It’s a bright shop, with a green awning, wooden shelves and a large blackboard. A pretty shop of organic products where vegetables and fruits take pride of place, the kind of shops that can be seen in the heart of the 11th arrondissement or near Gambetta in Paris, but which have been established in a much less favored area, on Boulevard Mortier, in the heart of the so-called “City Policy” district. And for good reason: Flavors in Sharing is undoubtedly the first store in France to practice what its creators called dual pricingwhich allows some of the inhabitants to pay only 30% of the price.
“We see people with tears in their eyes, the basket full,” says Ndaye Marna, 37, the manager of this store and one of the five women behind the project, who had this idea after years of struggling to apply for food aid. “It’s my personal experience. Food aid is tin cans, ravioli, ready-made lentils… We are told that we must have healthy children, but how is that possible if we don’t prepare the food ourselves? “.
The price of a kilo of bananas rises to 90 cents
The “beneficiaries” of Flavors in Sharing receive a payment card which contains around 120 euros of purchases for a month for a single person, and 180 for a woman with a child under 14 years old. Except that they only pay a third of the price, or 9 euros for the weekly basket of 30 euros. Most of them are single women with children, although some men are also sent here by social workers. Because the selection is made via social workers, who generally grant aid for a few months to the inhabitants of the 20th arrondissement – where the store is located – who need it the most. The price of a kilo of bananas, displayed at 2.99 euros in stores, drops to 90 cents for the lucky ones, the kilo of apples, from 3.99 to 1.20 euros. But the reduced price is not displayed in the store, so as not to stigmatize the beneficiaries.
” It’s awesome ! enthuses Natacha, who was able to take advantage of this system between September 2022 and June 2023, and says she is “aware of her luck”. “I’m in interim, we work and three months later they cut you the RSA. I really had nothing, just enough to pay my rent. I was able to feed my daughter properly. She is one of the 26 families selected in 2022, thanks to the financial support of social landlords Paris habitat and RIVP.
“The empowerment of women also involves employment”
In addition to helping those who wouldn’t otherwise be able to eat healthily, Saveurs ensharing has also created jobs for women who hadn’t had any for a long time. This is the case of Agnès Fontaine, 45 years old and six children, environmental mediator of the association which supports the shop, and who had not worked for sixteen years. This is also the case of Mina Hassaine, who only works in the morning to take care of her children the rest of the day.
It all started in 2016 around meetings of women who met every Monday in a socio-cultural center. Very quickly, the observation of junk food when one is poor imposes itself on women, who decide to move. A core of five ultra-motivated women is being formed, who will train and join an incubator of social and solidarity economy projects, thanks to the association Projects 19. The idea of an organic store with solidarity pricing then emerged.
“I said to myself ‘we have to do something’ but without knowing how to do it, not having studied for a long time”, comments Ndaye Marna. The grocery store opens in June 2020, in the midst of Covid, and Agnès Fontaine is hired in December. “I didn’t think we would get this far. What I couldn’t do for my children, I was able to do for others,” says the manager. “The empowerment of women also involves employment,” says Marie Claire Péguet, president of the association and co-founder of the project, for which “consumer cooperatives [comme La Louve à Paris] it doesn’t create a lot of jobs”. At Flavors in Sharing, four positions have been created, two classic contracts and two subsidized contracts.
food culture
The store also brings a breath of fresh air to a difficult district, wedged between the Porte des Lilas and the Porte de Montreuil. “People are very happy that there is a nice shop, and not just shops for the poor”, judge Marie Claire Péguet. Cindy, who comes to do her shopping this morning in the shop with her brats, does not say the opposite, and particularly appreciates the slightly faded vegetables at knockdown prices.
“There were lots of fruits and vegetables that I didn’t know! And then it reminded me that there are seasons for fruit and vegetables,” enthuses Natacha. “We are trying to democratize the idea that nature has a cycle”, adds Agnès Fontaine, while the association tries to develop a food culture among its visitors, to allow them to regain power on their plate. Moreover, the reduced rate does not apply to processed products, but only to a list of essential and healthy products, a central idea of the Social Security of Food, which inspired Flavors in Sharing.
Not a grocery store like the others
Because this place is much more than a store. “We are not pushing for consumption, we are not a grocery store like the others, there is not only trade in our store”, says Agnès Fontaine. There are workshops to learn how to make kefir, lactofermented products. Botanical walks are organized there, or blender bike sessions, where you practice a sporting activity… while mixing a fresh fruit juice!
The place creates social ties between the inhabitants, thanks to the good fairy Agnès and her overflowing energy. “If a resident tells me she feels lonely, then we organize a chat! says the one who campaigns for the mental health of residents and thanks to whom several beneficiaries have found work.
“A real food security policy”
One of the only downsides to the system is that people who benefit from the very reduced price do not necessarily come back afterwards to buy products, even if there are exceptions. Because when families come out of precariousness, they do not necessarily have the means to triple their budget.
“I would like to make more turnover to cover our expenses and help more families”, hopes Ndaye Marna. “We need more customers who pay the price displayed in the store, that is to say the right price so that everyone is paid correctly”, adds Agnès Fontaine. Not easy in a poor neighborhood, so Marie Claire Péguet hopes that the public authorities will “give them time” to establish themselves well.
More broadly, the president of Flavors in Sharing expects from the government “a real food security policy”, to allow everyone to have access to organic and healthy and sustainable food. In any case, the idea is being emulated, and a second grocery store adopting dual pricing should soon open in the 17th arrondissement, still in Paris.