TOGETHER independent: Bichou

9 questions to Marion Coulondre from Bichou

“We always loved real, down to earth kind of food, something that your grandmother would cook.” Together with her partner Thomas Giese, Marion Coulondre opened her own French Bistro & Café Bichou in Berlin-Neukölln, after having worked in large hotels and restaurants. With Bichou they created a place that feels and tastes like home. They are not only serving the best Brioche in town (trust us!), their meals are also seasonal and regional made with the least waste possible.

Who are you and what is Bichou about?

My name is Marion, I am from south of France. I have been working in hospitality for the past 15 years. I am totally passionate about food, as is my partner Thomas (he is actually a chef and has been working in the kitchen since he was 17). We always loved real, down to earth kind of food, something that your grandmother would cook, and in this spirit we decided to open Bichou. Bichou is actually the nickname of my aunt that inspired us a lot to cook really simple, natural, French food. Cooking with the season is for us, the only way. We also strive to create as little waste as possible by always considering the way we do things, looking at food waste with different eyes, and deciding against using products when they don’t fit our ethics.

What is the mission behind your café?

With the café we really want to cook and be there for busy people that don’t always have time to cook for themselves during the week, whilst also making a space where people can take a breath to enjoy their breakfast or lunch. We wanted to keep a very simple menu to ensure we could always prepare everything from scratch with organic and seasonal ingredients from the region. It is also super important to us to have the lowest impact possible on the environment and we are always striving to find new ways to achieve this goal.

How did you come up with the idea to start your own business?

We have both worked our entire career in large hotels or restaurants and we felt we wanted to work in a small and family style structure. We also had the feeling that the food business is very wasteful which has motivated us to prove (first to ourselves!) that things could be done differently.

What role does your community play for Bichou and for your day to day work?

Our community is everything! We have so many lovely neighbors and guests; they are the ones that make our day so enjoyable. We are happy and proud to prepare coffee and food for these people, that’s what our work is all about! During this time of crisis we have received so many kind words from guests; at times it nearly brought us to tears.

Have you ever been employed in a big company or similarly?

We’ve been working only for large companies before we opened Bichou. We worked for hotel chains like Kempinski or Rocco Forte, and have been lucky enough to work in a range of places, like Tahiti, Berlin, London and Beijing.

How does it feel to work independently?

To us, working for ourselves gives us a sense of freedom. It is of course great to work for what you believe in and not just for profit on an excel sheet. We really enjoy this more simple approach to business.

In large corporations the most important aspect of the business is often the bottom line of profit, with all decisions being based around income. Instead we can make decisions more based upon quality of work and giving ourselves (and our colleagues) a healthy work-life balance.

What does a typical work day look like for you?

We begin our work day at about 7:00 am, roughly 1h 30 before we open our doors. We start by baking our brioche, preparing our sandwiches and readying the coffee machine for the first customer. We open at 8:30, and our routine allows me to be fully present with guests and ready to give them my time. Thomas, on his side with the help of his team, is busy preparing for lunch, baking for example our brioche and sourdough, and overall keeping the kitchen running.

The café is usually really busy from morning to afternoon so my main focus is always to make sure our guests are looked after. A couple of days a week we have the help of Alice for the service, which is a blessing!

After the last order at 17:00, it is time for cleaning which is a nice ritual to close the day. Then comes the counting time! I prepare the numbers, the invoices for our accountant and make sure that we have a daily insight on the financial health of our business.

We then reply to email messages and keep our social platform up to date with what we offer in the café.

What are you especially proud of?

I am really proud that we have held on to our dream. The beginning was really hard and we did not give up. We both have put so much of ourselves into the café and we are so proud that we have achieved what we set out to do.

What does independence mean to you?

To me, independence means the freedom to focus on what is really important for our community, our environment, our team and us.

What other inspiring independent label can you recommend?

Here if you allow me, I will be very general but would recommend any independent gastronomy business that prepare food from scratch with love for their communities.

Thank you for the interview!

Craving for some Brioche now? Find Bichou here:

Schönstedtstraße 14, 12043 Berlin