British food winning over French consumers
Why have the French, long convinced that British food meant boiled meat and jelly, changed their minds? British makers of sandwiches, crumpets, scones and lemon curd say there are many reasons, not least a simple desire for something different in a country with a high-quality but highly traditional food culture.
Increased foreign travel and the vast French population resident in London – said to be France’s sixth biggest city – have also played a part in spreading the word that decent food does not end at Calais. Meanwhile, shorter lunch breaks mean good food on the go is increasingly in demand among younger workers.
Marks & Spencer is one retailer that has benefited from increasing demand for convenience, said Jill Bruce, its head of international food. It has 10 stores in Paris selling food – five standalone food stores opened this year and it plans about 20 food stores there by 2016.
Pret A Manger is also capitalising on the growing fashion for lunch “al desko”, opening its 11th store in Paris last month and hoping to more than double its business there in the next two to three years, targeting the young office workers who are now aping Brits’ lunch habits with avocado and crayfish salads and carrot cake.
John Gleave, senior trade adviser for agri-food, fashion and retail at UK Trade & Investment in Paris, said: “Anything to do with snacking and ready-to-go is growing very quickly in France and a lot of British manufacturers are very good at that.”
Pret’s marketing director Mark Palmer agreed: “In Paris the quality of food is good but the speed of service is not particularly fast. There was demand for high quality food at pace. Pret offers more variety and innovation than is available in the more traditional areas of the trade. More and more people want a choice of food on the go.”
The Food and Drink Federation said France was Britain’s second biggest food export market after Ireland in the first half of this year, with a 9% year-on-year increase to £748m.
Source: theguardian.com
