10AM – Rue Réaumur, Métro Sentier
The Salad Project France is already beginning to look like quite a statement.
Located on Rue Réaumur, just a short walk from Métro Sentier, the new salad bar has landed in a particularly lively part of Paris. There are finance buildings nearby, a handful of restaurants, bistros, boulangeries and patisseries. And, two blocks away, another salad bar. But, on my personal 1-to-10 coolness scale, I would give that one a generous 2.
The Salad Project store gets an 11.
A few “curieux” have already started drifting past, taking discreet looks at this very loud-looking beast. The windows are enormous and fully folded open, making the restaurant feel almost entirely open to the street. It has its advantages. The very cool pop-disco décor can be seen from a distance, while the roaring afro-electro soundtrack can be heard from outside.
There is, however, one potential downside: the non-smokers may not be quite as enthusiastic about the open-window concept.
Qui?, the Parisians ask. Winter is around the corner, and summers have been the bane of Paris, but “Pourquoi pas?”
Inside, ingredients are still arriving and being organised. There is, unsurprisingly, quite a lot of “Fromage”. I ask what I can help with, and together, we establish the priorities: AMEX payments, Ticket Restaurant payments and a KDS not behaving quite as it should. The KDS issue is fixed almost immediately. The iPad Time/Date settings were simply set to the wrong date.
I think to myself that I hope the rest of the day is going to be that easy.
11:15AM – The morning briefing
The team gathers.
Kilian, Country Manager for France, gives clear instructions to the serving staff. The sauce must be mixed into the salad unless the customer specifically asks for it separately. The team should ask whether the customer wants their dressing “light” or “medium”, not “tell me when” or “is that much okay?” The message is clear: consistency matters. Everything has to be the same across the stores, even when those stores happen to be located… in another country.
There is plenty of English text throughout the restaurant. Personally, I find some of it rather “risqué”. But then again, I left France 13 years ago. Perhaps the public has changed. Perhaps they want something a little more “nouveau”.
11:30AM – The queue begins
Slowly at first, then suddenly, there is a genuine crowd. From the outside, one could almost think a protest is taking place. Inside, the team is taking orders and serving customers.
1:13PM – Power cut
The music stops.
The lights go off.
And, naturally, a few customers begin singing “Joyeux anniversaire”. Because that’s what you do in France when the lights go out, and the music stops.
Florian takes matters into his own hands and addresses a queue of approximately 120 people: “Please bear with us. We shall soon be able to serve you. We are really sorry about this…”
Then, almost as quickly as it disappeared, the power comes back.
A round of applause follows.
The entire incident has lasted less than a minute.
The stress level, however, has been considerably higher.
And so we continue.
Taking orders.
Serving orders.
Taking orders.
Serving orders.
At some point, I escape to the loo.
This may be the prettiest toilet I have ever seen.
It is shaped like the P in Salad Project.
I return to the floor and attempt some test Click & Collect orders.
I manage to place one using GPay.
I eat my delicious Caesar Salad, and from what I can hear from the other customers, I’m not the only one who finds it delicious.
3:00PM – the orders begin to slow down
The queue disappears.
The restaurant finally has a chance to breathe.
And when I thought I could start addressing a few points with Kilian, a ‘customer’ visibly under the influence starts shouting and insulting the staff.
The police are called.
And, unfortunately, this is where my story ends.
Not just because the situation was resolved.
But because I had a Eurostar to catch.
Perhaps someone else can write the next chapter.
The numbers
The first day produced some pretty impressive numbers:
- €9,587.16 — daily turnover after discounts
- 528 — total orders
- €16.52 — ATV
Not bad for day one.
Et Voilà.
A new market, a new country, a new restaurant and one very long launch day.
There were payment issues, a power cut, a queue of 120 people, Click & Collect battle, a suspiciously beautiful toilet, some police activity and, somewhere in the middle of all of that, 528 orders were served.
Not a bad day at the office.
Bienvenue en France, TSP. 🇫🇷