The gluten-free food market - France

1.2 A fast-growing global market

The histogram below represents the global gluten-free food market size from **** to ****

Market for gluten-free products World, ****-****, billion dollars Source: ****

In ****, the global gluten-free food market was worth approximately USD *.* billion. It is estimated that this market will grow at about *.*% per year over the period ****-**** to reach USD *.* billion worldwide by ****.

In ****, the global gluten-free food market stood at some ***,*** tons and is expected to reach around ***,*** tons by ****. This highlights the growth of the market in terms of value as well as volume. A CAGR of *.*% in terms of value over the period ****-**** is expected, which can be compared to a CAGR of *.*% in terms of volume over the same period.

Volume of the global gluten-free food market World, ****-*****, in *** tonnes

Therefore, the market growth is also explained by a volume increase effect (***) which would drive the total market growth.

The graph below represents the value of the different categories of gluten-free products. Breakfast cereals and bakery products (***) represent the two main market segments.

Global gluten-free food market value by category World, ****, in millions of USD Source: ****

1.3 The French market

According to LSA, in ****, gluten-free products would represent **% of the market for dietary products sold in supermarkets and hypermarkets, i.e. ** million euros out of *** million euros in this distribution channel.

To estimate the overall market for gluten-free products in France, we need to know the proportion of these products that are sold in supermarkets. According to Bio Linéaires, the share of gluten-free products sold in supermarkets is estimated at **% of the total

This makes it possible to approximate the global market for gluten-free products, which would be in the order of: ** / *.** = *** million euros in ****.

Market for gluten-free products France, ****-****, million euros Source: ****

In ****, according to the DGCCRF (***), the gluten-free market has been growing steadily for the past * years.

2.1 Consumer profile

The number of consumers who have completely stopped eating gluten would be between * and *% of the total population, these consumers corresponding to two distinct groups.

People with celiac disease who suffer from permanent intolerance ; People who are allergic to wheat or gluten;

In addition, a significant number of people are declared or declare themselves gluten-sensitive: they represent more than **% of the people consuming gluten-free products [***]. From this target audience, the gluten-free market has developed into two related consumer segments (***):

The "Ripple effects", i.e. the relatives of gluten intolerant and allergic people who have to follow this diet (***); The "fashion followers" who are the unrestrained consumers of gluten-free products.

The category of "fashion followers" is attracted by the association of gluten-free with healthy eating practices that exclude products rich in sugars, salt or preservatives. This conflation has been identified by industrial producers, who have launched gluten-free brands and references. For example, Barilla has created a range of gluten-free pasta products, while Nestlé has introduced its "Harry's Si Bon!" brand of sandwich bread.

Reason for consuming gluten-free foods France, ****, in % Source: ****

**% of gluten-free people stop eating gluten for health or family reasons . This contradicts the image of gluten-free as a fad, ...

2.2 High growth potential

Diets practiced by the French France, ****, in % Source: ****

If we count about * to *% of French people, i.e. those who would have banned gluten from their diet because of allergy or intolerance, ** million French people would be occasional consumers of gluten-free products.

Reason for consuming gluten-free products France, ****, in % Source: ****

Another reason to be optimistic about the future health of the gluten-free market is the fact that an overwhelming majority of consumers are forced to consume gluten-free products. This means that these consumers will not "disappear" in the next few years, which could jeopardise the sales opportunities.

If we look at the frequency of searches for the words "gluten-free" on the Internet in France, we can see that while there has been a clear increase in interest since ****, it has stabilised since ****.

The results reflect the proportion of searches for a given keyword in a specific region and time period, relative to the region with the highest usage of that keyword (***). For example, a value of ** means that the keyword was used half as often in that region and a value of * means that there is insufficient data for that keyword.

Evolution of interest in "gluten-free" Google Trends France, ****-****, Google ...

2.3 Spending is still low despite the desire to eat better

Monthly expenditure of the French on gluten-free food France, ****, in Source: ****

As most French people consume gluten, it seems logical to observe that almost **% of them have no monthly expenditure on gluten-free products. However, it appears that the monthly expenditure of people consuming gluten-free products varies between * and more than *** euros. This can be explained by the fact that many foods are naturally gluten-free and that, depending on the diet chosen, it is possible to use more or less special gluten-free foods.

