Belfort: “With inflation, more and more people are turning to Restos du Cœur”

“With inflation, more and more people are turning to Restos du Cœur.” In 2022/2023, Restos du Cœur welcomed 1.3 million people, 200,000 more than the previous year. Bruno Frattini, national collection, hygiene and food safety coordinator for Restos du Cœur in the Territoire de Belfort, has seen a local annual 20% increase in requests for assistance. This dramatic rise makes the national Restos du Cœur collection drive, held every year on the first weekend of March, all the more crucial.

Individuals are invited to take part in the nationwide Restos du Cœur collection drive outside supermarkets by donating nonperishable food and hygiene products. “Despite the influx of new people, we do not want to compromise on quality,” Bruno Frattini explains. “We do not simply give out a few packages of rice or pasta. We distribute complete, balanced meals: meat, vegetables and fresh fruit, dairy products... We want to continue supporting families with all their needs.” This year, 350 volunteers mobilized on March 1, 2 and 3 at 16 stores across the department.

This exceptional collection drive required substantial logistics resources: trucks loaned for the occasion—constantly shuttling to collect donations from store customers—as well as a warehouse to centralize and sort the goods collected throughout the department. “Our challenge is precisely finding a warehouse, because we do not have premises large enough available for this operation. Every year, we therefore look for a partner that could make such a building available to us,” Bruno Frattini explains.

The Eurockéennes de Belfort festival answered the call by lending a hangar with remarkable industrial heritage for one month. Located in Sermamagny, the Eurockéennes’ Grande Halle thus became solidarity’s headquarters. “Aside from the electronic music nights we have organized since 2021 with artists such as Bob Sinclar, Kungs and Martin Solveig, this 12,000-square-meter building serves as a warehouse for equipment used at the festival, held in early July on the Malsaucy peninsula. When Bruno Frattini told us about the needs of Restos du Cœur in the Territoire de Belfort, we made an 800-square-meter space and our teams available to handle the pallets,” explains Anthony Fernandes from the Eurockéennes de Belfort partnerships department.

A successful initial partnership in summer 2023 had already established a relationship of trust: “We had already worked with the Restos du Cœur teams on a reusable-tableware project. The operation reduced food-service waste at our festival and raised €10,300 for Restos du Cœur in Belfort,” Anthony Fernandes recounts.

“With the Eurockéennes’ Grande Halle, we had ideal conditions,” Bruno Frattini believes. “Just five minutes from downtown, the site is truly central. It spared us overly burdensome trips back and forth to partner stores.” At the warehouse, around 20 volunteers weighed product donations throughout the weekend, then compiled a detailed inventory, sorted them into 56 categories and allocated them to pallets.  

These goods are not intended to remain in storage for long: “In just three months, they will be distributed through our four permanent food-distribution centers and our mobile branch,” Bruno Frattini explains. “Each center tells us its weekly needs, and we prepare product pallets to ship the goods to them. Enough to feed the 2,600 people we support across the department every week.” In just three days, the 350 volunteers mobilized this year collected 27.5 metric tons of products, 4.5 metric tons more than last year. “A record,” Bruno Frattini says with satisfaction. Yet while essential, this nationwide collection drive is not enough.

For the rest of the year, Restos du Cœur must conduct “pickups” at partner supermarkets, hold occasional collection drives with businesses or individuals, and make bulk purchases negotiated at the national association level. “Purchases are made on a large scale to secure favorable prices. The goods are then stored at national warehouses in the Paris region, before being routed to regional warehouses—ours is in Vesoul—and then to departmental centers. We place orders according to our needs and are therefore supplied every week,” Bruno Frattini explains. 

As Restos du Cœur is experiencing its largest increase in the number of people served since 1985, Belfort’s teams are deploying every possible effort to meet the challenge. “A new center will open in Belfort-Nord at the end of the year, enabling us to better welcome those facing hardship.” The partnership with Eurockéennes is expected to be renewed for the 2025 collection drive.