Summary

The French bakery market reflects the country's cultural affinity for bakery products, although consumption habits have evolved. While 92% of French people eat bread, and significant percentages also enjoy croissants and pains au chocolat, bread consumption has fallen from 160 grams a day to 120 grams. Despite this decline, many French people still frequently consume bakery products, with 45% eating bread every day.

Although supermarkets and bakeries compete, artisanal bakeries dominate 62% of sales. Organic and multicultural products are on the rise, with organic bakery sales reaching 546 million euros, an increase of 70% in five years. Bread remains a staple offering, while viennoiseries and pastries are diversifying product ranges. Price increases have been noted, with a 9% rise. French consumers prefer quality, proximity and local production when choosing bakery products.

Artisanal bakeries, which include both independent stores and franchises, are facing competitive pressure, leading to the closure of smaller and often newer establishments. The notable trend is towards the expansion of bakery catering and adaptation to consumer expectations for variety and healthier options. Regulations governing the use of the terms "boulangerie" and "boulanger" guarantee that products are made on site, without the use of frozen dough. Despite health concerns about bread as a potential cause of weight gain, the market is proving resilient due to its cultural importance and evolving offerings that respond to changing consumer preferences.

The French bakery market: balancing tradition and changing consumer preferences

The French bakery market bears witness to the country's rich gastronomic heritage, with bakery products being an essential part of people's daily lives. Bread is widely consumed by the French population, while viennoiseries such as croissants and pains au chocolat are enjoyed by 74% and 70% of French people respectively. This deep cultural attachment is evident from the fact that almost all French people (98%) regard croissants as a symbol of their national identity. Despite this deep-rooted tradition, the market is not immune to change.

Over the years, consumer habits have evolved considerably: average daily bread consumption per person has fallen by a quarter. Nevertheless, bread remains a mainstay of the diet, with over 80% of the population consuming it regularly. Quality remains the main concern of French consumers when they buy bakery products, with 82% deeming it essential. Other factors such as proximity and local production also play an important role in their decision-making.

In terms of spending, the French have a penchant for bakery products, with the average amount spent per visit to a bakery between 2 and 4 euros, and around 25% of visitors spending more than 5 euros. Among traditional offerings, new consumer demands for diversity and organic products are reshaping the market. Around 40% of the population appreciate the variety of bread types, incorporating between 5 and 10 different kinds into their diet. Sales of organic bakery products have soared, almost doubling from around 324 million euros to 546 million euros.

In terms of the commercial landscape, France boasts over 27,000 bakeries and patisseries, employing a considerable workforce of around 131,803 people. This testifies to the sustained attractiveness of the sector, which attracts many apprentices and professionals despite a slight decline in the number of establishments. What's more, the French bakery market is not immune to competition: supermarkets, hypermarkets and bakeries are carving out significant market shares. The market has also adapted to changing consumer trends by diversifying into bakery catering. With changing lifestyles, bakeries have integrated sandwiches and other meal options, becoming more attractive for peak lunchtimes. In so doing, they offer a competitive and convenient alternative to traditional restaurants.

Key players shaping the French bakery and patisserie landscape

The French bakery and patisserie market is a tapestry woven from the skills and traditions of many key players. These range from independent artisans to eminent franchises, each contributing to the rich mosaic of this beloved industry.

  • Banette and Campaillette are renowned networks of independent bakeries. These collectives bring together local bakeries under a common brand, enabling them to benefit from collective marketing efforts and widespread consumer recognition, while retaining their individuality and artisanal quality.
  • Marie Blachère, Louise and Ange have established a significant market presence. These franchises offer a standardized range of products in all their outlets, guaranteeing consistent quality and experience for customers, wherever they are.
  • Mie Câline and Brioche Dorée represent the bakery segment, where establishments offer a variety of bakery products that are finished on site. These brands are often recognized for their convenience, offering quick service to consumers looking for fresh, fast baked goods.

This diversity of players, from the independent artisan to the thriving franchise, from the artisan bakery to the illustrious bakery chain, contributes to the unique positioning and variety that characterize the French bakery and patisserie market. Together, they maintain the prestigious reputation of French bakery products, while adapting and shaping consumer tastes and trends in this constantly evolving culinary field.

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  • Number of pages : 30 pages
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  • Last update : 15/12/2021
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Summary and extracts

1 Market overview

1.1 Definition and Introduction

A Bakery/Pastry shop is a local shop offering a wide range of products such as bread, pastries and cakes, and often the product offering is complemented by sandwiches as well as cold and hot drinks.

Bakeries and bakery products play a central role in French gastronomic traditions, and the French remain attached to their legacy. Despite changes in consumption patterns, which have led to a decline in bread consumption over the years, the French declare that consumtion levels remain high relatively.