2.4 Trends in the gluten-free market in France

The market for gluten-free products is a very innovative one, as Julie Avrillier, Secretary General of the Dietetic Sector, explains: "Consumption is refocusing on consumers who "need" it, i.e. coeliac patients and people with gluten intolerance. (***)".

According to a government study, there is also a strong adaptation of the market to demand. This market, which a few years ago was a niche market, seems to be maintaining an upward trend and could become a mass market. This trend is materializing in several ways:

The number and type of products on offer has been greatly increased. Some "traditional" operators specialising in dietetic foods have expanded their range. In addition, other non-specialised operators have started to develop gluten-free products. The mass retailers have created brands dedicated to this segment; The availability of "gluten-free" products nowadays affects the bakery/pastry and commercial catering sectors; In the future, this market could extend to other segments such as canteens or hospitals

We are also seeing the creation of products that are both organic and gluten-free. Gluten-free products were accused of being full of additives by several studies, particularly by consumer associations, which is why gluten-free products have lost ground. However, there is an increasingly preponderant ...

3.1 Forces and organization of the sector

Main players in the French market by volume France, ****, in % Source: ****

Main players in the French market by value France, ****, in % Source: ****

We can see that the gluten-free product offer is held by a handful of players who have a large share of the French market. The major players in the market are Barilla, private labels, Gerblé and Schar.

Although these players are the leaders in the French market, they do not all have the same deployment strategy or positioning in terms of products sold. Barilla's sales of gluten-free products are mainly based on pasta, while the other players have more diversified ranges.

The French market leaders all have production sites in France:

Barilla has * production sites in France: Saint Vulbas, Châteauroux and Valenciennes Schar has a site in Oullins, near Lyon Gerblé has two sites, in Revel and Annonay ABCD Nutrition has * sites in France: Novilliers, Moreuil, Bruz and Avignon.

3.2 External competition and substitutes

The French population is becoming increasingly aware of the need to eat healthy, and while some people are turning to gluten-free to control their diet, it is not the only alternative. People who turn to gluten-free to eat healthy and not out of obligation can therefore find substitutes in other diets.

Percentage of French people who eat seasonal, organic, fair trade, gluten-free or lactose-free products France, ****, in % Source: ****

This graph shows the percentage of French people who said they consumed seasonal, organic, fair trade, lactose-free or gluten-free food products in a **** survey. It appears that **% of respondents answered that they consumed seasonal products, compared to **% who consumed gluten-free products.

For people looking for "better food", many diets are possible, the consumption of organic products is much more widespread for example with **% of the population.

The combination of healthy and gluten-free products exposes the latter to the direct competition from other types of diets This is the case for low-fat products consumed by **% of French people (***). In addition, the strong growth in the range of gluten-free products offered by the food industry creates a risk of saturation of the offer in view of the dietary practices of the French. Indeed, while this ...

3.3 Production that expands with consumer trends

Gluten-free manufacturers have been constantly expanding their range of new products in recent years. For example, they have moved into the beverage sector, with the gluten-free beer marketed.

While this sub-segment of the gluten-free market has existed since **** with the creation by Jade Brewery of the range Jade Gluten Free This segment is still growing today. More and more breweries are offering gluten-free beers made from quinoa, millet, corn or buckwheat malt

Another type of beer exists: the so-called "deglutenized" beers. These are beers in which the gluten has been broken down during the production process. The brewers add an enzyme that breaks down the gluten into very small pieces so that these can be detected by the body. In the end, the gluten content of the beer is usually less than ** mg of gluten per litre, which allows the product to be labelled as "gluten-free" according to European legislation.

From a health point of view, however, this type of beer is not suitable for people with gluten allergies. For those who are sensitive to gluten, a certain caution is in order: it all depends on the level of reaction to the traces of each consumer.

On the fringes, some producers ...

