Paris gets first meat vending machine
Print Edition
WITH their beloved baguette already available 24 hours a day, it seems only logical that Parisians can now get the Bayonne ham and Basque pate that goes so well with the bread from the first meat vending machine installed in the French capital.
In a city filled with small shops where long lunches remain a crucial part of the French “art de vivre,” the gleaming red machine set up on the lively Rue de Charonne in eastern Paris seems a bit incongruous.
The area has at least two dozen butcher’s shops and no shortage of meat, but that didn’t deter the owners of one of those shops, Florence and Michel Pouzol of “L’ami Txulette,” from investing 40,000 euros (US$45,000) to set up their project, selling vacuum-packed meat from the refrigerated machine.
“We’re closed two days: Sundays and Mondays,” Florence Pouzol said. “So this is to cater for customers over the weekend. ... The idea was also to serve people after the shop’s closing hours. We close at 8pm but some people leave work very late and find the shop closed when they walk past it.”
L’ami Txulette specializes in products from the Basque Country. From their machine, which takes cash or credit cards, customers can also get a large choice of traditional delicatessen including duck confit and beef carpaccio. There are also faux-filet steaks on display, priced at 34 euros per kilogram. On average, the products are 20 euro cents more expensive than those sold inside the shop.
A majority of shops remain closed on Sundays in France, but the Pouzols are confident that France is changing fast and so are their customers’ habits.
But not all residents, especially the older ones, seem ready to stop running errands at their favorite shop and switch to the meat dispenser.
While baguette dispensers have enjoyed success across France over the past five years, the meat vending machines business remains in in the embryonic stage in France. The first machine was installed three years ago in the small western town of Garat by a butcher who set it up outside a bar.
According to the bar owner, it adds extra comfort in an area lacking services.
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