In Poor Margins of Paris, New Recipe for Success Is Local

In Poor Margins of Paris, New Recipe for Success Is Local nyti.ms/128U1It

“Look at us — we’re Moroccans selling Japanese sushi to the French,” Mr. Benamer, now married with a child, said on a recent weekend, sitting in his Champs-Élysées restaurant beneath a wall covered with Warhol-style images of a geisha. “If we had allowed ourselves to be stigmatized, France would lose out — on good sushi, yes, but also on the hundreds of jobs we are creating.”

Mourad Benamer founded Eat Sushi, a chain of sushi restaurants. (Bruno Levy)

Mon Dieu! Fast Food Now Rules In France

Mon Dieu! Fast Food Now Rules In France n.pr/ZgHssG via @nprnews

When it comes to culinary matters, France, in many minds, is synonymous with fine dining. So it might surprise you that, for the first time, sales at fast food chains have overtaken those at traditional restaurants in the country that gave us the word gastronomie.

That's according to an annual survey of consumer spending, traffic and other restaurant data conducted by Gira Conseil, a food consultancy firm. The latest survey, to be released in May, found that fast food chains now account for 54 percent of all restaurant sales in France.

Fast times on the Champs-Elysees: People walk past a McDonald's on one of Paris' most storied avenues. But it's not just McD's that has caught French interest: Fast food now accounts for the majority of restaurant spending in the country. (Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images)

Fleur Pellerin, First French Government Minister of Asian Extraction, Pushes France Onto the Digital Stage

Fleur Pellerin, First French Government Minister of Asian Extraction, Pushes France Onto the Digital Stage nyti.ms/UQF0Hb

Fleur Pellerin, a deputy minister, is a central figure in President François Hollande's drive for French "digital sovereignty." (Thibault Camus/Associated Press)