In the space of 10 years, fast food has changed from ‘junk food’ to varied, balanced and healthy food.

 The sector’s stellar growth has led to big increases in turnover and volume.

Alternative fast food has arrived, with pasta, coffee, salads and a wealth of other concepts experiencing very rapid growth in France.

Fast food goes upmarket, led by the Cojean restaurant offer (which has inspired over 2000 similar outlets in France), and by France’s 3-star chefs who are now opening their own sandwich shops.

The low-price fast food model introduced by Goütu in 2008 does not seem to appeal to the French market, where consumers tend to choose quality over price.

In 2008, the fast food sector appeared to suffer for the first time, with a number of meals still on the rise but overall turnover stagnating due to a drop in customers' average spending.

In 2009, the sandwich market’s turnover rose to around €6.33 billion, with around 1,960 billion sandwiches consumed across all distribution channels.

It’s increasingly easy for consumer to buy a sandwich wherever they are, whenever they like.

UK and US consumers have nomadic eating habits. Eating habits in France differ from those in the UK and US. France has a more traditional approach to mealtimes: the time dedicated to the meal, the social purpose of the meal, and cooking skills and the desire to learn or re-learn them.  France is therefore a unique snacking market which increasingly favours the traditional sandwich, particularly baguettes, which represent around 70% of sales.

The French are increasingly pressed for time. 1 hour and 38 minutes was the average time spent eating out in 1975; it is 31 minutes today!

Gira Conseil has found that the leading fast food product in France is experiencing, like the rest of the catering market, a deflationary period which began in the 4th quarter of 2008. The “sandwich jambon beurre” (ham baguette) index fell 3% between the 1st and 2nd quarter of 2009.