Why can't you order just drinks on a French restaurant's terrace?

fixit_fiona

We're on holiday in France, where many restaurants are seen having a terrace (an outside seating area). Given many restaurants, at least all over smaller towns in Bretagne, close between like 14:00 and 17:00, you might be rejected when you ask to be seated between 13:00 and 14:00, as the kitchen is already closing up. Understandable so far, but when closure is obviously not the case, why won't a restaurant with a half empty terrace accept you...

Originally asked by CodeCaster on Stack Exchange (travel) (CC BY-SA 4.0).

uphilltech

Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:

I see at least a few possible reasons: To serve alcoholic drinks without a meal, they need a different license (licence III or licence IV, as opposed to a restaurant license). It can become a bit cumbersome to ask or specify in advance about alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks, so they can turn it into a blanket "not just drinks" if they don't have the relevant licence. During meal times, in establishments which act both as restaurants and bars, priority is given to people eating. Depending on the place, they can restrict drinks-only to a few tables or just reject all such requests. 13:00 to 14:00 is a common time for people to eat in many areas, so rejecting people for drinks at that time is...

Full answer by jcaron: https://travel.stackexchange.com/a/173966 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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