A decadent dinner costing nearly €475,000 for the U.K.’s King Charles III helped push France’s Élysée Palace — the office of President Emmanuel Macron —to a record high deficit last year.
France’s love for grand gestures and opulent dining are fully in evidence in the pages of a damning yearly audit of the Élysée’s budget, released on Monday by the Cour des Comptes, France’s top audit court.
The Élysée’s spending, which includes costs related to the president’s diplomatic and presidential duties as well as administration, personnel, security and estate management, reached a whopping €125 million, plunging the books €8.3 million into the red.
Among the biggest deficit drivers were two luxurious state dinners, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and King Charles III.
I’m all for eating a nice dinner. But how do you get to a dinner bill that size?
Perfection costs a whole lot more than really, really good because costs go up exponentially.
You need multiple times the staff on hand to cook and server everything at the same time, and they should be highly paid professionals. You need to be able to discard the majority of your food supplies, which already cost a lot more than normal, to have the perfect version of every dish. The setting probably costs a lot to set up and clean up after, and attention to detail costs time and money.
It is a huge waste, but that is why it costs so much.
Famous chefs who have more people requesting them than they have time in the day, so they go to whoever pays the most.
Like, Gordon Ramsey still does private events, but only if they pay more than he could be making with his TV deals.
Meanwhile just as good chefs that didn’t get the fame break (or possibly better but their personality means they shouldn’t be let out of the kitchen) are struggling to make ends meet.
same as it ever was.
Pick an industry that is also the case. In marketing There are people earning 7 figures for configuring a Google ads deck that a talented undergrad could do in half the time
In acting you can just throw a dart at the SAG directory.
Painting, music, business administration, politics. You name it.
Gordon: welcome to my fancy private dinner experience. What can I make for you?
Guest: I would like your finest grilled cheese sandwich please.
Gordon: oh fuck, oh shit!