TRAYS HELD ALOFT

Revival of Waiters’ Race in Paris celebrates an unsung profession that has fallen on hard times

IN 1914 ON Bastille Day, waiters in Paris left their cafes and restaurants to participate in an eight-km long race. Sporting long aprons and jaunty bow ties that contrasted with crisp white shirts and shiny black shoes, they swerved and jostled while carrying, each, a wooden tray laden with a bottle and three glasses. Nothing could be spilled. Parisian cafés had by then built a formidable reputation, but the garcons (literally “boys”) regularly earned bad press for being moody, and even rude. The event celebrated the dexterity required in running around with a tray in hand, while also remembering the orders of 10 patrons. In less than two decades, the idea crossed French boundaries and by the 1960s, this demonstration of the waiter’s skills ceased to be a male preserve. In Scandinavia, the race takes place on cruise ships and on sandy beaches in Spain. There are Chinese, Australian and Argentinian versions as well. But in Paris, the lack of sponsors hurt the Course des Garçons de Café — it was in 2011 that the last such race took place.

As the French capital gets ready to host the Olympics, the city authorities are keen to showcase the bistros and cafés that are as integral to Paris’s culture as the Louvre or the Eiffel Tower. On Sunday, 200 waiters slalomed the streets of Central Paris holding aloft trays loaded with croissants, coffee cups and glasses filled with water. As a concession to modern dressing habits, they were allowed to wear sneakers. With the dismissive garçon rarely used today, the race was rechristened Course des Cafés, or cafes race.

Like in most parts of the world, the post-covid pandemic slump has pushed French eateries to do things differently. Many serve only takeaway orders. Working conditions are tougher than they earlier were for waiters. Parisian authorities have projected the revival of the iconic race as a sign of change. The question is: Will they keep up the commitment once the Olympics are over?