Bord Bia brought together Irish food and drink exporters and leading French foodservice experts in Paris today (8 December) to explore opportunities in a market where eating out is a way of life for many.
The Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Andrew Doyle T.D. addressed Bord Bia’s Foodservice Market Insights Seminar in Paris today and later this evening will host the annual Bord Bia trade reception at the Embassy of Ireland. During the reception over 50 representatives from 25 Irish exporters will meet with in excess of 200 French food and drink buyers, deepening the long established trading relationship between the two countries.
France continues to be Ireland’s largest Eurozone export market for food and beverages in 2015, and is now in third place globally (behind the UK and the U.S), accounting for 6.6% or €703m of export revenue. It is home to one of the largest “out of home” food consumption markets in Europe, valued at €80.66 bn. (+1%) in 2015. Over 60% of turnover is generated by the commercial food service operators, 25.1% by institutional foodservice operators (schools etc.) and the remaining 12.5% comprises impulse buying (including petrol stations, delis etc.).
Irish exporters already supply seafood, cheese, bagels, muffins, bacon and other cooked meats to the French foodservice channel and Bord Bia's ambition is to help these exporters become the preferred supplies in each of their individual categories in France and build on their success.
CSO trade data for the first nine months of 2016 indicates renewed growth in Irish food and drink exports to France, up 4% in value and 6% in volume on the same period in 2015, driven by growth in the seafood, lamb and beverages categories. France is Ireland’s most important customer for lamb and seafood, second largest customer for beef behind the U.K and third largest export market for Irish whiskey globally.
Foodservice Seminar
The French foodservice experts outlined the changing dynamics of the French foodservice market, including a deep dive into the French quick service restaurant consumer and the key routes to market to meet their needs.
Minister Doyle paid tribute to the ambition of the exporters in seeking out new opportunities post-Brexit and having a clear focus on market diversification and how to generate organic growth in mature markets. “As a country exporting 90% of our food and drink we rely on exporters like you to be innovative and ambitious. I hope that today’s insights have highlighted new business development routes that will deliver valuable growth for your business with our leading Eurozone trading partner. My Department and Bord Bia will support you to convert these opportunities in a market where Ireland already has a strong foothold. Bord Bia’s advice to you will be guided by consumer and market insight but they are also your eyes and ears on the ground here in France, facilitating buyer introductions and helping to grow your business.”
“Building enduring relationships with buyers in France is essential to success and an introduction from an existing Irish supplier to a customer with potential to buy a non-competing product from Ireland can prove invaluable. I would urge you therefore to share your contacts where possible to grow this potentially valuable market for the benefit of all Irish food exporters” added Minister Doyle.
Origin Green
Meanwhile Minister Doyle and Aidan Cotter, Chief Executive, Bord Bia also met with Neil Barrett, Senior Vice President, Corporate Responsibility at Sodexo who will host Bord Bia’s first Origin Green Ambassador to be based in the French market as of January 2017. Sodexo is the world’s largest services company with operations in 80 countries, including Ireland, and is the number one French-based employer worldwide. Sodexo's global corporate responsibility roadmap, Better Tomorrow 2025 defines the company’s commitments to 2025. The Origin Green Ambassador will focus on implementing sustainability initiatives, as part of the company's commitment to responsible sourcing during the first half of 2017.
French Foodservice Market Overview
Bord Bia’s focus on the foodservice channel is informed by its potential for growth and the challenge of by “Made in France” at retail level. The foodservice channel is highly fragmented, hence the critical importance of market insights and buyer introductions. However Irish food has already made significant inroads in this channel across all food groups, but most notably in the meat sector, where two thirds of all meat sold in this channel is imported and Ireland is positioned as the leading import supplier.
Irish food’s visibility in the French foodservice sector was also enhanced recently by Bord Bia’s partnering with one of the leading restaurant guide books in France, Gault et Millau, to promote Irish meat to over 900 high-end French chefs in six different regions in 2017.
The importance of France as a potential growth area was highlighted by Bord Bia Chief Executive Aidan Cotter: “The value of Irish food and drink exports to France will need to increase by approximately 40% to €1 billion if we are to meet the industry targets in FoodWise 2025. In 2015 exports to France were valued at approximately €700 million, it is vital therefore that Bord Bia and exporters optimise every opportunity to deliver growth. This year we led fact finding visits to France in the bakery sector, expanded our presence at Salon du Fromage and had our largest ever consumer foods presence at the SIAL food fair in October which brought a huge response from French and international buyers. We also brought companies from our Food Works Programme to France with a view to doing business here in the future. Increasing our footprint in French foodservice can deliver valuable returns from reputable and reliable customers. I am convinced our exporters can thrive in this market having responded to growth in our own foodservice market which hit a record €7.5 billion this year, and is forecast to grow to over €9 billion by 2020”
Seminar Speaker Line-up
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Trend watching in the French Foodservice Market - Virginie Pernin from GIRA Foodservice
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Understanding the French Quick Service Restaurant Consumer - Food Service Vision
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Key Consumer Trends in the Business and Industry Sector - Marwyn O’Keeffe, Consumer Insight Manager, Sodexo International
French foodservice Sector
Food and drink business to business purchases in the French foodservice sector represented €26.9 bn. in 2015, according to GIRA Food service, of which 28% was spent on beverages.
The French foodservice market has 250,000 outlets, of which 70% are commercial foodservice. It is a highly fragmented market with a competitive mix of domestic and foreign players.
In recent years there has been a clear “Americanisation” trend with a number of new coffee bar (Costa) and burger bar chains (Burger King, Five Guys) entering the market and an increasing number of domestic bagel bar (Bagelstein, Bagel Corner, etc.). A clear example of the growth ambitions in the quick service restaurant (QSR) segment is Burger King, which, after re-entering the market in 2012, now plans to reach open 600 outlets and generate a turnover of €2bn. by 2020 following its takeover of “Quick”.
Ireland is well positioned as a quality supplier to the QSR sector and aims to benefit from the expansion in this sector.