La Salle à Manger - Restaurant solidaire et social

What La Salle à Manger - Restaurant solidaire et social does

La Salle à Manger is a French non-profit association (loi 1901) founded in February 2020 that opened a solidarity restaurant in November 2021 at 2 place de la Pyramide, on the Esplanade Sud of Paris La Défense, Puteaux. The organization operates a walk-in lunch service (Monday to Friday, 11h45-13h45) producing 2 appetizers, 2 main courses (including a vegetarian option), 2 desserts, and beverages daily. The model is built on social mixing: paying customers from the La Défense business district (office workers, students, residents) purchase meals at standard restaurant prices, while beneficiaries referred by local social workers receive the same meal for a symbolic €1. Each meal costs €15 to produce, with 70% of raw materials purchased and the remainder sourced via food donations from Le Chainon Manquant; the €14 per-meal gap on solidarity meals is funded by individual donations (via HelloAsso) and corporate/foundation partnerships.

The organization also operates an Atelier Chantier d'Insertion (ACI), conventioned by the State through DRIEETS, providing professional insertion training for up to 24 months to people far from employment. In 2023, 8 insertion employees worked 26-35 hours per week (up from 5 the prior year), supported by 4 permanent staff (Directrice d'exploitation, Chef de cuisine, Conseillère en Insertion Professionnelle, Régisseur) and approximately 80 rotating volunteers handling cash desk and dining room duties. The organization is governed by a board led by President François Xavier DEBROSSE and Director Antoine de TILLY, and is a complementary mission of the sister association La Maison de l'Amitié La Défense, an unconditional day shelter.

In 2023, the restaurant served 15,000 meals across 217 openings, with exactly 50% served to people in great precarity and 312 unique individuals fed at least once. The model has no technology component: there is no proprietary software, no API, no digital platform beyond a basic informational website and a donation portal on HelloAsso. Revenue streams are meal sales, individual donations, and corporate/foundation support. The organization does not disclose financial figures publicly.

Name

La Salle à Manger - Restaurant solidaire et social

Legal name

La Salle à Manger, La Défense

Website

https://salleamanger.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

La Salle à Manger is a French non-profit solidarity restaurant at Paris La Défense that serves daily lunches to La Défense workers at standard prices and to people in precarity at €1, while running a state-conventioned professional insertion program for eight trainees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Social and Solidarity Restaurant Services

NAICS

Full-Service Restaurants (722511)

SIC

Retail-Eating Places (5812)

akta.pro primary industry

All-Day Dining Restaurants (THAFACAJ)

Keywords

• Solidarity restaurant services
• Professional insertion programs
• Social meal assistance
• Vocational training services
• Charity food services

Headquarters

HQ city

Puteaux (Paris La Défense)

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Restaurant meal sales: Revenue from paying customers (office workers, students, residents of La Défense) purchasing meals at the restaurant. The restaurant produces 2 entries, 2 main courses (including vegetarian option), 2 desserts, and beverages daily.
2. Donations from individuals: Individual donors contribute via HelloAsso platform (one-time or monthly donations). Each meal costs 15 euros to produce but is sold to beneficiaries for 1 euro, requiring donations to bridge the 14-euro gap.
3. Corporate and foundation partnerships: Companies and foundations provide financial or operational support. Donations help cover operating costs including the 217 annual openings and 70% of raw materials purchased (not sourced from food donations).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

La Salle à Manger operates a solidarity restaurant in Paris La Défense that serves daily lunch meals to the general public at regular restaurant prices and to people in great precarity at a symbolic 1 euro price, fostering social mixing between diners. The organization also runs a state-conventioned Atelier Chantier d'Insertion (ACI) that provides professional insertion training for up to 24 months to people far from employment. The restaurant operates Monday to Friday from 11h45 to 13h45, producing meals from scratch with 70% purchased raw materials.

