The credit crunch is changing consumers’ habits in France. In recent months there has been a substantial decline in customers in France's restaurants.

The figure varies from region to region and by locale, but the overall slump is estimated between 15 and 30 percent. The French hotel workers' union reckons trade is down 20 percent nationwide, and says it is "very anxious" about the development.

There has even been a five percent drop in the amount of coffee drunk in restaurants this year, with customers slipping back to their office machines for their post-prandial caffeine fix. 3,000 cafés and restaurants went into liquidation in the first half of this year. Increasingly, France's office workers are eating sandwiches at their desks too, and there are now 60 McDonald's in Paris alone.

The restaurant trade is now third in the French bankruptcy stakes, after house builders and estate agents. The smoking ban is certainly to blame in a country where nearly a third of the adult population still light up. But bankruptcies are up 25 percent also in traditional restaurants, which suggests that the main cause is the economic slowdown.