the essential
While the film “Un p’tit truc en plus” directed by Artus has just surpassed the 7 million spectator mark, becoming the biggest success of French cinema since the Covid crisis; a restaurant continues its merry way, in Mulhouse, it also puts people with disabilities in the spotlight and it too is called… “A little extra thing”.
Only one letter separates them. With or without an apostrophe, the Alsatian restaurant, just like Artus’ film, highlights this “little extra something” that its employees have. This extra thing is the extra chromosome that people with Down syndrome have, and perhaps also the wide smile they display when welcoming restaurant customers.
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Has Artus ever enjoyed a lunch at “Ptit truc en plus”? The story does not say. But the successful film and the restaurant have in common this desire to bring visibility to people with disabilities. Hero of a film, guests of honor of the Cannes festival on one side, waiter, cook, employees “like the others” on the other, all prove that people with disabilities have their place on the poster .
“No filter!”
“A little extra thing” employs five part-time employees with Down syndrome, supported by several volunteers, including Martine Grosz. This 66-year-old retiree praises the interpersonal qualities of her “teammates”: “They are without filter, it’s spontaneous: it feels really good, really.” And customers also seem to enjoy the ambiance of the restaurant. “I come regularly. It’s good, it’s nice, it’s pleasant,” Karine Bechler confides to AFP. Glass of white wine in hand, she says it’s “very important” that places like this exist. “It creates inclusion in society,” she rejoices.
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It was in Nantes that the restaurant’s co-founder found inspiration. “When I saw all the emotions that passed […]the customers who were super caring […]I said to myself that it would be really nice if we did that at home,” explains the 41-year-old chef.
And the recent success of Artus’ film can only confirm the French’s attachment to people with “a little something extra”. Tom Cardoso, the general director of the Mulhouse Rehabilitation Center (CRM) and co-founder of the restaurant, tried several times to contact the film team, in vain. “A little wink, that would be nice,” smiles Aurélie Bernard, who would like “a meeting or even an exchange […] That way, they can tell us why they chose this name for this film!”
