Francis Fauchère, 58, the president of Eurodis Viande, is a meat wholesaler who employs 40 people. He grew up in a poor family, he said, and hires people from similar straits — many from the gritty banlieues ringing Paris, where unemployment is as high as 40 percent.

“If you’re willing to work hard, you’ll find a job,” he said as a man swung a cleaver at a veal carcass. Mr. Fauchère said he paid his workers nearly twice the minimum wage, and passes on his savoir-faire to give them skills for continued employment.

Antoine D’Agostino, 82, began working at age 12 in the teeming food pavilions in Les Halles, hauling produce in wooden carts.

“I never had time to go to school,” said Mr. D’Agostino, lingering with his memories over an early morning cappuccino. “But I knew how to count.”

Mr. D’Agostino, a celebrity at the market, offered some memories of his early days in the business.

At Les Halles, he said, you had to sell produce fast because there was no refrigeration. He would wheel his cart from one store to another, hustling carrots or lettuce until everything was sold. The worst off were the glaneurs — scavengers who competed with rats for food scraps on the ground.