The end of an era for the CERN Restaurant

She’s known ten Directors-General, six managers and dozens of colleagues. Her small frame and silver hair, which seem to defy time, are well-known to the thousands of people who use the restaurant. Martine Schmitt is leaving CERN’s Restaurant 1 on 30 January, after an incredible 45 years of service.

 

“I've been here my whole life," she sighs. "I've seen generation after generation of CERN people and have watched their children grow up." Martine started working at the CERN Restaurant in October 1969, when she was 18 years old. At the time, the restaurant was run by the Coop and Martine was assigned to the kiosk, where she worked until 1990. For the past 25 years, though, she has been a cashier in the restaurant, a role that she has always performed impeccably, greeting her clients with unfailing politeness. “She's reserved and very sensitive, and always wants to hear our news,” her colleagues say.

The restaurant is an excellent vantage point from which to observe life at CERN and its changes over time. Over the course of a career spent on the ground floor of the Main Building, Martine has watched CERN grow, as its population has increased tenfold and its gender balance improved. While working on the till, she's crossed paths with some of the Laboratory’s best-known personalities, including John Adams, who she describes as “very elegant”, Wim Klein, the human computer, and Emilio Picasso, who invariably addressed her as "Mademoiselle" and who sadly passed away last year. She also recalls visits from VIPs from the world outside CERN, such as Pope John-Paul II, French President Jacques Chirac and King Felipe VI of Spain, back when he was still the Prince of Asturias. She has witnessed the expansion of the restaurant, keeping pace with the growth of the Organization, and the arrival of Novae as the new service provider in 2004. The restaurant now welcomes some 2000 customers every day, many of whom head for Martine's till. Few know that, outside CERN, she is a skilled skier and cyclist and has successfully navigated France’s most difficult mountain passes.

The restaurant team is organising a retirement party for Martine on Thursday, 29 January from 4 p.m. If you would like to attend, please sign up with Line in the kiosk.

by Corinne Pralavorio