“I have never asked for a cent from the municipality. And I do not intend to start doing so. I am rather the one who pays for work in the places in which I am going to operate. I finance, I operate, and the The fruit of my work allows, in the best case scenario, profitability.”
Nîmes entrepreneur Denis Allegrini at the head of The Social Club, a hotel group based in Nîmes, since 2019, is teeming with projects with his partners Audrey and Christophe Chalvidal. Before telling us more, he takes stock for Objectif Gard on the results of the summer season. Interview.
Objectif Gard: how was the summer season in your establishments?
Denis Allegrini: The year 2023 was rather good in terms of activity. On the other hand, 2024 is not a year that will go down in history for several reasons. The first is unfortunately a meteorological question. We had a very rainy spring. We were unlucky with weekends that were either cloudy, rainy or windy. Furthermore, 2024 is marked by two major news events linked to political news and sports news. First the political news, which left us in a dynamic of gloom, where we didn’t really know where to go. We were caught on the wrong foot of this famous dissolution. And all this happens in the middle of an economic context that is not glorious. And then the two sporting competitions, the Euro football and the Olympic Games in Paris.
In August, after the Olympic Games in Paris, did activity resume?
The Olympic Games were very strong in terms of influence for France. We erased a little bit of the pre-season episode and from the end of the Olympic Games, in fact, that allowed us to have a good month of August. But we also hoped to have a favorable start to the Indian summer and ultimately, it was particularly cold during the Feria. I think it will not be a great year in terms of activity. Are there still recruitment difficulties in the world of catering and hospitality?
We have recruitment difficulties, but all companies have recruitment difficulties. For us, it’s a little more accentuated because the perception around the arduousness of the work, of the activity in the evenings and weekends weighs. I think that our professions were able to adapt after COVID, we worked a lot on the attractiveness of our professions, and this passion profession is coming back, we feel it. There are many young people apprenticed in hotel schools. Demand is very strong this fall. Including among adults undergoing professional reorientation in our sector of activity. Our profession is also a profession in which we pay well, we have good remuneration, you can progress very quickly, you have responsibilities, it is an activity which is in contact with customers. All this therefore suggests that we are heading towards better days in terms of recruitment.
What interested you in Simon Casas’ project to partner with him as part of the next public service delegation from the City of Nîmes?
I am an actor of the Nîmes feria, an event actor since the beginnings of my entrepreneurship. I think I’m starting with maybe 40 or 45 ferias to understand its contours a little. But it’s Simon Casas who really appeals to me. In reality, I relate more to the person, who is, for me, an exceptional boy. He is a Nîmes who shines throughout the world. It is one of the three or four major players in world bullfighting. We are lucky that he is from Nîmes, he has an exciting life. He’s a boy I admire a lot. I responded favorably to his wish to support him, especially in hospitality and in the management of structures of this size… Let things be clear, I will never get involved in the cartels, I do not have the credit professional for that matter. Bullfighting is part of my identity. You know how attached I am to the identity of Gard, to the identity of Nîmes, to the identity of my territory. He felt that I had professional abilities that could be of benefit to Nîmes, but also to elsewhere. I am not associating myself with Simon Casas only for the Nîmes file, I am associating myself with Simon Casas quite simply. So, I think if the future is favorable to us, the story with Simon Casas begins.
A final word on a partnership project with Edeis as part of the rehabilitation of Maison Saurel in Nîmes. Are you the one who will be at the head of the future restaurant?
It was Edeis who offered to help me carry out this restoration project with my teams. We will put at their service what we know how to do: our work and our ability to deploy. However, I insist on one point: it is not the city of Nîmes which is investing in me creating this restaurant. I have been an operator in the city for 20 years. I have never asked the municipality for a cent. And I don’t intend to start doing it. Rather, I am the one who pays for work in the places in which I will operate. I finance, I operate, and the fruit of my work allows, in the best case scenario, profitability. And I intend to have the same philosophy at Maison Saurel at Jardins de la Fontaine.
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