Capturing The Dessert Crowd With Mini Treats On The Rise.....

By?MARION ISSARD

Paris

The end-of-meal treat taking over France is fast, feels like a bargain and is, of course, delicious.

It is called a ?caf? gourmand,? and it?s breaking the long-standing luncheon tradition of separate courses of cheese or dessert, followed by coffee. As the French spend less time at lunch and favor healthier fare, more opt for the sweet shortcut of an espresso served on the same plate with a few bite-size desserts like chocolate cake, madeleine or fruit salad.

Caf? gourmand?which translates as ?gluttonous coffee??has gone from an experiment at a restaurant chain to a national dish with its own cookbooks and contests.

?I often order caf? gourmand because it?s smaller than a regular dessert,? said Anne Lataillade, the founder of popular food blog Papilles et Pupilles. ?Plus, I like to have the opportunity to try two or three different mini-items.? Her favorite caf? gourmand component is a moist pastry with a caramelized crust called a cannel?.

Photos

Beatriz Da Costa for The Wall Street JournalA caf? gourmand at La Fermette Marbeuf includes creme brule?, a financier, and a profiterole.

Caf? gourmand is also emerging as a welcome new tool for a French restaurant industry struggling with tepid consumer spending. ?Caf? gourmand is high-margin and allows restaurants to compensate for the limited benefits they get on main dishes,? says Miguel Casanova, the head of marketing at Traiteur de Paris, a wholesale frozen-pastry maker.

Restaurant spending has shrunk in France in recent years. The average restaurant bill slipped 2.5% to ?12.61 ($16.39) in 2009 from the year before, according to the most recent data in a February report prepared by Eurogroup Consulting for the hotel-and-restaurant trade association UMIH. It forecasts 74% of restaurant bills will come in below about $16 this year.

The profitable caf? gourmand typically costs between $6.50 and $13, about the price of a regular dessert.

?It sells pretty well, because customers do not feel as bad as when they order a nice slice of tarte Tatin with cream,? said Mica?l Memmi, owner of Zo, a Franco-Japanese restaurant in Paris with a caf? gourmand for about $12. ?Plus, it?s like wine: If someone orders one, then the whole table will follow.?

The caf? gourmand is tapping into a broader impulse in dessert eaters to go small. In the U.S.?where coffee has traditionally been served with dessert?Seasons 52, a chain of mid-to-upscale restaurants owned by Darden Restaurants Inc., specializes in lower-calorie portions and sells desserts in shot glasses. It calls its dessert offers ?mini indulgences.? DineEquity Inc.?s Applebee?s restaurants also offer diminutive ?dessert shooters,? a style of treat that?s featured at a growing number of U.S. chains, and has even inspired at least one fan website.

James Sinclair, principal at OnSite Consulting, a Los Angeles-based restaurant consultant, had trouble thinking of a U.S. restaurant that has tried the caf? gourmand tactic, but says many offer ?dessert flights? as an option. ?It?s the concept of being able to have a small taste of a few desserts,? instead of committing to just one, he says.

Twenty years ago, a typical lunch break in France lasted more than an hour and half, according to a 2008 study by Inpes, the national institute for health education. French people spent an average of 22 minutes at lunch in 2008.

The idea of a combo coffee-and-dessert dish was launched in 2003 at the Lyons branch by Pizza Pino, a chain of about a dozen Italian restaurants. It not only allowed the restaurant to serve customers in a hurry, it also allowed it to serve more customers, says chief executive Jos? Paulino. They called it ?caf? plaisir?, or ?pleasure coffee,? and it consisted of mini homemade tiramisu, flan and vanilla ice cream. The concept was so successful that within six months they rolled it out across the chain.

It caught on fast. According to a study by food-service consultancy CHD Expert, around 26% of independent restaurants had caf? gourmand on their menu in 2007. By 2010, it had jumped to almost 38%.

The margins can be richer than for other dishes. On average, a caf? gourmand costs a restaurant about $2.30, excluding labor, says CHD Expert managing director Nicolas Nouchi. They sold, meanwhile, for about $6.80, on average, according to the 2010 survey of 4,089 restaurants.

Part of the dessert?s success is the notion that a selection of mini desserts isn?t as sinful as a full dessert. But that is an illusion. A mini-size pastry generally weighs 30 to 40 grams whereas a regular dessert is around 100 grams. ?As caf? gourmand generally comes with three items, it is more or less the equivalent of a typical dessert,? says Mr. Casanova.

Beatriz Da Costa for The Wall Street JournalWallpaper at Le Procope celebrates the slogan of the French Revolution, an event the restaurant?s founding predates.

The dish has found its way on to the menus of high-end and mass-market restaurants. Groupe Fr?res Blanc, which owns places ranging from the historic caf? Le Procope, to brasserie chain Chez Cl?ment, has introduced caf? gourmand at nearly all 27 of its restaurants. Each has customized it to the restaurant?s particular style: La Fermette Marbeuf, an Art Nouveau brasserie, features traditional French pastries like cream puffs.

For Groupe Bertrand, which runs a fast-food sandwich chain as well as upscale eateries, offering caf? gourmand is essential at its trendiest addresses, says spokeswoman Rapha?le Marchal. Les Grandes Marches, a contemporary brasserie located on Paris?s Place de la Bastille, offers a raspberry macaroon, hazelnut-chocolate tart, cr?me br?l?e, apricot tart and a chocolate on one plate.

Caf? gourmand has started to spread to home kitchens. In the past couple of years, about a dozen dedicated cookbooks have been published. Some come with little pots, plates or molds. In October, the cooking school L?atelier des Chefs offered a dedicated caf? gourmand course.

In April, coffee maker Nespresso set up a caf? gourmand contest in France. Chefs, trainees and amateur gourmets have until mid-May to send pictures of their own versions, with a maximum of three sweet bites.

The two-in-one concept could soon spread to other dishes. Groupe Fr?res Blanc is planning to introduce ?fromage gourmand?: a couple of cheese bites with a half glass of wine.

?Katy McLaughlin contributed to this article

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