Sustainable Luxury

Season news 2 January 2024

Because we sincerely believe that true luxury has no reason to exist if it is produced at the expense of nature and mankind, we are committed to practicing our professions in an responsible manner. Our company has always pursued a certain virtue inherited from a common sense of ancient times. Of course, it is essential to push more and more this quest of a Zero or Positive Impact by our economic activities. In Eugenie, we believe in a progressive, voluntarist and positive approach of Sustainable Development. Thus, each year we set new objectives to reduce a little more our impact on the environment, the health of our customers and our teams, the community that surrounds us.

irtuous common sense practices from the Good Old Times. These solid foundations stated, we keep challenging ourselves untiringly, because we consider sustanability as an neverending duty, we owe to everyone : our community, our teams and our clients.

KITCHEN GARDENS, GARDENS & OUTDOORS

Richly planted with trees, hedges and coppices, our park serves as a refuge for many birds and wild animals (hedgehogs, rodents, frogs, molluscs, bees, insects …).
For a few years now, we have welcomed a protected variety of wild orchid; you can admire it in the spring along the Allée des Beaux Jours (small bamboo stakes indicate its presence).
The Compost enriched with hundreds of pounds of kitchen “greens” naturally amends the soil in our gardens.
Although we still use fertilizer once a year, our gardens do not receive any conventional phytosanitary treatment. The fight against parasites is natural or biological (bacteria to fight the box tree borer, nettle purin, Bordeaux mixture …).
Most of the herbs that adorn the Chef’s dishes come from the kitchen garden; they are picked every morning by the gardeners.
Most of the flowers and foliage that embellish the house are grown on the estate; our rose and hydrangea garden has several hundred plants. When the gardens are “bare”, we buy 100% French flowers (grown in the Landes, the Var and Brittany), exclusively. We rarely buy flowers from the Flower “Stock Exchange” in Paris and the Netherland.
The chefs embellish the dishes served to our guests with numerous edible flowers which are cultivated in our vegetable gardens. The cycle of seasons and blooms is respected. When the flowers disappear from the gardens, they also disappear from the plates.

KITCHEN & RESTAURANTS

Strawberries, raspberries and some citrus fruits are grown in Eugenie.
An important part of our vegetables (especially tomatoes) as well as our apples are cultivated in the neighboring Gers, by the Bastelica family, which has been practicing organic farming since 1978.
The poultry (chicken, guinea fowl, pigeons) and beef are raised with respect and kindness in Chalosse, in family run farms.
We work directly with breeders and artisan butchers. This guarantees a high quality meat and a fair remuneration of the producers and intermediaries.
Since 2021, we respect the cycle of the seasons in our starred restaurant, Michel Guérard. This is made possible by the implementation of a set menu, and frequent changes (we now print our menus, allowing us a reactivity of only a few days, from the impulse of the kitchen to the realization on the table). We strictly forbid or limit the use of fruits, vegetables and other out-of-season and well-traveled products (with the notable exception of citrus fruits, bananas, coffee, tea, chocolate and spices).
The weekly menu of our restaurants is organized with respect to marine resources; this means that we accept to be dependent on the catch of the day, and that some fish are not available. In addition, we refrain from using species that are currently in short supply. In the Restaurant Etoilé, the vast majority of the products offered are from French and artisanal fishing; it can sometimes be Spanish (Basque Country or Catalonia) on certain particular products (gamberon, sardines).
Since 2021, a gastronomic vegetarian menu is offered to the guests of the 3-Michelin-Star Restaurant, as well as several dishes in the menu of our second restaurant L’Orangerie. Sustainable development is as delicious as it is virtuous!
Our restaurant menus and recipes are designed to eliminate waste; surplus food is used in staff menus.
In 2022, we stopped using Nespresso coffee pods and converted to bulk and bean-to-cup coffee. Our company serves several tens of thousands of coffees each year.
In 2023, we switch to microfiltered and carbonated water on our tables. This means that tens of thousands of bottles will not be delivered by truck to our estate.

Are you inspired by sustainable development ?
So are we ! and it is still present in many places of our Property

IN THE GUEST ROOMS

Individual plastic products have been replaced by refillable containers and quality products from organic farming or fair trade (organic cotton pads and cotton buds, in bulk, not packaged and labeled Max Havellar). Plastic is now banned.
Our cosmetics are made specifically for us in a laboratory in the Tarn region of France, according to “organic” certified formulas. The ingredients are few and of high quality (between 97 and 99% of natural origin). They are now presented in large refillable bottles. This allows us to avoid throwing away several hundred kilos of plastic per year.
The microfiltered water offered in the room is produced on site and relieves the environment of 6000 bottles and 50 truck deliveries per year.
We do not offer individual coffee pods (Nespresso type) in our rooms. We prefer to offer our guests ground coffee in paper filters, tea and French herbal teas in 100% recyclable paper bags.
The linen is treated with sobriety; the cleaning products are made with vinegar, bicarbonate and vegetable soap.
Old sheets are “up-cycled” into trousseaux for babies or into laundry bags. Used towels are recycled into rags for the cleaning.

SOCIAL PRACTICES

It may sound basic, but we strive to respect the work-life balance of our employees as much as possible. Work schedules are prepared in such a way as to provide maximum personal time. Overtime is declared and paid; and/or it is made up or modulated for contracts that provide for it.
The opening days of our restaurants have been reviewed in order to integrate the dimension of well-being at work; thus, we have decided to close or reposition some services.
Although we run a seasonnal business, our team has a large proportion of permanent employment contracts. Long-term seasonal contracts (9 months) are preferred for other jobs. Thus, the ” turnover ” is low at Eugénie, and a certain number of collaborators have been with us for more than 20 years. Finally, we make sure to respect the “senior” employment and to favour the maintenance of employment for those who have had accidents in life.
Training and knowledge transfer are an integral part of our integration process and career management. We work to develop the employability of our employees and to enable them to acquire new skills, whether or not related to their initial functions.
Several times a year, the cooking school welcomes children from elementary school and seniors from nearby retirement homes, in partnership with public institutions.

MISCELLANEOUS

Throughout the Property, we practice selective sorting to facilitate recycling.
In-house teams of maintenance, carpentry, electricity, plumbing, painting, as well as a team of seamstresses work throughout the year to promote the reuse of objects and linen; we also work with the local recycling center.
When we refurbish our rooms, lounges and other spaces, we give preference to French companies, if possible with the EPV label (French Living Heritage & Crafting), and choose Made in France or Made in EU whenever possible.

We are not perfect, and there are still many things to accomplish. However, we sincerely believe in this approach, and we apply ourselves to do what we say, without ever letting ourselves go to the ease and cynicism of “greenwashing”.
This vision of a cleaner, more benevolent, more respectful World is also shared by our fellow Relais & Châteaux hotels, around the Manifesto presented to UNESCO in 2014.
Employees, customers, suppliers … all are aware of the responsibility that each of them holds, and we are happy and proud to be able to count on their support and sincere commitment.