The daily diary of a wandering restaurateur in Europe
July 27 - Paris
A cloudy day in Paris with intermittent rain showers . . . rather felt like home for us Seattle-ites! The city has a deep history, of course, but after awhile all cities start to feel the same. We wandered most of the day, took a tour on the Seine and got around to a lot of the must-see places.
I was surprised at the number of restaurants. The whole city is like a big food court! In one section that was literally what it looked like - narrow passageways with restaurant after restaurant down both sides selling into the street! How you would go about setting yourself apart here is a mystery to me. We did go by Tour d'Argent on the boat tour - probably as close as I will ever come to the temple of haute cuisine!
I saw two operations that struck me as unusually interesting, however. One was the Hippo Citroen Grill, a restaurant in the back of a car dealership on the Champs Elysees! We didn't eat there but it made me wonder what sort of unconventional locations we have just never considered.
For a photo of the place, click here.
We also wandered into Quick, a national fast food chain in France. I was impressed! The menu was of the sort we are used to seeing in the US but the interior package was far above any quick service operation I have ever seen. They were using video extensively -- one system for entertainment (sports clips, movie trailers) and one to promote specials. The seating was divided into small, rather private sections and there was even a couch to relax on! Some American number-cruncher would take a look and say it was a terribly inefficient use of space, but I am not so sure. Certainly it was working and my guess is they didn't get as big as they are by making bad business moves.
For photos of Quick, click here.
For the travelogue photos, click here.
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created 7/28/98