customers are right to complain of a “poor or non-existent welcome, an excessively long wait, and a lack of basic courtesy and reactivity”.
He reportedly said that while the number of cafes in France has declined 50 per cent since 1990, there have been an increasing number of complaints over that time. He is quoted as saying: “We have to respond to criticism or the haemorrhage will simply continue.”
The Guardian also quotes a spokesman for the National Union of Hotel-Restaurants as saying that more training is needed for hospitality staff in France.
He added: “All too often, the welcome extended to customers does not even reach the basic standards required of a supermarket check-out girl: smile, bonjour monsieur / madame.”
The industry is now reportedly drawing up a list of criteria on which catering establishments should be judged, while independent inspectors will be tasked with visiting thousands of establishments every year to check if standards are getting any better.
Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad Ltd
