When it comes time to do their summer accounts, several small local restaurateurs are angry with the Nyon festival. They criticize it for making them increasingly bear the cost of inflation, to the point that some have decided to give up.
“It’s abuse,” criticizes a restaurateur who has run a food stand at Paléo for 20 years, interviewed by RTS. Like several colleagues, she denounces a sharp deterioration in working conditions and remuneration since Covid-19. According to various accounts consulted by the RTS, Paléo took up to 45% of their turnover this summer.
The festival, however, ensures that it charges a mandatory fee of only 25%, like most festivals in Switzerland. According to Paléo, additional costs – water, electricity, tent, flooring, transaction costs inherent to cashless payment, compostable dishes – are optional.
According to restaurateurs, however, these services are essential and much more expensive at Paléo than elsewhere. Some therefore requested action from the festival, without success. So they won’t come back next year.
Fewer food stalls from 2025
The food and beverage director of Paléo, Céline Lavergnat, assures that she cares about the satisfaction of restaurateurs, whose loyalty rate is high. Interviewed in La Matinale de la RTS on Monday, she recalls that the economic situation is difficult for everyone, but she admits that the competition is perhaps too great. The festival will therefore reduce the number of stands on its grounds from next year to ensure greater income for restaurateurs.
>> Listen to the interview with Céline Lavergnat:
Paléo does not charge tens of thousands of francs for “entrance fees” to these stands, as is sometimes done in other events, Céline Lavergnat further emphasizes. According to her, the model chosen by the Nyon festival (a percentage of turnover) allows restaurateurs to earn money even in bad weather.
“It’s a free market,” recalls Gilles Meystre, president of GastroVaud. For him, it is now a question of verifying “whether the increase in prices is proportional to inflation or whether inflation serves as a pretext”. According to him, it is also the responsibility of the public authorities which is engaged.
>> Listen to the opinion of the president of GastroVaud:
Radio subject: Charlotte Frossard
Adaptation web: Julie Liardet
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