Get ready! Sunday, March 24, 2024 at 10am, the forecourt of the Paris City Hall will host an unusual event: the Coffee Race. More than a hundred years after its creation – back then it was called “the café waiters’ race” – this event, both sporty and popular, renews the tradition by focusing on two current topics: the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the ecological transition. “A few months before the start of the Olympic Games, which should significantly boost the café, restaurant and brewery sector, this event, centered around sports, sets the tone,” rejoices Nicolas Bonnet, Deputy Mayor of Paris in charge of issues related to commerce, craftsmanship, liberal professions, arts and fashion.
Over 10 years after its last edition, the combined efforts of the City of Paris, Eau de Paris, and their partners from the Union of Hotel and Restaurant Trades of Paris Île-de-France (UMIH) and the Grouping of Hotels & Restaurants of France Paris Île-de-France (GHR) have brought back this emblematic event highlighting the excellence of French service. The challenge for the waiters and waitresses? To walk a two-kilometer loop as quickly as possible, carrying a tray with a glass of tap water, a coffee, and a croissant without spilling its contents.
A simple gesture to fight against single-use plastics
At the dawn of the first “zero single-use plastic” Olympic and Paralympic Games, the City of Paris and Eau de Paris also aim, through this race, to promote tap water consumption to combat plastic pollution. Eau de Paris, a public company responsible for the daily production and distribution of water to three million users, has been multiplying initiatives in this direction for several years. The stakes are high: according to ADEME, the French consume 9.3 billion liters of bottled water each year and 25 million plastic bottles are thrown away every day. “Drinking water from Paris is the simple gesture we can adopt daily to reduce plastic pollution,” explains Dan Lert, Deputy Mayor of Paris in charge of ecological transition, climate plan, water, and energy, and President of Eau de Paris.
To successfully carry out this ambitious initiative, Parisian cafés and restaurants are valuable allies. They are firmly committed to promoting tap water, which is their main raw material: it can be found in the complimentary water pitchers on tables, as well as in the syrups, teas, or coffees served in the 12,000 establishments in the capital. “The Coffee Race gives us the opportunity to honor Paris’ heritage, but also the vital resource of all its cafes: its drinking water, a common good that we must defend,” rejoices Nicolas Bonnet. Some of them have integrated the “Here I Choose Paris Water” program, which allows customers to fill their bottles for free or request a glass of water without the obligation to consume. An initiative developed by Eau de Paris to complement the network of 1200 drinking fountains in the capital.
Paris Water, quality water at the fairest price
In addition to its ecological qualities, Paris water has more than one asset to showcase. Naturally rich in calcium and magnesium, it undergoes rigorous controls from the source to the tap: one million measurements are taken each year! It meets the needs of all users, from infants to the elderly, all at the fairest price: “Without plastic waste, Paris water is also up to two hundred times cheaper than bottled water,” adds Dan Lert.
On March 24, come support your favorite waiters and waitresses and take part in the activities at the village set up for the occasion on the forecourt of the City Hall by the event’s partners.
Thank you to our partners: the Union of Hotel and Restaurant Trades of Paris Île-de-France (UMIH), the Grouping of Hotels & Restaurants of France Paris Île-de-France (GHR), Les Cafés Richard, La Maison Raymond, The Employers’ Union of Bakers of Greater Paris, La Maison Alain Milliat, My Little Paris, BFM Paris Île-de-France, Le Parisien.
Photo/visual credit: Jean-Michel Tixier / Talkie Walkie