3.4 Distribution channels for gluten-free products

There are five main sales channels for gluten-free products:

The large and medium-sized stores Like Système U, Carrefour, Auchan, Leclerc and Intermarché, which distribute gluten-free beer from Brasserie Castelain [***]. They account for approximately **% of sales in this segment and have had an increasing availability of gluten-free products on their shelves since ****, which were previously mainly available in specialty stores. The organic shops such as La Vie Claire . The ***% gluten-free shops which were estimated at about twenty in Paris in **** [***]. The bakeries with gluten-free flour products, such as Chamberlain The online shops with for example bienmanger.com , all-gluten-free.com or noglutenshop.com

In general, the breakdown of gluten-free sales by sales channel is as follows

Breakdown of gluten-free sales by distribution channel France, ****, % Source: ****

3.5 Interview with Cécile Gleize, founder and CEO of Because Gus

Marine: Welcome to the Niche, the podcast that analyzes the niche market with the entrepreneurs who are moving the lines. I'm Marine and I work at Business Group, the startup that dusts off market research. Before we start, subscribe to our podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcast. And now, let's get to the niche of the day the gluten-free food market. And for that, I welcome Cécile Gleize, founder and CEO of Because Gus, the gluten-free media.Hello Cécile!

Cécile : Hello Marine!

Marine: So Cécile, to start with, I'll let you introduce us in a few words what Because Gus is.

Cecile: Because Gus is an online media, so it's a website with articles that, for all those who ask themselves "What is gluten free?", explain everything about gluten, gluten free and it's as much for people who eat gluten free as for their relatives or all those who have questions. This is the visible part, of course we spread all these articles on social networks and the non-visible part is all the market studies. So we launch, we celebrate every year a barometer on gluten-free so that we can have figures. To know who the gluten-free ...

4.1 Types of products

While the gluten-free family of products covers a variety of applications ranging from cosmetics to beer, foodstuffs remain the most important products in the gluten-free sector. Thus, within the food industry, the most common products include the following categories:

Flour (***) Bread, pastries and cakes Dry pasta Pizza dough, puff pastry, shortcrust pastry Processed cereals Biscuits Prepared meals, frozen meals Confectionery

Share of consumers who consume gluten-free foods daily France, ****, in % Source: ****

4.2 Differentiated growth by product type

Three product categories stand out from the rest with strong growth:

Breakfast : the products usually consumed by the French for breakfast contain a lot of gluten (***), so this sub-market has strong development potential. Pasta In this segment, brands are finding ways to provide consumers with foodstuffs that are a priori "forbidden" because they contain gluten, in order to allow them to eat a so-called "classic" diet. This segment is also particularly dynamic in Italy, where the culture of pasta pushes consumers to consume it in "gluten-free" form. [***] Snacking and fast food This segment brings together two growing markets: the snacking market and the gluten-free market.

This is reflected in the sub-categories of gluten-free products released in France between **** and **** where biscuits, cakes and bakery products alone account for **% of products released.

Sub-categories of gluten-free products released France, ****-****, in % Source: ****

Over the period ****-**** we can also note that the product offer has evolved strongly with categories for which many products have been developed by the offer.

Among the products with the most developed offer are sweet biscuits/cookies, which represent around **% of the market. This is followed by cakes, pastries and sweet products (***) and then prepared/cooked meals, which represent ...

4.3 A significant price premium for gluten-free products

The prices of gluten-free products are generally higher than the prices of so-called "classic" products. In fact, a basic basket of gluten-free products shows that prices per kilogram are up to * times higher for some products, particularly biscuits.

Source: ****

4.4 The price of gluten-free products

Dr Schär, the European leader in gluten-free products with a strong presence in the French market, justifies the high prices of gluten-free products by proportionally higher production costs. On the one hand, according to the manufacturer, the European regulation in force (***) contributes to higher production costs as these raw materials are relatively more expensive [***]. According to the critics of gluten-free products, these high prices also correspond to a higher margin captured by the manufacturers, who are thus responding to the growing demand of "fashion followers".