Product overview

La Salle à Manger is a young charitable association created in February 2020 and opened in November 2021, operating as a solidarity restaurant at Paris La Défense. The organization operates two complementary programs: a social restaurant service that provides affordable meals to the general public while offering solidarity meals at 1 euro to people in great difficulty, creating social mixing; and an Atelier Chantier d'Insertion (ACI) that serves as a professional insertion 'springboard school' toward full employment, providing job training and support for up to 24 months to individuals far from the labor market.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Solidarity Restaurant Lunch Service A walk-in solidarity restaurant in Paris La Défense serving daily lunch meals (2 appetizers, 2 main courses including a vegetarian option, 2 desserts, beverages) to the general public at regular prices and to people in great precarity at 1 euro. Open Monday to Friday 11h45-13h45. Designed for office workers, students, local residents, and beneficiaries of social assistance, with intentional social mixing between diners.
• Atelier Chantier d'Insertion (ACI) - Professional Insertion Program A state-conventioned professional insertion workshop (ACI) providing job training, support, and a pathway to a diploma and/or professional activity for up to 24 months. Currently employs 8 insertion employees working 26-35 hours per week, supported by 4 permanent staff members including an exploitation director, head chef, professional insertion advisor, and technician. Targets people far from employment.

Quantifiable outcome

• 15,000 meals served in 2023 with perfect social mixity (50% solidarity meals, 50% paying customers)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Le Chainon ManquantcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFood donation partner that provides raw products used in daily meal preparation. Donations from Le Chainon Manquant are collected multiple times per week and supplement the 70% of raw materials purchased by the restaurant.
• La Maison de l'Amitié La DéfensecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSister organization and parent association. La Maison de l'Amitié is an unconditional day shelter (accueil de jour inconditionnel) that originally conceived the restaurant as a complementary mission. The restaurant opened in November 2021 as a complementary service to the shelter's support of the most vulnerable.
• Local social actors (structure sociales partenaires)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNetwork of social organizations that work with La Salle à Manger to identify and refer beneficiaries who can access the 1 euro solidarity meals. These partners determine eligibility criteria and direct people in precarity to the restaurant during lunch hours.
• DRIEETS (Direction Régionale Interdépartementale de l'Économie, de l'Emploi, des Transports et du Logement)coreOthersState authority that conventions the Atelier Chantier d'Insertion (ACI) status, enabling the restaurant to operate as a professional insertion program and provide training with diploma potential for up to 24 months.
• HelloAssominorGTM or Marketing PartnerOnline donation platform used for individual donor contributions. Supports both one-time and monthly donation options for supporters of the association.
• Local composting third-place (tiers lieu)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal partner facility where production bio-waste is sent twice weekly for composting transformation, supporting the restaurant's environmental responsibility mission.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Croix-Rouge française: Large French humanitarian organization operating food distribution, social restaurants ('Restaurants du Cœur'-style), and insertion programs; overlaps with both the solidarity-meal and ACI insertion missions.
• Emmaüs France: French federation of social-enterprise communities including restaurant and catering activities supporting professional insertion; comparable dual social/economic mission though broader in scope than restaurant-only operations.
• Restos du Cœur: France's largest food assistance association distributing millions of meals annually; offers comparable food-security mission at vastly larger scale, with broader volunteer base but less focus on social mixing or insertion training.
• Action contre la Faim: International NGO focused on food security and nutrition, with French operations funding and supporting local food-assistance initiatives; thematic overlap with the food-precarity mission but operates at a different scale and geography.
• Secours Populaire Français: Major French non-profit providing food aid and social support including solidarity meals; comparable solidarity dining mission at national scale, but distributed via traditional food-aid channels rather than a full-service restaurant.
• Sodexo (Stop Hunger Initiative): Global food services and facilities management company with a Stop Hunger corporate foundation funding food-aid and insertion programs; represents the broad-incumbent food-services operator with an adjacent solidarity-meal mission that could partner with or compete for the same CSR funding.

Others

• Fondation de France: Major French philanthropic foundation that funds food-precarity, insertion, and social-inclusion programs across France; comparable funder/ecosystem role rather than direct operator, but actively supports similar solidarity-restaurant and ACI-style initiatives.

Direct peers

• La Table de Cana: French network of solidarity restaurants and catering operations that combine food aid with professional insertion; comparable ACI-style structure and cross-subsidized meal model.
• Refettorio Paris: Solidarity restaurant in Paris founded by chef Massimo Bottura's Food for Soul network; serves high-quality meals to people in precarious situations using surplus ingredients, with strong social mixing and volunteer engagement — directly comparable model to La Salle à Manger.
• Le Carillon: French solidarity restaurant network that welcomes people in precarious situations in a convivial setting, relying on volunteer engagement and donations; operates multiple sites with a similar model of dignified, mixed-audience dining.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/la-salle-%C3%A0-manger-cantine-solidaire

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about La Salle à Manger - Restaurant solidaire et social