After increasing wages by 30%, the boss of the Grands Buffets indexes them to inflation

It is unlikely that the employees of the Grands buffets, in Narbonne (Aude), will go on strike. Because their boss, Louis Privat, who founded this ultra-popular all-you-can-eat restaurant in 1989, particularly pampers them. After increasing wages by 30% at the start of the year, he indexed them to inflation a few days ago. “The principle that we have set is that there is never a loss of purchasing power for our employees, explains the entrepreneur from Aude to 20 minutes. It is the responsibility of the company to ensure that the salary is consolidated, in terms of purchasing power. »

During the Covid-19 crisis, when his restaurant was closed, Louis Privat had thus compensated for state aid [84 % des salaires], so that its employees are paid 100%. Well, he’s not the only one. But at the Grands Buffets, the teams did not lose their profit-sharing bonuses either, and the servers were even entitled to compensation for the loss of their tips. The restaurant, when it was able to reopen, had “debts”, recognizes Louis Privat, “but I knew that we would not have any worries about restarting. I was not worried about the economic model of the Grands buffets. »

“If it ever lasts, we will face it”

It was last January that Louis Privat made the headlines: to deal with the crisis, he decided to increase his employees by an average of 30%, in the form of a profit-sharing scheme. Depending on the difficulty of their tasks, each received between 300 and 900 euros more each month. New tour de force, these last days. At the beginning of October, the employees were increased a little more: their salaries were indexed to the rate of inflation observed in France over the last nine months. “We had not made a 30% wage increase a few months earlier for it to be nibbled away” by the sudden rise in prices, notes Louis Privat. “If it ever lasts, we will face it. Every six months, salaries will be readjusted according to the increase in the cost of living. And if ever there was any deflation, there is no question, for Louis Privat, to touch it. Wages would remain at the level that precedes the unlikely drop in prices.

But how do the Grands buffets manage to make so much effort on salaries? By raising prices. “It was not on our margins that we had to” encroach, explains Louis Privat. “Because they are not sufficient, they are not very important, our quality/price ratio is exceptional. These increases had to be entirely financed by the customers, who had to accept it. For this, we asked people who had already booked [environ 150.000 !], to ask them if the increase in the price of the meal bothered them, explaining to them why we were increasing it. They were free to cancel. There was no cancellation. There was even an increase in reservations over this period. Thus, the menu, a hundred francs in the 1990s, was 47 euros a few months ago, and has risen to 52.90 euros today.

A mountain of resumes

Unsurprisingly, the Grand Buffets policy has had an effect on applications. By June, the restaurant had received a mountain of resumes. “1,500! exclaims the restaurateur. Raising prices and wages is even, for Louis Privat, the only solution to save the restaurant industry, by attracting labor.

“How do you expect young people to be motivated when they are told that they will earn 2% more than the Smic, and that they will sacrifice their evenings, their weekends and their holidays? They will never come! To avoid putting his colleagues in trouble, Louis Privat refrains, however, from poaching employees who are already engaged elsewhere. “I have no intention of doing my shopping with my colleagues,” notes the entrepreneur from Narbonne. I only consider applications if people are free. We have turned down a lot of applicants lately for this reason. »