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Priscilla Hayertz has dreamed of being a baker since she was a child. For more than ten years, this dream has come true for the 37-year-old woman. He sells his baguettes, croissants and traditional pastries in the Montmartre district, north of Paris, in his two bakeries, regarding 500 meters apart.
But ever since the supermarket cooperative E.Leclerc announced it would sell baguettes for 29 cents in its more than 700 stores in France, a dark cloud has hung over Hayertz’s dream. The action of the largest supermarket chain in France aims to attract customers who have difficulty making ends meet in the face of rising prices. And it doesn’t just upset independent bakers like Hayertz.
Leclerc says they have reduced their own profit margin. “To strengthen your purchasing power at the time you need it most, we freeze the price of our baguette for six months,” writes the company in an advertisement that appeared in the newspapers and on its Instagram account.
Leclerc declined an interview request from DW, only sending a statement: “The 29-cent price has no impact on the rates we pay our suppliers of flour or grain products,” the company wrote.
“An integral part of Parisian life”
But for Hayertz, the action means a slap in the face. “It’s unfair competition and it suggests that our profession is worth nothing,” the baker tells DW, as she kneads the dough for her baguettes in the kitchen of her Au Levain d’Antan store, where she sells them for €1.20 each. . After all, they make up a fifth of their turnover.
“How are we going to finance a baguette at 29 cents? We have already had to reduce our profit margin because flour prices are going up. In addition, we have to pay all the ancillary costs and the salaries of our employees,” he explains.
The last two years have not been easy. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, their turnover has plummeted, in some cases by half. Tourists stayed away and many district residents temporarily moved into their country houses during the lockdowns.
However, this time has also made it clear why it is important that independent bakeries like his are not crushed by the big supermarket chains, he says.
“During the lockdown, many of our customers also reached out because they needed human contact. For example, if we hadn’t seen older regulars for a long time, we had them check if they were okay,” he says: “Bakeries like ours are a integral part of Parisian life and create a bond between residents”.
In France, bakeries are highly valued
The same is true, especially in small towns, adds Dominique Anract, president of the French national association of bakers and pastry chefs, CNBPF. “France is lucky to have 33,000 small bakeries in the country; we have to maintain that. A lot of people don’t say ‘I go to the baker’. They talk regarding ‘your baker,'” he tells DW.
Since 1998, not everyone can call themselves a baker in France: to do so, you have to make your own bread, not just bake it, and sell it in the same place, according to the law. “But Leclerc’s action makes us look like crooks, like we want to rip off customers with our prices,” Anract complains.
Therefore, he wants to take action. The 96 local delegates of the association have written to their local deputy, he says. “And our lawyers are checking to see if the price action is legal – following all, it is illegal to sell below production costs,” he says, adding that it’s not just bakers who are furious.
“Other associations such as butchers or fishmongers have also contacted me and told me that they will be with us when we plan demonstrations or other things,” he says.
On the other hand, consumers are also experiencing rising prices at the moment, says Michel Ruimy, professor of economics at the University of Paris Science Po. “Inflation at the end of 2021 was 2.8 percent, compared to 0.5 percent a year earlier; in the case of food it was 30 percent,” he explains to DW.
As such, Ruimy thinks Leclerc’s price action might work; After all, according to the polls, purchasing power is the main concern of the French at the moment. However, customers would probably only buy the cheap baguettes under one condition: “We are in the country of gastronomy and fine palates,” says the economist. “If the baguette doesn’t taste as good as the others, hardly anyone will want it, no matter how cheap it is.”
(gg/rml)
Author: Lisa Louis