Despite this traditional anchoring, bakery and pastry shops also know how to reinvent themselves and expand their offer to meet new expectations of consumers as far as their diet or lifestyle is concerned. This adjustment is also essential if bakeries want to maintain their sales in light of fierce competition from other distribution channels.

There are many different types of players in the bakery and pastry market, divided in particular between industrial and artisanal production. The focus of this study will be on the artisanal bakery and pastry making.

1.2 The global market is growing

In order to give a global market overview, this section considers sales of all bakery products. Therefore, this part (***) which makes the market size in this section larger than that considered for France only. 

Global sales of bakery items and pastries World, ****-****, billion $ and % Agroalimentaire Canada

In ****, global sales of ...

1.3 Domestic market

Sales revenue of organic bakery products France, ****-****, million euros Agence Bio

The turnover of the bakery-pastry industry in France was **.* billion euros in ****, which represented ** billion baguettes sold per year. The sector experienced very strong growth in **** and especially ****, with bakery activity being driven by bakery catering (***) and an expansion ...

1.4 L'impact de la crise du Covid-19

Comme le montre le graphique ci-dessous, l'impact de la crise du Covid-** sur le marché des boulangeries et pâtisseries a été particulièrement significatif lors des périodes de confinement imposées par le gouvernment. Tout d'abord, l'indice de chiffre d'affaires a connu une première chute de **% entre Janvier ...

2 Demand Analysis

2.1 The French are major consumers of bakery products

Bakery products are integral to the daily life of the French, and as such are consumed by the majority of the population. For example, **% of French people say they eat bread, **% eat croissants and **% eat pain au chocolat. [***]

Consumption of bakery products France, ****, % IFOP

The large majority of French people are ...

2.2 The bakery at the heart of French daily life

The baker remains the most visited shopkeeper in France when measured on a monthly basis. The French pay visits almost three times a week (***), compared with only *.* monthly visits to hypermarkets and supermarkets, *.* monthly visits to the fruit and vegetable shop, and *.* monthly visits to the butcher. [***]

Monthly visits of different ...

2.3 Purchasing behaviour in the bakery industry

Selection criteria

France's history and experience with bread has led the main purchasing criterion to be quality: **% of the French consider it to be essential. After this, we find that the most important factors are:

the proximity of the point of sale for **% of those surveyed and local production, for **% of ...

2.4 New consumer expectations: diversity and organic products

A wide variety of breads

**% of French people claim to regularly consume * to ** different types of bread, and **% of them even claim to consume more than ** types of bread. [***] Indeed, breads originating from other countries all around the world are gradually paving their way into the french market. Thus, wraps, ...

2.5 The threat of new consumption patterns: the dietary factor

A large proportion of bakery products are perceived as unhealthy and dense in fat, which causes a considerable brake on demand.

For example, **% of French people are convinced that bread is a cause of weight gain, and this percentage rises to **% for **-** year olds. This is an important factor at ...

2.6 Focus sur les pâtisseries

D'après les données de Nielsen, l'année **** a enregistré un chiffre d'affaires annuel de ***,* millions d'euros pour la pâtisserie traditionnelle. Parallèlement, la pâtisserie industrielle a contribué à hauteur de *** millions d'euros sur la même période. 

Répartition du chiffre d'affaires généré par les ...

3 Market structure

3.1 Fewer bakeries but more employees

The number of bakeries and pastry shops (***) has been declining since the beginning of ****. In fact, France only had **,*** bakeries and pastry shops in ****, compared to **,*** in ****. However, the number of employees has continued to increase, reflecting the attractiveness of this profession, with many apprentices in particular. Indeed, there were ***,*** employees ...

3.2 Competition from supermarkets and bread shops

While artisanal bakeries remain the main distribution channel for bread and other bakery products, they are not alone and face increasing competition from other distribution channels. Artisanal bakeries accounted for **% of the volumes sold in ****, compared with **% for bread shops, **% for hypermarkets and *% for supermarkets. [***]

Main distribution channels of bakery products France, ...

3.3 Exploitation type d'une boulangerie

L'observatoire FIDUCIAL **** des boulangeries pâtisseries repose sur des données recueillies en **** avant la crise sanitaire. Le dirigeant d'une boulangerie est en moyenne âgé de ** ans, et plus des */* des exploitations reposent sur un couple. De plus, environ ** % des exploitations sont situées en milieu urbain, avec une ouverture hebdomadaire ...

