A special Candlemas tradition: how much flour should you use for a pancake?

As part of the ongoing series of rulings on the reconstruction of restaurant revenue, the Marseille Administrative Court of Appeal issued a ruling in late January that is particularly relevant to current developments in the restaurant industry.

A crêperie in Nice had been subject to a tax audit, following which the auditor deemed its accounting records insufficient and therefore estimated its revenue in order to assess the restaurant for taxes.

He then used a method that involved determining, based on the amount of flour purchased by the restaurant, the number of crepes produced and sold.

Before the Administrative Court of Appeals, a debate ensued over how much flour a crepe contained.

The inspector had estimated that the amount was limited to 12.5 grams. This figure had apparently been provided by the restaurant manager during the tax audit.

The restaurant, however, considered this amount too small and had submitted to the Administrative Court of Appeal several pancake recipes using 25 grams of flour or more per pancake, as well as a bailiff’s report“describing a demonstration of pancake preparation by the manager at his home, after the transfer of the business, using more than 40 grams of flour per crepe.”

However, this argument will not succeed in overturning the Court’s ruling, which states that“the investigation reveals that there are various recipes for crêpe batter, resulting in a variable amount of flour used per crêpe, depending on the type and density of the flour used, the other ingredients, and the utensils employed.” It finds that the evidence provided by the restaurant is insufficient to call into question the measurements recorded during the inspection.

The restaurant's tax reassessment is therefore confirmed.

CAA Marseille, Jan. 29, 2026, No. 24MA02102

This monitoring service is provided by Mispelon Avocat, a law firm specializing in tax audits and tax litigation. You can stay updated by subscribing to the newsletter via this link.