Attacked on its home ground of the Dauphiné by a number of caterers from Lyon, the famous Grenoble-based caterer La Fine Fourchette took the decision last September to fight back by opening a branch in Bron. This was just a few months after opening an office in Annecy. Established in 1936, this old family firm was taken over in 2002 by Florent Vannucci, descendant of a large butcher and baker family from Marseille. Having started out in the business as a salesman, he set up the Café Blanc concept for Courrèges in Paris.

This project renewed my taste for the catering industry and since I already lived in Grenobe, I took the opportunity of buying La Fine Fourchette, a firm which, unusually for this business, is over 70 years old, he recalls. We’re top of the league in the Grenoble area and in Savoie. Opening an office in Lyon, headed up by Thierry Jourdan, is part of our strategy to develop the business within the region of Lyon where there’s a great deal of potential. In the first instance we’ve been meeting clients to let them know what sort of things we can handle, and in particular our strongest skills such as the organisation of cocktail parties, culinary events and décor. Our aim is to concentrate on those areas that are not as well covered in Lyon – because we’re well aware that our local colleagues are particularly good at producing excellent food .

Their arrival in Lyon has certainly been successful, as the company has won several impressive contracts including a reception for 1700 people organised by the Caisse d’Epargne Rhône-Alpes at the Cité Internationale last December plus two cocktail parties for 1500 people on behalf of Investir and Axa in November.

A few months earlier, La Fine Fourchette also successfully entertained guests of Merck during an evening function involving a video DJ. Other recent events include several projects for RFF, the inauguration of a new show room for Richardson in Grenoble (750 people), the start of building Ikea’s new site in Grenoble, the visit of Alcan’s Chief Executive to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in Septembre 2007, the inauguration Banque Laydernier’s new head office in Annecy, an ice-skating gala in Courchevel at the beginning of January 2008, and a gala dinner for Kiloutou at Les Arcs (450 participants in the middle of January).

Florent Vannucci, who is Vice-President of the Association des Traiteurs de France with responsibility for quality control, indicates that he wants to grow the business on a continual basis, by achieving the best possible prices in response to the clients’ budget. Today we’re in a sector that is experiencing some tough competition. However, it’s not possible to organise a good cocktail reception for under 16 € per person and our prices go up to about 50 € with some costing as much as 100 € for really upmarket events in Courchevel, Saint-Tropez or Alpe d’Huez. Our pricing is affected by the rocketing costs for basic ingredients, although it’s worth noting that these only make up about a quarter of the final cost, with the rest going on setting up the rooms (which takes about three or four hours to complete), staff, promotional work, loading and unloading refrigerated lorries, transport expenses, décor, flower arrangements etc .

In order to be different from other catering companies, La Fine Fourchette concentrates on offering novel ideas that are based on traditional values and using its decoration schemes and product settings to surprise clients. At the same time, we’re always listening to what the client wants – because we want to keep him or her happy. Which means that we must be on the same wave length and give him our undivided attention , comments Florent Vannucci.

One of the appealing options is an event organised by La Fine Fourchette in conjunction with Bernard Mure-Ravaud, Meilleur Ouvrier and World Cheese Champion in 2007, who presents his various collections along the same lines as Haute Couture fashion collections. Worth watching and tasting… without holding back…