Sacre bleu! French consumers embrace ready meals

Despite trying economic conditions, convenience products like ready meals and meal kits are gaining popularity in Europe. Market research firm Canadean says that meal kits are set to grow in Germany, while ready meals are expected to dominate the prepared meals sector in France.

Yes, that’s right: France. Home of Le Cordon Bleu, the Michelin Guide and foie gras. Apparently even for the French convenience is king. “The hectic pace of modern life has led consumers to value practicality and convenience in their daily food choices,” Canadean said.

According to Canadean, the prepared meals sector is one of the top five food sectors in France by both value and volume. Canadean predicts the sector will grow rapidly to 2013, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.64% by value and a CAGR of 3.31% by volume.

Within the prepared meals sector in France, ready meals took the highest share of value and volume in 2012 - a trend expected to continue up to 2017. The share of ready meals in the prepared meals sector will rise to 77.6% in value and 77.3% in volume up to 2017, Canadean predicts. A CAGR of 3.86% by value and 3.52% by volume is also predicted.

Introduced to the market in Sweden in 2007, meal kits consist of fresh, prepared and packaged ingredients packed in a kit and delivered to the consumer, who cooks the ingredients following instructions which are included in the meal kit.

While less popular in France, Canadean says meal kits are experiencing a slow but steady growth in Germany. Although meal kits took the lowest share of the German prepared meals sector in 2012, increasing awareness of the offering along with greater variety of choice will see the category show the highest value and volume growth of prepared meals to 2017, Canadean predicts. Value and volume CAGRs are expected to be 2.4% and 2.6% respectively to 2017.

Ready meals are similarly popular in Germany, holding the largest share of the prepared meals sector in 2012, with value and volume shares of 62.4% and 64.2% respectively. However, Canadean anticipates ready meals growth will lag slightly behind meal kits to 2017, at value and volume CAGRs of 2.2% and 2.4% respectively.

The Canadean report - ‘The Future of the Prepared Meals Market in France to 2017’ - was published in July 2013.