Jim Haynes has hosted over 130,000 diners at his weekly supperclub in Paris over the last 30 years. A legend on the supperclub scene, Jim talked to Craig Butcher about what makes his parties tick.
Why did you start hosting dinner parties?
It came about totally by accident. There was a young woman having dinner one night in a restaurant and she’d just arrived in Paris from California. She was a dancer. She sat down next to a friend of mine and they started talking. My friend said: ‘call Jim tomorrow’, which she duly did. She came, and I put her in the guest bedroom. She said her hobby was cooking and asked if she could cook a meal for me and some of my friends. I invited about 20-25 people over for a meal and after they’d all raved about having had the best meal of their lives, she said: ‘I’ll do this every Wednesday and Saturday if Jim wants me to. I’m staying in the guest bedroom and it’s the least I can do’. I said I was all for it – it’s the best meal I’d ever had in my life – and she proceeded to do amazing things. She loved to dance but she was also a teacher and a choreographer and her dance classes filled up very quickly. So she said: ‘I don’t think I can do this twice a week anymore’, and I said: ‘I don’t think my neighbours can handle this twice a week! Let’s move it to Sunday’ and it’s been Sunday ever since. One Sunday she couldn’t do it. She had a friend who was a cook and it went from there.
Why do people want to come to your parties?
I think what it is is this: I always tell the story of a very shy French girl who sat down on a couch. She spoke almost no English. Quite a shy guy from Munich was set next to her randomly. He was sitting there, she was sitting there and I introduced them to each other and said: ‘talk!’ Now they’re married with three kids who speak English, French and German!
How do you choose your guests?
The best thing about my dinner parties is I don’t invite anyone – everyone invites themselves. So I don’t have to worry about not inviting ‘A’ because he’s not speaking to ‘B’ and ‘B’ is sleeping with ‘C’s' wife! That’s not my problem. It’s whoever wants to come. I start a list with boys on the left and girls on the right. It’s nice to have a balance. It doesn’t always come out that way but balance is good. It’s a very special party and it’s in the world’s address book now. I don’t invite anyone so it’s a mix for me too as for the guests – I have no idea who’s going to be here!
How do you choose the menu?
I pick the cook who’s cooking, then I discuss the menu with them. I know that certain cooks have certain specialities. I tell everyone to cook for 100, and I try to keep the numbers down to about 75. The chefs give me a list on Friday and I go get the ingredients. I have a young Chinese couple up the street who have a fruit and veg stand and they get me really high quality products. When you get good quality produce and you throw them together, you usually come up with something great.
What happens with the leftovers?
Neighbours! Feed the neighbours and keep them happy. That’s true of any party. The lady who lives upstairs is 83. She was born in that flat and lived there 83 years. I’ve been here now 40 years; 35 years ago when I started these, I told her not to cook on Sundays and I’ll fix you up with dinner. So I still do that. She’s my biggest fan and comes down, chops garlic and peels onions – she’s a honey pie. The neighbours on the other side I feed every Sunday night. The neighbours down the way come too.
Do your guests pay?
I don’t have a fixed charge so people can contribute whatever they want to. What I tell people is to bring an envelope, put their names on the back and make a contribution. They can give anything they want, and I have a suggested contribution which is 25 euros but they can give more and they can give less – many give less. I tell a lot of my friends ‘forget it’ – just come and eat and enjoy yourselves.
What do you think about the supper club scene?
It’s amazing how many more supper clubs there are now – it is, quote, a ‘movement’! People are doing it all over the place. And I think they’re doing it because of the random factor. You have a normal party, you invite all your friends and they all know each other. But it’s the random factor which is the major element in all of this – you never know who you’re going to be talking to. The person next to you could be a dancer – I’ve had the male and female lead of the Bolshoi ballet here, the same time as a tour of a Japanese ballet company and a film-maker. There are authors and poets, a strange mixture of people who we meet. That’s what people like – the madness of it. People come to Paris – and this would apply to any city – but Paris is a real crossroads city. There are people constantly travelling east to west, north to south and vice versa. It’s the most visited city in the world and they eat well, in nice restaurants but they don’t meet anyone. Here, you meet locals, and the French meet the foreigners and everybody’s happy!
Jim is currently the face of After Eight Dinner Mints. To learn more about him, visit www.jim-haynes.com
Craig Butcher