Victoria Larragy, Bord Bia Paris Office

In the last 20 years the value of the frozen food market in France has grown by 55% to an estimated value of €11.4 billion. Average annual consumption of frozen food in France is 37kg per person, compared to 46.5kg per person for Irish consumers (Les Echos, 2014).

The home frozen food market, which currently consists of 4.6 million purchasing households, accounts for 19.1% of the overall frozen food market. The market leader of the frozen home delivery segment is Toupargel, with 36% of market share and a turnover in 2013 of €294 million. They currently stock over 1,100 references, of which 30% are private label. The 2nd largest player on the market is Eismann, part of the German group present on the European market, but in April their French branch became an independent subsidiary of Toupargel, stating the reason of ‘increased synergies’ between the two.

However these home delivery frozen specialists are increasingly losing market share to freezer centre specialists such as Picard and Thiriet. Picard is the clear market leader with a market share of over 20%, a turnover last year of €1.4 billion, and currently over 930 stores. They are the innovation benchmark for frozen food in France, and sell a range of restaurant-style dishes, meal components, desserts and baby foods. 67% of Picard’s products are produced in France, while 18% are produced across other European countries (LSA, 2014). They are currently expanding internationally and now have stores in Belgium, Italy and Sweden, and most recently in Japan. Picard’s challenger in France is the family run company Thiriet, who have 165 stores present in both the retail and home delivery segments (70% of their turnover). They manufacture in-house 35% of their products, and sell only private label goods, like Picard. They introduce over 150 new products annually.

For more information on the frozen food market in France and to receive a presentation on the freezer specialists and frozen home distributors please contact victoria.larragy@bordbia.ie in the Paris office.