Les Deux Magots began as the Colette of the mid-19th century, a purveyor of silks and notions, fashion and accessories to a stylish clientele. Eclipsed by the rise of department stores, it reopened in 1884 as a modest cafe and liquor counter.
Now, as then, the lone relics of its original incarnation are two Chinese-style figurines of mysterious provenance, for which the place was named.
In April, Les Deux Magots celebrated its 140th anniversary with a party for 350 or so guests. An accordionist played on the terrace, waiters in white aprons tap-danced with silver trays in hand and singers in flapper garb took to a makeshift stage. There were sparklers on a monumental cake. The crowd spilled onto the velvet-roped terrace and into the cobblestoned square.
But it’s not just age that sets this cafe apart. At a time when Parisian institutions like Maxim’s, Lapérouse and, most recently, L’Ami Louis are being snapped up and spun out in export, Les Deux Magots, located on a strategic corner opposite the Church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés on the Left Bank, remains independent, owned and run by the same family for more than a century.
Catherine Mathivat, its fourth-generation matriarch, came to the anniversary bash dressed as her great-grandfather, Auguste Boulay, who bought the place in 1914. Wearing a three-piece suit, necktie, hat and handlebar mustache, she gamely ushered visitors through a temporary exhibition of as-of-then unseen photographs. The rogue’s gallery nodded to some of the greats who transformed these red leather banquettes into a literary hangout and a front-row perch for culture writ large.
Here were Jean-Paul Sartre with Simone de Beauvoir. Pablo Picasso, who met Dora Maar at a table here. A constellation of expats included Ernest Hemingway and Janet Flanner, Miles Davis and, more recently, Virgil Abloh, wearing a double-breasted gray suit with split-leg trousers and Louis Vuitton sneakers.
Anecdotes abounded. Before the Beatles made it big, Ms. Mathivat said, John Lennon and Paul McCartney sat on the terrace sharing a coffee because they were broke.
Nowadays, the clientele hews more toward tourists and well-heeled locals who are comfortable shelling out 38 euros (about $42) for a dozen large Burgundy snails in butter and garlic. The literary pull lingers, drawing young writers with laptops. The cafe has handed out its own book prize — its answer to the famed Goncourt — for 91 years now. But it is the Deux Magots lifestyle that Ms. Mathivat intends to take global.
“Every generation put its own stone in the edifice,” she said in a recent interview.
Her great-grandfather, a former waiter, made the cafe a place to see and be seen, a favorite among Hemingway, James Joyce and the Lost Generation. Her grandmother grew up working the cash register while her grandfather, a pharmacist, brought cocktails into the mix.
“He liked to say that pharmaceutical concoctions and mixology were pretty much the same principle,” she said.
Her father, Jacques Mathivat, a civil engineer by training, broadened the concept to include a restaurant and a deeper terrace.
Ms. Mathivat, who studied accounting and runs the business with her cousin, Jacques Vergnaud, described her contribution as “international expansion and modernization.” It began in 1989 with a Les Deux Magots restaurant in Tokyo, where it now also has four bakeries called Mini Deux Magots. That business accounts for five to six percent of the company’s approximately 15 million euros ($16.7 million) in annual revenue.
Last year, Les Deux Magots added outposts in Riyadh and São Paulo. Now, Ms. Mathivat is focusing on London and, particularly, New York. Although she declined to pinpoint a neighborhood, she hopes to open in both cities as early as next year. Los Angeles and Miami are also high on the list. The décor and menu will be adapted to each location, she said.
“The idea is to export the spirit of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, but replicating the same concept everywhere is exactly what we don’t want,” she said.
Back in Paris, a takeaway concept called Comptoirs Les Deux Magots quietly opened in July on the rue de Buci, just blocks away from the Les Deux Magots. Designed to appeal to younger consumers who prefer eating on the move, it sells homemade madeleines, brioches and tarte Tatins, warm croque monsieurs and baguette sandwiches for less than 10 euros (about $11). A packed picnic for two runs 39 euros ($44).
Named to evoke the merchant trading counters of colonial days, the Comptoirs will let the brand adapt to various markets and locations, like airports, Ms. Mathivat said. And offer extra shelf space for merch like tea towels, totes, pitchers and services for the Deux Magots hot chocolate à l’ancienne.
“It’s not possible to reconstruct a legend,” Ms. Mathivat said. “But we can draw on our past to build the future. We want to offer customers a touch of Les Deux Magots, whether they’re in New York, London, Shanghai or Monaco.”
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