Staff Meal

 In France the staff meal is primordial because of the number of stagiaires working in the Star Michelin restaurants who work for free to learn the best techniques.  Although the restaurants cannot afford to pay them, they do give the stagier a place to stay, delicious food and the best experience ever. They prepare two staff meals each day, one before lunch service and one before dinner service. A typical staff meal usually served in France would include salad, bread, meat, fish, water, wine, cheese and some charcouterie and some dessert. It gives an opportunity for everyone to sit down as a family and converse with the other staff to get to know them better and also so that people are not hungry during service. In North America a lot of the time if there is a staff meal, it is a mix and match of leftover food or ingredients that need to be used up that cannot be used on the menu.  People eat standing around and if there is no staff meal at all, the staff tend to pick on the food left on customers’ plates while they are clearing tables, or are constantly eating bread during service which distracts them from concentrating 100 % on their job.
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