Opinion on the price of gluten-free food (***) France, ****, in Source: ****

This statistic represents the opinion of the French regarding the price of gluten-free food. According to a survey conducted by ProdegeMR, about **% of French people thought the price of gluten-free food was too high.

4.5 Supply trends

The restaurant industry  has particularly invested in the gluten-free segment, as has the Pizza Hut which has launched a range of certified gluten-free pizzas, or Parisian restaurants such as NoGlu that offer certified gluten-free menus (***).

Bakeries are also starting to produce certified gluten-free products, such as Eric Kayser in Paris * and Helmut Newcake in Paris. However, this trend is not limited to Paris; in Lyon Histoire dans l'Assiette offers gluten-free dishes and options without any of the eleven most common allergens and in Lille, Pulp Kitchen and La compagnie sans gluten offer healthy, gluten-free dishes in restaurants.

In addition to these few examples of initiatives taken for "gluten-free" consumers, a standardization of the offer seems necessary:

Gluten-free consumer behaviour in the restaurant industry France, ****, % Source: ****

We can see here that non-gluten consumers are rather reluctant to go to restaurants. In fact, they consider that restaurant owners are not sufficiently informed about their conditions. **% of them do not go to restaurants as much as they would like. It is, nevertheless, necessary to note the effort made by more and more restaurant owners to display the list of allergens present in each dish on their menus.

5.1 Regulation of the term "gluten-free

Among the existing regulations we can mention the Implementing Regulation (***) No ***/**** of the European commission of ** July **** on requirements for the provision of information to consumers on the absence or reduced presence of gluten in foodstuffs.

These regulations came into force on ** July **** repealing the **** regulations

To ensure that the signal sent to the consumer is not blurred, these regulations set out the rules to be followed in order to be able to display the various indications on product packaging.

Gluten-free" label

When the gluten content of the food sold to the final consumer is less than **mg/kg, it is possible to use this statement.

Very low gluten" label

Less restrictive than the previous one, this mention can be affixed if the food sold to the final consumer (***) has a content lower than *** mg/kg.

Information for consumers with celiac intolerance or disease

Implementing Regulation (***) No. ***/**** specifies that the previously described entries may be accompanied by the entries:

"Suitable for people with gluten intolerance" or "Suitable for people with celiac disease

If the product complies with a maximum residual gluten content of ** mg/kg, the above sign may be affixed to the product.

5.2 The need for controls to ensure product quality

The only way for celiac patients to maintain their health is to avoid gluten in their diet. Therefore, the truthfulness of "gluten-free" or "very low gluten" claims is fundamental for this population. Gluten-free" products must contain a maximum of ** ppm of gluten, "very low gluten" products must contain a maximum of *** ppm (***).

The DGCCRF's investigation addressed the absence of gluten in products and how to indicate it, as well as a number of related issues (***) that communicate the absence of gluten in all or part of their products, Internet sales or trade fairs.

**% of samples taken are non-compliant or need to be monitored

In the course of this survey, *** visits were made to *** establishments. They led to *** control actions and to the analysis of *** samples in the DGCCRF laboratories (***). In this context and taking into account all the parameters checked, ** establishments were ordered to comply and ** were given a warning.

The regulations seem to be under control for large-scale operators and/or those specialising in the production of gluten-free products. The situation is more mixed in "organic" supermarkets (***) sometimes seem to offer a few "gluten-free" products in response to fashion or customer demand, without knowing the applicable regulations or the ...

6.1 Major market players

• Nutrition & Santé Groupe
• ABCD Nutrition
• Dr Schär
• La Vie Claire
• Biscuiterie de Provence
• Ekibio (Groupe Lea Biodiversité)
• Bio c' Bon
• Allergoora
• Nature & Cie
• Barilla Group
• Aglina Paradeigma
• Soreda Diet - BioRévola
• Céliane
• Genius Gluten Free
• Jardin Bio (Léa Nature)
• Le Pain des Fleurs
• Ekibio - Ma Vie Sans Gluten
• Max de Génie
• No Gluten Pro - Allergonline
• Noglu
• Valpiform - Nutrition et Santé groupe
• Paradeigma