1.1 Presentation and definition

Deep freezing is a process that involves rapidly lowering the temperature of a foodstuff, still in a fresh state and sanitation, up to -18 °C. Freezing, a similar but less efficient process, offers a slower cooling.

There are several techniques for freezing a product:

Contact freezing reserved for thin foods (e.g. fish in nets This is achieved by introducing a food item between two plates in which a fluid circulates at -35°C ).
The forced air circulation technique, more suitable for small products such as vegetables, consists in placing the products in tunnels where very cold air ( -35 °C) circulates at very high speed.
The immersion method adapted to irregularly shaped products, which consists of immersing the food in a fluid at very low temperature such as liquid nitrogen.
Individual freezing or IQF (Individually Quick Frozen) consists in immersing the foodstuffs in a liquid gas. More expensive, it is more suitable for fragile products.

These complex industrial techniques require that the core temperature of the products be maintained below -18°C at all times, which imposes a real challenge on distributors technical challenge.

This report on frozen food will focus on the different segments of the market, business to business and business to consumer and the different forms they can take (home delivery for example). The manufacturing process or the products themselves will also be covered.

Until 2019, we were talking about market maturation and the relative consumer disinterest for frozen foods. Thus, the strategy of the dominant players had to evolve towards an increased diversification. Following this strategy, the Zouari family group has committed to buying more than 40% of the shares of the French market leader Picard.

In 2020, the evolution of this market took a particular turn. The Covid-19 pandemic boosted frozen food sales, with an 11.6% increase in supermarket sales.

1.2 The global market

According to a study by GlobeNewswire, the global frozen food market was worth $***.* billion in **** . Its average annual growth should be *.*% between **** and ****, generating ***.* billion dollars in sales in ****. Market growth in recent years has been driven by the creation of supermarkets and hypermarkets.

Evolution of the size of the frozen ...

1.3 The French frozen food market

The frozen food market has been particularly shaken up in recent years after the horse meat scandal from the Spanghero factory. Indeed, it turned out that the Findus company had sold products labeled "pure beef" when in fact they were horse meat. An investigation followed which showed the weaknesses in meat ...

1.4 Foreign trade

Given the variety of frozen products on the market, we focus in this category on the foreign trade of frozen beef, which is one of the most important segments of the frozen food market in Europe.

Through the UN comtrade website Therefore, it is possible to obtain the graph below corresponding ...

1.5 Frozen food market boosted by the Covid-19 pandemic

The Covid-** crisis has had a positive impact on the frozen food market in France. Indeed, with the restrictions imposed by governments such as confinement and restaurant closures, the French have been led to spend more time at home and have turned to frozen food to facilitate their daily diet

Sales ...

2.1 The Business to Consumer segment

Demand profile

An analysis conducted by Kanta r Worldpanel provides an overview of consumer demand for frozen food and ice cream Individuals spent an average of €*** on frozen food in **** [***]. Between **** and ****, the annual number of purchases fell by *.* million. These losses were mainly concentrated in:

frozen seafood products (***); ice cream ...

2.2 Collective catering

Another demand segment, Business to Business this time, the sale of frozen products is made to collective catering establishments, these include:

educational institutions ; retirement homes and social institutions; business and government ; hospitals and health care facilities ; catering.

Teaching

The student population, all ages and levels combined, has increased by *.*% in ...

2.3 Individual catering

Resaurants can use wholesalers for deliveries of frozen products.

The evolution of French household consumption of restaurant services

There has been a steady increase in French household consumption of restaurant services. The increase in consumption of this product segment is at the expense of other segments such as bars and cafés ...

2.4 New modes of out-of-home catering

Snacking

Out-of-home catering is increasing, this is particularly true of snacking offers, which appeal to consumers because of their simplicity and affordability, a trend that the market leaders are incorporating into their solution packages. Snacking offers appeal for their simplicity and affordability, a trend that CRS leaders are integrating into their ...

3.1 BtoC distribution

The business to consumer segment is the distribution between a company and a consumer

A survey carried out by YouGov in ****, gives an idea of the distribution channels for frozen foods preferred by the French.

Answer to the question "Which retailer do you usually buy your frozen food from?" France, ****, in ...

3.2 Business to Business distribution

The business to business distribution, which consists of the delivery of frozen products between two companies, represented **% of the frozen food market in **** according to Unigrains data. This distribution may be between a frozen food manufacturer (***).

Gira Foodservice has collected data on this distribution segment. These data date from **** but provide ...

4.1 Frozen products available on the market

In order to build an overview of the frozen food supply, we can analyse the supply of Picard which is a specialized distributor. The brand distinguishes :

the fruits and vegetables ; the meats and poultry ; the fish and shellfish .

These dishes can be sold under different forms :

appetizers ; starters, pies and salads ...

4.2 Low prices and frozen food prices

Prices for individuals

By analyzing the price of Picard products, we can establish that they are :

between *.** euros and * euros for vegetables ; between *.** euros and * euros for fruits ; between * euros and * euros for meat and fish products.

Prices for food professionals

In the context of the sale of frozen products to ...

4.3 Towards the obsolescence of deep-freezing?

The hydroprocess of protection, a revolution?

Agro Media notes that advances have been made in recent years in the area of food preservation. For example, the Centre de Développement Bioalimentaire du Québec has developed a new food preservation process the hydroprocess of protection, abbreviated to HPP .

HPP consists of ...

5.1 Respect for the cold chain

Players in the frozen food market (***) are required to respect the cold chain to ensure that frozen foods are maintained at a constant temperature in accordance with the regulations. The latter must always be below -**°C the ambient temperature must be between -**°C and -**°C. This implies that ...