Insurance table d'hote in France

[aduggan]

Can you give me some advice please. We went to our insurance company and asked about insurance for the chambre d'hote, they were fine about the chambre d'hote but didnt have a clue about the table d'hote, seemed to think that I may need to go on courses etc. yikes!! What was your experience with this, need to go back but could do with some ammunition from experienced people like yourselves when I do.

[Alan Knighting]

Can you give me some advice please. We went to our insurance company and asked about insurance for the chambre d'hote, they were fine about the chambre d'hote but didnt have a clue about the table d'hote, seemed to think that I may need to go on courses etc. yikes!! What was your experience with this, need to go back but could do with some ammunition from experienced people like yourselves when I do.

I must admit I am as confused as is your insurance company.

"Table d'hôte" is simply a way of expressing a menu, as is "a la carte".

Fluffy

[la vache!]

My understanding is that chambre d'hote is just the rental of rooms and breakfast, whereas table d'hote is when you cook an evening meal and sit down and eat it with your guests. Maybe the insurance company meant you had to go on a cooking course as I believe you have to cook a meal traditional French style in this case. I think you also need more insurance for things like food poisoning etc.

[aduggan]

Yes La Vache is right. It means that they eat a meal with us at our table. Does anyone currently provide this and how did you go about getting insurance. How much extra was it, did you need any hygiene certificates etc.

[Ju]

We have spoken to the prefecture in the past, and apparently there is no regulation as long as you stick to the definition of table d'hote. If you did need any certification then it is the vetinary service who does this.

You will probably need a licence if you are to sell alcohol. Just go along to the duanes and they will give you one. I think it cost us about 10 Euros.

Ju

[Alan Knighting]

My reading of it is:-

“B&B� is the provision of a room and breakfast.

“Chambre d'Hôte� is the additional provision of an evening meal – as you say it means that they eat a meal with us at our table.

“Table d'Hôte� is nothing more than a menu option.

Have I got it wrong?

Fluffy

[la vache!]

My reading of it is:-

“B&B� is the provision of a room and breakfast.

“Chambre d'Hôte� is the additional provision of an evening meal – as you say it means that they eat a meal with us at our table.

“Table d'Hôte� is nothing more than a menu option.

Have I got it wrong?

Fluffy

Yes, although you are right in that a table d'hote (fixed) option menu exists in a lot of restos, but in this instance, it is as I described for establishments offering board and lodging. B&B is

[Alan Knighting]

This Thread is running in two sections of the Forum. Here and in "France". Confusing isn't it?

For what it's worth my latest reply in "France" was:-

The regulations for "table d'hôte" are as follows:

il faut que le repas soit pris à la même table que la famille, qu'il n'y ait pas plus de clients que l'hôte ne peut en héberger, que le menu soit unique, qu'il soit fabriqué avec des produits locaux n'ayant subi aucune industrialisation.

ie that you must eat at the same table as the family, that the only customers are those staying in the chambre d'hotes that the menu is fixed and that local products are used which have not been subject to any industrialisation.

Provided you stick to this than your chambre d'hotes insurance should cover you.

I am sorry to have to disagree but I think "Chambre d'Hôte" and "Table d'Hôte" are being confused as meaning the same thing but I don't think they do. I think when you quote regulations for "Table d'Hôte" you are actually quoting regulations for "Chambre d'Hôte".

"Chambre d'Hôte" is a form of letting whereas "Table d'Hôte" is a form of menu.

Menu options, in a restaurant or a "Chambre d'Hôte" can be:-

a la carte - having unlimited choices with a separate price for each item.

table d'hôte - a menu offering a complete meal with limited choices at a fixed price.

prix fixé - a menu listing fixed meals at fixed prices.

You may say the difference doesn’t matter but I think it does. I think it explains why insurers were completely confused when asked for insurance in respect of “table d'hôte�.

Fluffy

[Nessie]

My understanding is that chambre d'hote is just the rental of rooms and breakfast, whereas table d'hote is when you cook an evening meal and sit down and eat it with your guests.

That is correct, some chambre d'hote offer table d'hote . As it happens we do.

You need a licence to serve any drink , not just alcohol, coffee tea orange juice or even water for breakfast a licence is needed, in our dept we are not charge however some do. You need to go along to duanes and complete a couple of forms. My licence allows me to to offer wine with the evening meal but the cost must be included in the price of the evening meal, i cant charge extra for the bottle.However there are different type that you can applly for.

Insurance we took our out with the CA bank to cover Table d hote, the insurance covers you in case a guest gets food poisoning and makes any claim , think the cover is about 40 euro per year.

Table d hote in the true meaning means to eat with the family, no choice of menue and all you eat together. If you are graded with GDF then they will try to impose this.We are graded with Clevacances and they do not impose this ruling. We find however if we have French guests then they normally expect us to all eat together, however the english are not normally prepared for this so if we have english guests staying we dont normally eat with them unless its been agreed before hand. The only time that i have had to impose this was when we had both english and french and the french streesed that we should all eat together so i just explained to the english couple and said if they prefered not to then we could booked them into a local restaurant, however they joined in and had a great evening were up to 1am.

[Nessie]

Table d hote is also a fixed menu, however we always ask guests if there is anything they do not eat and we offer a choice of 2 3 or 4 courses, but do not give them a choice of the meal, it depends on what looks good at the market on the day

[guest 4]

Sounds very complicated, I had no idea all these regs existed.

So if I wanted to book your place and wanted evening meals, because of regulations, I have to eat with all other guests as well as the owners? Or can we take it in turns?

Would that mean the owners have to eat several times each night? (I would get very fat if I were the owner )

Ruth

[Hells Bells]

We have stayed in a few places, and most ate with us, but not all. One place near Calais served excellent food and really good wine, and we had a very attentive 'waiter' on hand all evening. The meal in Champagne was left ready on the table, and dessert and cheese on the sideboard to help ourselves.

[Stu]

We serve table d'hote twice weekly for up to 40 guests in season and we eat with them. There's no addition to the insurance with our company (MAAF) and we've not been asked to sit extra cookery classes etc.

We're quite visible too when we have meals as we tend to eat al fresco, well at least to our neighbours who pass us on our lane and no-one's said anything to us about it except bon chance!

Don't worry too much Amanda. Go along to your local Maireie and ask their advice if you feel you have to.

[Hells Bells]

The places we have been to had long communal tables, and the owners and all the guests taking the evening meal all sat down together at the same time, unless they were arriving late. On one occasion, we did feel a little excluded as everyone else was French and we were sitting at a table on our own. I think they were also worried we wouldn't like the food, and would feel excluded from a conversation, so sat us by ourselves so we could talk to each other undisturbed. After the first evening, we joined the other guests though, and hubby was always offered second helpings.

[Nessie]

, seemed to think that I may need to go on courses etc. .

Thats total rubbish, guests are staying with family,and as such should be treated like family ( or mabe not depending on your family ) its how the whole set up came about when farmers wives offered bed and breakfast to get an extra income. You also dont need anything special in the kitchen. Of course you can only supply table d hote to the the guests that you have staying, i know some who dont but you could get nto trouble if you do. I have a group coming next month which i can only accomadate 4 out of the 8 and they wanted evening meal but i can only supply the meal for the 4 that are staying with me. To supply the other 4 would mean a different set of rules and a different licence also the kitchen would then have to meet restante standards