in Marseille, the restaurant at Beaumettes prison has been a great success for a year

For a little over a year, 3,500 customers have had lunch at “Beaux Mets”, the restaurant opened in Baumettes prison and in which the service and cooking are provided by inmates.

You enter the “Beaux Mets” through a large red gate. Guided by Nathalie, the supervisor, the clients, all of whom have no criminal records, put down their phones and go through the X-ray detectors: “It’s like the airport after all.” The restaurant is on the second floor of an old stone building. A little over a year ago, this unique restaurant in France opened, located inside a prison.

Between the walls of Baumettes in Marseille, the establishment “Les Beaux Mets” welcomes customers from outside every midday of the week, upon reservation. These are inmates, who prepare for their release, who provide service and cooking. Since its creation, this place of reintegration has been a great success.

“They must have a presence”

In the restaurant, the windows do not have bars. The colors are warm, the inmates are in shirts. In total, there are seven of them busy, in the dining room or in the kitchen, under the direction of chef Sandrine Sollier: “When they’re here, it’s like an outside restaurant or like an outside job. They have to speak and carry themselves properly, not be nonchalant and have a presence.”

“For the most part, they’ve been locked up for a long time, they don’t always have the codes. They’re still clerks, like on the outside, except that we’re really starting from zero. For some, they’re not been in the kitchen before.”

Sandrine Sollier, chef

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This is the case for Leila, 26 years old, she finishes a puree with mint oil: “When we arrive from detention, we really see that it’s a real restaurant. For us, it’s strange as detainees to see windows without bars, etc. So yes, it brings us closer to reality, to getting out , normal life…”

“A springboard to employment”

At the bar, Fateh, 19, makes cocktails – without alcohol, because it is prohibited in prison: “It’s going pretty well. Contact with people, customers, their smiles, all that…” Fakri, 20, agrees. He, who dreams of being a waiter when he gets out of his cell, says he appreciates the kindness of customers: “We’re not bad guys. That encourages me!”

“The vocation of the restaurant is to be a springboard towards employment and to find a place in societyexplains Carole Guillerm, restaurant manager for the Festin association. We accompanied 41 detained people. Many have found employment or training after leaving detention, we support them both in prison and outside. Here, we want to say that we can do very beautiful things starting from a little far away! ” And customers notice that: they are unanimous. Since the opening, more than 3,500 guests have already had lunch at “Beaux Mets”.