Terms of use of the "homemade" logo in the restaurant

Verified 11 July 2023 - Legal and Administrative Information Directorate (Prime Minister)

The mention homemade reports the dishes cooked or transformed by the restaurateur, on-site, from fresh produce raw. We'll explain how to use this logo.

All restore types can display homemade if they meet the criteria.

These are the following restaurants:

  • Traditional on-site dining
  • Chain restaurants
  • Fast Restore
  • Collective catering (canteen, cafeteria, school and company)
  • Take-away sale of prepared meals (catering service, food trucks, sale at outdoor markets, covered market halls, stand at a fair, party, etc.)

The dishes you cook must be both made on site (with exceptions) and made from fresh or raw products.

Kitchen made on site

The dish must be cooked or processed on the spot, i.e. in the premises where the customers are served.

2 types of catering are exceptions to this principle: caterers and food trucks

Caterers and itinerant merchants (food truck, stand in a market, ...) can display the logo homemade even if their dishes are made outside the place where they sell them, where they serve them.

Please note

If the dishes are made by a central kitchen that delivers collective restaurants, these cannot display the logo homemade.

Dishes made from raw, fresh products

To have the right to bear the mention homemade, the dishes must be made from raw, fresh products, i.e. raw food.

If these different foods are packaged, packaged or preserved, they must be raw and without any other food except salt.

There is nothing to prevent freezing or deep-freezing, provided that these methods of preservation do not call into question the raw nature of the product.

This rule applies when food is purchased or received. After their reception in the establishment, the professional can, to ensure the preservation of the products, blanch vegetables or offal, pre-cook the foie gras, etc.

Please note

A "homemade" dish is not necessarily a traditional dish. It can in fact be produced in large quantities industrially (chain restaurants, collective catering), and not by a craftsman.

Conversely, a professional who bears the title ofcraftsman cook or master restorer must offer only dishes homemade.

These are products previously manufactured by another professional, other than the restaurant cook.

They serve as ingredients primary of basis for the manufacture of dishes.

These ingredients, permitted in the ‘homemade’, are:

  • Salted meats, sausages and cold cuts (except terrines and pates)
  • Cheeses, edible fats, cream and milk
  • Bread, flours and biscuits
  • Dried or candied vegetables and fruit
  • Pasta and cereals
  • Raw sauerkraut
  • Whitened offal
  • Yeast, sugar and gelatin
  • Condiments, spices, herbs, concentrates
  • Chocolate, coffee, herbal teas, teas and infusions
  • Syrups, wines, alcohols and liqueurs
  • Sauces: white, brown bottoms, smokes and half-ice cream (subject to written consumer information).

Example :

A restaurateur offers cakes, cakes and different desserts based on chocolate, candied fruits, spices, butter and flour. It may display the indication homemade on such dishes, provided that they contain at least one fresh ingredient outside that list, such as eggs or fruit for example.

Warning  

A dish which is manufactured exclusively from one of those ingredients or exclusively from those ingredients shall not be eligible for the endorsement homemade.

Only one restaurant that offers dishes homemade part or all of its card may display the logo and/or the endorsement.

Whether it's for legal notice "homemade" or for the logo, it's the restaurateur who choose the location.

They must be placed in such a way as to be visible for customers.

This can be on all the information materials of the restaurant: menus, cards, slate, display case, entrance door, possibly website, etc.

Tableau - Rules for displaying the logo and the mandatory indication

Situation

Display Rule

No home-made dishes

No logo, no mention

Only some dishes are homemade

Logo and/or mention homemade opposite every dish concerned

All dishes are homemade

Logo and/or mention homemade the choice is

- In front of each dish

- At a unique place on the map

The use of the logo represents a saucepan topped by a roof with a fireplace. It is subject to a graphic charter:

  • Only black (on a light or colored background) or white (on a dark background) 
  • Hand printed or reproduced on a slate 
  • Minimum size (5 x 6 mm).

There is no certification or labeling procedure to obtain the right to affix the endorsement in advance homemade.

It is the restaurateur who chooses whether or not to display it, without prior control of the administration.

However, DGCCRF: titleContent carry out regular checks in catering establishments. They can check, among other things, whether the display of the notice homemade is justified.

In case of misleading advertising the restaurateur risks a penalty for the offense of deceptive marketing.

He faces a sentence of 2 years imprisonment and a fine of €300,000.

Who can help me?

Find who can answer your questions in your region

  • For more information

    Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF)

    If you want to report a difficulty encountered with a merchant

    On the Internet

    You can use the site Conso Signal.

    The DGCCRF and the merchant concerned will be informed of your request.

    By telephone

    0809 540 550

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    DGCCRF - ResponseConso - BP 60 - 34935 Montpellier Cedex 9