I wish I had thought of that.

Julien, a man who spotted a great business opportunity on the Cap.

Julien is the man who runs the valet service for Plage de la Garoupe. Managing a small team of six, in the high season these guys literally do not stop from mid morning until late at night dealing with the constant flow of cars arriving at plages Keller and Joseph. I was interested to know how someone gets a job like this. After talking to Julien I was amazed to learn that the Valet service wasn’t anything at all to do with the restaurants but rather a privately run service set up by Julien himself.

Several years ago he discovered that nobody was offering this service for the guests of the beach. He spotted the business opportunity and decided to take it.

After a lot of hard work, persuasion and mountains of paperwork he finally managed to set up a valet service 3 years ago catering to the visitors of Plage Garoupe.

I wish I had thought of that!! 

How did you come to have this business?

One day, a few years ago I came to this beach and I thought to myself I want to have a valet service here. They didn’t have one at that time and I spotted the potential business opportunity.

I know all the beaches around here and many of them have a valet service so I was surprised that Plage Garoupe didn’t.

All the guests of the restaurants here came by car or by boat so there were often lots of cars but no valet service for them. I felt that it was a service which was desperately needed here.

I believe someone else had tried it before but then stopped after 1 year and no one took it over. So, I decided to approach the beach owner and try to set up my own Valet service.

At that time I was working in the luxury hotel industry and also in Casinos in Cannes and Juan Les Pins.

Was it easy to get the permission you needed?

No, not at all. It took me 5 years and lots and lots of paperwork. You need insurance and I needed  permission from the owner of the beach, I had to convince him that he needed to offer this service to his clients. There are many things that you need to have in place and all of this takes time. I was finally given the permission I needed to start the Valet service 3 years ago.

Where do you find your staff?

They are all my friends, at the moment I have a couple of guys from the North of France and some come from around here. Most of them are students working during the holidays.

What makes a good valet?

For me a good valet is someone who understands good service and someone who is always well presented. You have to be able to speak a little bit of English and have a good attention to detail. If you get stressed easily then isn’t the job for you as sometimes we get incredibly busy here. It’s very important to be able to remain calm under pressure, you need to keep calm and park the car. That’s it.

What do you love about working here?

The location. You have the beautiful sea and I love the high level of guests who come here.

How many months of the year do you offer this service?

We start in April and we are here every day until the end of Sep.

What do you do in the winter? Do you have another job?

No no I don’t have to work in the winter. Winter for me is holiday time. I stay here and sometimes I go abroad. I love that by working really really hard in the summer I can then have the winter off to do what I want. It’s my perfect job.

What’s an average shift here?

Sometimes 10hrs or sometimes more, it depends on what’s going on in the restaurants here. If there is a wedding event then we can be here into the early hours of the morning.

Do you come here when you are not working?

Yes of course. I love to go for a drink at the Eden Roc. I love this part of the coast because it’s so beautiful. We don’t have this in Cannes you know the trees and the wildness. Cap d’Antibes is a very unique place to spend time, it has the forest, the beaches, the amazing hotels and restaurants and beautiful walks.

Did you come to Cap d’Antibes when you were younger?

No not really. I am from Cannes so I spent most of my time there. I do remember coming here once when I was about 10 with my parents. We came to see the beach here but otherwise I never really came here.

What do you charge for your service?

It’s completely up to the customers. We do not have a fee we just offer a service. If they want to pay us then it’s up to them what they give us. They are first and foremost guests rather than customers. If you give us nothing then that’s ok too but that rarely ever happens.

How do I get a job here?

You have to come and talk to me. That’s it. I am here every day so it’s easy to find me.

You can find Julien and his team at the entrance of Plage Keller, Plage de la Garoupe, Cap d’Antibes. 

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