Lagardère Travel Retail introduces West African restaurant concept Képar Café

AFRICA. Lagardère Travel Retail has introduced a new “hyper-localised” restaurant concept designed for West African markets named Képar Café. The company said it aims to “embody the uniqueness of the African culture and traditions, from the design up to the menu offerings”.

Launched in both Mauritania and Senegal, Képar Café means ‘resting in the shades’. This calls to a long-standing travel tradition in Sahel of seeking shade to protect one from the sunlight and represents the concept’s ambition to offer travellers a break on their journey.

Images of Képar Café at motorway rest and service area Yéba South in Senegal, which was inaugurated today

After an initial opening at Nouakchott International Airport in Mauritania in December, a new restaurant was inaugurated today at Yéba South, a motorway rest and service area on the Autoroute de l’Avenir in Senegal. It is located on the stretch from Dakar to Blaise Diagne International Airport, with around 2.5 million vehicles passing every year.

The concept has been developed to call upon the talents of local communities. Menus have been developed by local chefs, the design and furniture of the restaurants have been created and manufactured by local craftsmen, and the majority of the staff for the latest opening has been hired among the local community around Yéba’s Village.

In the Képar Café, 50% of staff live in the community neighbouring the restaurant and represent a 50-50 gender balance. The wood used to manufacture the furniture has been sourced locally, in authorised forests. Lagardère Travel Retail said that “value creation goes back to the communities and talents who have been so instrumental to realise the project”.

In Yéba, the Képar Café offers a broad selection of Senegalese dishes in self-service or ‘à la carte’ in the seating area of the restaurant. In addition to these, there is a grab & go offer of sandwiches salads, pastries, hot drinks and cold beverages. The menus have been developed to use a majority of foods produced locally: vegetables, fruits, fish, meat and rice.

The Képar Café in Mauritania and Senegal have embraced slightly different designs, to each represent the culture of the country they are based in. In Yéba, ochre has been chosen to recall the soil colour in Senegal.

Lagardère Travel Retail West Africa CEO Sountou Bousso said: “Képar Café is a truly West African concept, designed to not only meet the needs of local and regional travellers but also to bring together what our local cultures and know-hows have best to offer. We’re committed to operate responsibly and wanted to create unique restaurant concepts which ultimately benefit the local communities. I’m very confident Képar will establish itself as a recognised food hotspot, and a value-based concept that is as unique as the local cultures it showcases.”

Yéba’s Képar Café was officially inaugurated on 17 May, with the attendance of several Senegalese government officials, local food influencers, media and local and central teams from Lagardère Travel Retail.

Lagardère Travel Retail plans to roll out the Képar Café concept in other West African travel locations.

NOTE: The Moodie Davitt Report has recently relaunched its FAB Newsletter. This regular newsletter features highlights of openings, events and campaigns from around the world of airport and travel dining.

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FAB SUPERSTARS & ESG AWARDS

The Moodie Davitt Report is inviting submissions for the FAB Superstars Awards 2022.

This second virtual edition of the awards will again shine the spotlight on the thousands of front-of-house and behind the scenes heroes and heroines who have helped keep the food & beverage community within our industry going throughout the challenges of the last year.

In addition, this year’s awards include an important new category, the FAB ESG Awards, which have been introduced to celebrate, recognise and reward those people and initiatives that have made a positive impact in the areas of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG).

The FAB ESG & Superstars Awards will be presented on Tuesday 13 September to conclude the two-day Airport Food & Beverage (FAB) Conference 2022.

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