ESCP ALUMNI magazine - Special Issue 2022 - 51

Career ❙ Story
very poor, especially those who were hit
by the COVID-19 pandemic. " During the
first lockdown, many food aid associations were
on pause, but poor people still needed them, "
explains Louis. " We heard of that and, with
help from our partners, we could cook meals
and adjust them to refugees. I mean, when a
Syrian refugee receives a camembert cheese, he
may not 'understand' and not eat it. We make
food depending on people's tastes and cultures. "
Today, Food Sweet Food cooks 200 meals a
day and will soon make more. " We are going
to open a restaurant in Paris' 14th
district. There
migrants coming from Syria and Afghanistan,
among others, " says Marine. " We were deeply
moved, due to the people we met abroad, to the
fact that my own grandfather was a refugee,
and to the fact that we had had a Guinean
refugee as a flatmate for a while. We had to
do something. " They thought they could use
their association to host events and create
programmes to help refugees. Louis: " In
the media, migrants were pitifully described.
These people were fleeing their countries and
were dehumanised whereas there were many
talented, skilful, and knowledgeable people
among them. They had a lot to offer to our
country. "
The first - and major - step was to host the
Refugee Food Festival to promote refugee
cooks. The first edition was sponsored
by the UNHCR (United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees) and took
place in Paris in June 2016. Eleven restaurant
owners let Syrian, Iranian, Indian, or
Ivorian refugee chefs take over and change
the menu for the occasion. It was a way to
introduce people to exotic and sometimes
unknown types of cuisine, but also to use
them as an integration path as food " is a
universal thing; it creates an immediate bond
between people " according to Marine. It was a
hit. " We did not expect the first edition to work
so well. In the following days and week, we
had calls from elsewhere in France and Europe
asking: 'Come and host it here.' " So, in
2017, the Refugee Food Festival took place
in 12 cities, including Rome, Amsterdam,
Athens and Madrid. 80 restaurants were
involved.
Trainings and food aids
Five years after the association was created,
Louis and Marine have done incredible
ESCP Alumni Magazine Special issue ❙ 2022
❙ 51
things. Besides the five editions of the
Refugee Food Festival and La Résidence,
which works very well, the association
relies on three other major social-oriented
branches which complete each other. There
is a catering service for businesses; it helps
the refugee cooks be creative and get the
best out of their traditional cuisine. There
are also cooking trainings to help refugees
become commis chefs (the SESAME programme)
or work in institutional catering
(the TOURNESOL programme). " They are
six-month training sessions, " explains Marine.
" There are cooking classes of course, but also
job-oriented French classes. It was important
for us to give these people in reintegration the
keys to work in a French kitchen. By 2022,
280 people will be trained and ready to work. "
Finally, over the next few months, they
will improve their food aids programme.
On another stall in La Résidence, in
Ground Control, Refugee Food cooks and
volunteers are preparing meals for the
will be kitchens and a dining room. We will be
able to serve more than 1,000 people every day. "
A hybrid business model
But how are these projects, as well as overall
and specific spendings, funded? Marine and
Louis talk about a " hybrid business model "
mainly based on sponsorship. " Basically, one
third comes from public funding, i.e., subsidies;
one third comes from private funding; one third
comes from donation and self-funding. " In 2018,
they started a simplified joint-stock company;
they transferred the benefits to the
association and have hired 16 employees
(6 for the association, 10 for the company).
Though it looks like a success-story, they
both confess they don't feel " proud " of all
they have done. " We are so caught up in it
that we have lost perspective, " says Marine.
" But when we see that some people we have
helped, like Nabil Attar, Magda Gegenava or
Mohammad Elkhaldy, have opened their own
restaurants, yeah, we realise it is a great adventure.
We will see it as a victory only if we can
change the mentality regarding refugees. "
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©Mahka Eslami
©Mahka Eslami
ESCP ALUMNI magazine - Special Issue 2022

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