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Oysters, foie gras, capons ... before Christmas, the festive products play their all-out

2020-12-19T17:37:42.561Z


After a catastrophic year 2020, against a backdrop of confinements and closure of restaurants, traders are multiplying the tips for


For twenty-five years in poultry and eleven years in foie gras, Fabien Chevalier, Managing Director of Maison Lafitte, which markets Lafitte and Paysans de Gascogne foie gras, thought he had seen it all, lived it all.

Everything, but not "that".

That is this horrible year, “the most painful”, he said modestly, “because even during the avian flu of 2016 and 2017, we went several months without working but we had a horizon.

"Today, all is uncertainty", he laments, clinging to the date of January 20 for a possible reopening of restaurants.

“But even that is not certain”.

Bleeding for certain sectors

On this Christmas Eve, foie gras, smoked salmon, oysters, and other chocolates are not at the party.

These products are suffering the full brunt of the closure of restaurants (seven weeks in the spring and already seven weeks since the start of the second confinement) but also the cancellation of banquets, company parties and other music festivals.

Without forgetting the duck producers, doubly affected since the discovery (in five farms to date) of cases of avian flu, which has led to the closure of several export destinations, including the strategic Japan.

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The numbers give the spin.

If the poultry sector will have a stable year - the French confined to their homes have roasted chicken on chicken - the stopping of restaurants represents a bleeding for other sectors: the guinea fowl will end the year at -15%, the duck at -20%, quail at -30% and pigeon at -50%!

The Lafitte house, in the best case, will show - 15%.

"If the caviar ends at -20%, it will be unexpected," adds Michel Berthommier, vice-president of the French Marine Aquaculture Union.

"Many very small companies are in a critical situation and the shops located in closed shopping centers have suffered enormously", lists Gilles Rouvière, general secretary of the Chocolate Union.

On the employment side, some signs are worrying, such as the recent closure of a Labeyrie smoked salmon production plant in Wisches, Alsace, which will leave 80 employees behind.

A mess of websites and promotions

In this slump, a few brands are coping with it, such as Saumon de France: "we will end the year at zero, but only because we have succeeded in redirecting our sales from restaurants to supermarkets", rejoices Pascal Goumain, his boss.

Suffice to say, in all these sectors which sometimes achieve, like foie gras, 70% of their turnover at Christmas, that this last week before the passage of the Three Kings will be vital.

Everyone wants to believe it.

And put in place strategies to bounce back.

First parade: Internet sites.

La Maison du caviar, in Paris, launched one in November, which has grown very strongly since.

"We even think that rather quickly, the turnover of the site will exceed that of the restaurant", hopes Olivier Breillat, one of the managers of this establishment.

The Lafitte website is also a hit.

"Those who will not cross France, for example send a raw liver to their children, with their own recipe", underlines Fabien Chevalier.

Foie gras professionals have negotiated "to be present on mass distribution drives, which was not the case in 2019", rejoices Michel Fruchet, the president of the Interprofessional Committee of Foie Gras Palmipeds. (Cifog).

Smaller packages to meet the instructions of six people at the table

The same can also count on a record number of promotions: if, in 2019, the Egalim law had hurt them by limiting promotions to 25% of volumes, all those who, this year, requested an exemption from the DGCCRF (Directorate of competition, consumption and fraud repression) obtained it, without even scrapping.

“In terms of the number of promotions, it's open bar in all stores this year!

», Says Michel Fruchet.

In some Leclercs, we even find for the first time cans of 10 g caviar at 4.89 euros, "Even if the producer is Italian, each year, in terms of price, floors are pierced", explains Michel Berthommier.

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Another tip: adapt to the new rules.

“As we are not going to have big family reunions, we have changed our packaging of oysters: while usually we make packages of 3 to 8 dozen, this time we will have packages of one to three dozen ”, details Philippe Le Gal, oyster farmer and president of the national shellfish farming committee.

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Finally, all played the advertising card to promote their flagship products. "We have launched a web-series with short films

" Celebrate with festive poultry "

, where cooks explain, for example, how to cook a capon even if there are not many of you, and keep some for the next day", details Eric Cachan, the president of Synalaf (French poultry). As for the New Aquitaine region, it has spent 800,000 euros, an unprecedented effort, for a TV campaign promoting its foie gras, caviar and other capons. More than 300 spots for a single message: for the holidays, taste our gastronomic treasures.

Source: leparis

All business articles on 2020-12-19

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