Due to inflation, aperitif biscuits are on the list of food products that 7 out of 10 French people can no longer afford to buy.
According to a study – carried out online from February 8 to 10, 2023 – by the Cetelem Observatory with Harris Interactive and Toluna, 69% of French people say they have already given up “doing some of their food shopping for budget reasons during of the last 12 months”.
And among the products that consumers are now depriving themselves of, aperitif biscuits come in fourth position – 51% of those questioned give them up -, just after alcoholic beverages (54%), fresh fish (55%) and prepared meals, sauces and salad dressings (57%). Considered as “pleasure” foods, the products that make up the aperitif are therefore among the first victims of the price increase.
“Pleasure” foods impacted
These restrictions mainly concern young people – 83% of those under 35 say they have had to give up certain foodstuffs – and households with the lowest incomes (80%). But not only. The study shows that inflation now affects all socio-professional categories: 54% of high-income households also say they have had to give up certain products and 77% concern so-called “pleasure” foods.
On the drinks side, the same observation: inflation impacts the aperitif. According to the Circana study (ex NPD group) “The French facing inflation in restaurants”, carried out in February 2023, 30% of those questioned indicated that they take fewer aperitifs to counter inflation: “It is is the first strategy that the French use to lower the bill when they eat out of their homes. The search for advantageous menus and the dead end on the dessert coming after”, specifies Maria Bertoch, Foodservice specialist at Circa.
While in normal times the aperitif boosts the income of restaurateurs, the specialist recommends that they “bet on the strategy of ‘happy hours’. You have to give the impression to the consumer of getting a good deal.”