3.4 Un zoom sur Marie Blachère, le Pétrin Ribeïrou, les boulangeries dans la région Grand Est et dans la Région PACA

Zoom sur Marie Blachère

Marie Blanchère est une franchise qui a débuté en ****. En ****, la franchise comptait *** adresses, deux ans plus tard, elle atteignait les ***. Elle devrait, en cette fin d'année ****, atteindre les *** adresses. Ainsi, en moyenne, entre **** et ****, la franchise a ouvert ** nouvelles adresses par an. ...

3.5 Des niveaux de rentabilité qui dépendent de certains facteurs de réussite

Grâce aux données fournies par l'Insee, nous pouvons étudier la rentabilité moyenne du secteur. La boulangerie-pâtisserie est relativement peu rentable, affichant un taux de résultat d'exploitation autour de *%. 

Source: ****

Par ailleurs, les performances financières des boulangeries-pâtisserie varient en fonction de nombreux facteurs propres à chaque point ...

4 Analysis of the offer

4.1 The different types of products

Bakeries and pastry shops offer a very wide range of products, which can be broken down into several activities including: bread, bakery products (***). Bakery represents the major part of the offer, with **% of the market value in ****, while pastries and cakes represent **% and **% respectively. [***]

Distribution of different types of products offered ...

4.2 Rising prices for bread and other bakery products

The production price of bakery items (***) has been rising steadily for almost ** years. In fact, with an index base of *** in ****, the producer price index for bakery items reached more than *** in August ****, which implies a *% increase in prices. [***]

Production price index of bread and other bakery products France, ****-**** Source: ...

4.3 Broadening the offer

The bakery catering

The consumption of bakery products is becoming more and more frequent at lunchtime, and in response to this, bakeries are now offering an increasingly broad range of sandwiches, as well as catering formulas. Many of them are also creating on-site catering areas to complement take-away sales. [***]

Bakeries can ...

4.4 Panorama inflationniste : prévisions pour le marché des boulangeries dans les années à venir et impact direct pour les artisans

L'inflation semble s'installer de manière durable

L'inflation ayant continué de surprendre à la hausse en raison de la progression inattendue des coûts énergétiques et la hausse des prix s'étant également généralisée, la BCE a rehaussé ses anticipations d'inflation. L'inflation annuelle devrait atteindre *,* % en ****, *,* % en **** et ...

4.5 L'offre en pâtisserie haut de gamme et de luxe

Il existe * types de pâtisserie en France. Les pâtisseries pures n’ont pas de volumes de vente stables et c’est d’ailleurs pour cette raison qu’elles diversifient de plus en plus leurs offres. Les pâtisseries-chocolateries qui proposent des confiseries et des chocolats artisanaux font généralement ...

5 Regulation

5.1 Trade regulations

Each category of bread displayed must be accompanied by a label (***), attached to the base of the rack where the bread is displayed. This label must contain the following information :

Exact denomination of the category of bread; Weight in grams for breads sold by the piece; Selling price (***); The selling price ...

5.2 The "bakery" designation

The use of the terms "bakery" or "baker" have been subject to regulation since the end of the ****s, by the law n°**-*** of ** May **** determining the legal conditions for exercising the profession of artisan bakers. [***]

Thus, the use of the designations "bakery" and "baker" is exclusively reserved for professionals ...

List of charts

  • Consommation des produits de boulangerie
  • Consommation quotidienne de pain
  • Fréquence de consommation de pain
  • Fréquence de consommation de croissants
  • Visites mensuelles dans les commerces de proximité
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Latest news

Bridor relocation - 16/11/2022
Bakery and Viennese pastries, a flagship department in supermarkets - 08/02/2023
  • Bread is the only BVP segment to grow in volume in supermarkets
  • 2.5 bn €: sales of bakery products
  • 1.3 bn: bread sales
  • 620 M€: sales of pastry products
  • 570 M€: sales of Viennese pastries,
    • Source: Kantar, manufacturer origin, CAM to end November 2022
Le Duff "doesn't want to wait ten years" for its new plant in Brittany and abandons the project - 30/05/2023
  • Planned investment in Liffré plant: 250 million euros
  • Bridor annual sales: 800 million euros
  • Acquisition of Portuguese company Panidor in 2022 (500 employees)
  • Takeover of Lecoq Cuisine in the United States (300 employees)
  • Investment to double the size of the Montreal, Canada plant: 200 million euros
  • 100,000 customers worldwide for Bridor

Companies quoted in this study

This study contains a complete overview of the companies in the market, with the latest figures and news for each company. :

ARGRU
Atlantique Productions
Banette
Biofournil
Boulangerie Neuhauser
Boulangerie Viennoiserie Française
Boulangerie Yong
Bretzels Moricettes Mfp Poulaillon
Bridor (Le Duff groupe)
Brio Gel
Delifrance (Groupe Vivescia)
Erhard Patissier Glacier

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