Brie and Bordeaux take over shopping lists as sales of French foods hit the roof
- Ocado French range sales up 48% year-on-year
- Ocado, the online supermarket, stocks the biggest range of French food products outside of France
- French biscuit sales including favourites Prince and Lu up by 400%
High-end haute cuisine is no longer the most popular way to indulge in French fayre as every-day items such as Brie, croissants and Bordeaux, are increasingly replacing cheddar and traditional English breakfast favourites in Britons’ shopping baskets, according to Ocado. With Ocado’s range of 549 French products celebrating a staggering 48% sales increase year-on-year, the online supermarket has re-launched its French shop in time for Bastille Day on 14th July to meet growing consumer demand.
Best-selling French food products include the French puff pastry brand Marie la Pâte Feuilletee with Ocado recording sales increases of 369% as Britons are increasingly experimenting in the kitchen, creating indulgent French pastries at home. French confectionary items such as Carambar Caramel bars are booming up 371%. Classic red wines like Chateau Segonzac Bordeaux increased by 42% and are set to rise even more this weekend as France celebrates its biggest national holiday. Niche products such as Reflets de France Peach puree and Clement Faugier chestnut spread are appearing in even more Ocado baskets.
French anglophile Agnes Poirier author of Touché – Why Britain and France are so different and A French Woman’s take on the English, comments: “French food is all about tradition. It's about taste and the pursuit of pleasure as a philosophy of life.”
Poirier isn’t surprised that French cuisine has been embraced by retailers, as there are now 350,000 French citizens now living in the UK and more French citizens living in London than in Bordeaux, Nantes and Strasbourg.
Ocado Co-Founder, Jason Gissing, commented: “Bastille Day is special for Ocado as well as our French customers – it’s the day we launched our French range three years ago! We created a range of products Brits love and the French can’t live without and this sales increase just goes to show that we’ve delivered the goods – as usual in our handy one-hour slots.”
Agnes Poirier’s top five, French must-haves on an every-day shopping list should be:
- Isigny Ste Mere Crème Fraîche
- Chateau de Fauzan Minervois-Rouge
- Reflets de France Gache Brioche Loaf (exclusive to Ocado)
- Président Butter
- Reflets de France Brie de Meaux (exclusive to Ocado)
To find Ocado’s French shop-in shop, simply go to www.ocado.com/french.