Ethnic foods boom in France

AgExporter, March, 1999 by Mattie Sharpless

The French have become more worldly in their eating habits, and just like Americans, they have developed growing appetites for ethnic foods such as tacos and tortillas. The development of theme restaurants in France, which serve American, Cajun, Asian and other international cuisines, has increased the popularity of international foods, creating a demand for high-quality products.

French consumers satisfy their desires for ethnic foods at home by cooking a variety of cuisines, including Asian, American and Indian. This creates excellent opportunities for U.S. exporters of ethnic food products to market their products in France.

Ethnic Foods Popular in France

The French consumer who buys ethnic foods is generally under 50 years old and lives in a large city. He or she buys ethnic meals for their taste, not for food variety. Last year, the French theme restaurants served more than 6.3 million Asian meals, compared to 2.5 million Tex-Mex meals.

Today, France's retail market for ethnic foods is also growing. Last year, more than $41 million in Asian food products were sold in France compared to $17.5 million in Tex-Mex food products.

Currently, the best selling ethnic food segments are convenience foods, frozen foods and beers. It's possible that ethnic foods could expand to other products, such as organic foods and vegetarian products.

In the catering service market, ethnic foods that originate from Cuba and other Caribbean nations, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States are also growing.

Food Educates French Consumers

The nations of the world may speak many languages, but food is clearly the common link between all cultures. French consumers have learned they can take a trip around the world simply by lifting a fork.

Food consumption also links the French to international cultural traditions and events such as music, movies, clothes or traditional holiday celebrations such as Christmas or Halloween.

By exercising their taste buds, French consumers have become familiar with as many 10 different international cuisines. The most popular are the Asiatic, Indian, Tex-Mex, Lebanese, Greek and African cuisines. Many can expertly distinguish between the cuisines of similar cultures such as the Asian countries of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Korea.

Today's French shoppers are concerned about convenience as well as taste. Consumers preparing ethnic foods at home seek products that are simple and easy to prepare.

The majority of ethnic food products in France are sold in supermarkets. For example, while the Monoprix supermarket chain pioneered the introduction of ethnic products, other chains soon followed, notably Carrefour and Auchan.

Carrefour, the second-largest supermarket chain in France with 115 stores, recently conducted a one-week U.S. food promotion. The chain is now making plans to increase its line of U.S. ethnic food products.

The U.S. Office of Agricultural Affairs is working with the Auchan chain of supermarkets, which has 52 stores in France, to feature California foods.

U.S. exporters who are interested in exporting their ethnic foods to France should follow these tips:

* Determine the trade trends for your products. Select target products and conduct basic market research to obtain statistics for those products for at least the last five years.

* Investigate and develop sources. Contact USDA's Office of Agricultural Affairs in Paris for information on local regulations, custom duties, distribution channels and market size.

* Adapt your products to local regulations. Give the customer what he or she wants, and not what you think they want. Check to be sure ingredients such as coloring and additives are permitted.

* Identify the desired distribution channels for your products, and determine whether it's best to deal with supermarkets, importers or distributors.

* Participate in French trade shows. Target your products for ethnic trade shows or shows that will have large audiences of supermarket buyers, importers and distributors.

For more information on exporting to France, contact:

The Office of Agricultural Affairs American Embassy 2, Avenue Gabriel 75382 Paris Cedex 08 Tel.: 011-33-1-43-12-2264 Fax: 011-33-1-43-12-2662 E-mail: FasParis@Compuserve.com Internet: http://www.amb-usa.fr/fas/fas.htm

Mattie Sharpless is the minister-counselor with the Office of Agricultural Affairs at the American Embassy, Paris, France. Tel.: (33-1) 4312 2222; Fax: (33-1) 4312-2662.