Let them bake bread: France's top baker ordered to stop working seven days a week
Prize-winning French boulanger defies rules surrounding Sunday closing exemption
Stephane Cazenave may have first won national acclaim after being hailed for baking the best baguette in France, but now he has become a household name for different reason - breaching regulations requiring him to close his store once a week.
His case has hit headlines as the country was engaged in a fierce debate over whether to allow Sunday working.
Most retail shops are prohibited from opening on Sunday, with supermarkets only allowed to open until 1pm.
Bakeries have a special rule, with days off staggered so the French can get a freshly baked baguette every day of the week.
Cazenave, from the southern Landes region, complied with laws requiring him to give his employees two days off per week, but defied rules obliging him to shut his shop for at least one day.
Under the threat of prosecution he recently began closing his shop, but he fumed at the rigidity of the rules.
"This represents a loss of €250,000 [HK$2.2 million] in sales per year, so I am going to have to let one or two employees go," said Cazenave, who won last year's competition for the country's best baguette.