PARIS — French department store Galeries Lafayette is drawing on its Eataly franchise to donate meals to hospital workers fighting the coronavirus in Paris.
“Through this initiative, Eataly Paris Marais and its teams want to contribute to the wave of national solidarity and demonstrate their deep respect for and immense gratitude to the people working tirelessly to solve this unparalleled situation,” the family-owned department store said in a statement.
Opened a year ago, Eataly, which offers fresh Italian produce as well as restaurant meals, is central to Galeries Lafayette’s recent urban renewal project in the Marais district of Paris.
Adapting to shifting consumption habits, the Paris department store remade the neighborhood near its BHV Marais department store, drawing consumers to a series of cafés and stores connected by courtyards and pedestrian passages with offers of fresh produce through its Eataly franchise.
Now, with all nonessential retail shut down, the group is using the Eataly business to provide fresh Italian food for workers at the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris.
French President Emmanuel Macron and his government have called for companies and individuals to pitch in to help in the battle against coronavirus with gestures of solidarity. French luxury groups LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Kering and Chanel are donating masks, and LVMH has repurposed perfume manufacturing sites to make hand sanitizer.