“We no longer sell the digestive”: Jean Mathieu, the Cantalouian restaurateur with a 60-year career

At an age where many French people have been enjoying their retirement for decades, these diehards are still active. What do they have in common? Be over 80 years old and be craftsmen or traders. Sometimes out of necessity, always out of passion. Rare cases and great stories.

It takes him a handful of seconds to get to the turbine, just two floors down from his apartment to the ground floor of the Le Ruisseau hotel restaurant in Saint-Mandé (Val-de-Marne). “I never get out of work,” laughs Jean Mathieu, 80 years old. He has been the owner since 1966 and he is not going to give up the business tomorrow. “I don’t know how to do anything other than work,” he swears, dreading “getting in trouble” if he takes a break.