Mixed salads, pies, pizzas, ready meals, fresh pasta… The French continue to favor inexpensive, practical products that offer multiple meal ideas.
If the ambient gloom and tensions on the purchasing power of the French have produced their first effects on the shelves of supermarkets, there is one that seems to be resisting the crisis. That of the fresh caterer, which brings together pizzas, pies, ready meals, surimis, smoked salmon, fresh pasta, dumplings, sandwiches… But also sauces and mixed salads. In total, this segment of 5.5 billion euros in annual turnover in supermarkets, according to the federation of fresh catering companies (ETF), saw its volumes increase by 1.5% over the first three quarters. of 2022, when those of consumer products fell by 2.5% over the same period.
This is almost an exception in supermarkets, while inflation on consumer products reached more than 9% over one year in September, encouraging consumers to buy less in volume. “These products from the fresh catering department are relatively inexpensive, and they remain the main vector of traffic in stores, with 7% of turnover in supermarkets”deciphers Pascal Bredeloux, the president of ETF.
Reflux of home-made
This resistance may seem counter-intuitive. In particular because the health crisis and the successive confinements had brought homemade products back into fashion, often cheaper than ready meals bought in supermarkets. But two and a half years after the appearance of the Covid, with a now recurrent practice of teleworking, the French seem to have gotten a little tired of cooking. Or maybe they’ve run out of recipe ideas.
This creates a favorable environment for these practical, ready-to-assemble products. “Compared to a dish delivered to your home or a meal in a restaurant, a meal bought in a delicatessen section remains inexpensive, with an average price of less than 7 euros.explains the spokesperson for the companies in the sector. Above all, the department offers a wide choice of ideas, ranging from pasta to salmon, appetizer boards, savory pies, terrines, pancakes or salads. Thus a quarter of purchases in the department (23%) are made on impulse.
In this context of limited purchasing power and a persistent desire to indulge, the sector expects the momentum to continue. But the some sixty member manufacturers of the federation warn of the need to pass on to their distributor customers the surge in the rise in their energy costs. And call for the strengthening of the energy shield for businesses, put in place by the executive in the spring. “With certain electricity contracts expected to rise by 700% and 230% on gas, if we do not pass price increases, and if we do not have a framework for energy tariffs, we are running disasterconcludes Pascal Bredeloux.