the lunch break, a pleasure that wavers in the face of soaring prices

Once a week, Jennifer allows herself “a gap”. At midday, rather than reheating a meal prepared at home, this 31-year-old administrative employee leaves her office to buy a meal outside. “It’s a pleasure and a breath that allows you to disconnect from the work”, she savors. But since the beginning of the month, her ritual has tasted more bland. Farewell dear sandwiches from the bakery, gone from 4.30 to 4.50 euros. The weekly outing now ends at the supermarket across the street. On this day in mid-March, Jennifer opts for a “Fresh Salad raw vegetables with cheese”, sold off at 2.84 euros. “It’s a pleasure that disappears a little.”

Already turned upside down by the Covid-19 pandemic, the lunch break is put to the test by inflation. In one year, prices have soared 6.3% in the country, and even 14.8% in the food sector, according to INSEE. Food is more and more expensive and habits are changing, sometimes to the benefit of supermarkets. “For lack of being able to go to a restaurant, the French are buying more sandwiches or snacking products, which are exploding”, reported the CEO of System U, Dominique Schelcher, at the end of February, in The Parisian (paid item).

Between 2021 and 2022, sales of baguette sandwiches, triangles, wraps and other self-service bagels jumped 12.5% ​​in large retailers, according to data from the NielsenIQ firm sent to franceinfo. The year 2023 “starts very well” for these products, with a further increase of 5.2% compared to the start of 2022, adds Emily Mayer, director of studies at Circana.

“No one goes to the restaurant anymore”

In Angers (Maine et Loire), in his U Express supermarket located in the Hauts de Saint-Aubin, behind the CHU, Christophe Marandon is not mistaken. Its “On the go” department has increased from five to 12 windows to meet demand. “Sandwiches, salads, pasta boxes. I have absolutely all the references from my central purchasing office. If there were others, I would take them.”

In this new district, where the buildings continue to emerge from the ground, the workers tell of a bygone era. “Before, the boss paid us the restaurant and forced us to go there every day to weld the team”, recalls Nicolas, a 25-year-old electrician. Since Covid-19, those who wish can opt for a packed lunch bonus of 10.90 euros paid by the employer. “No one goes to the restaurant anymorehe blurts out. With the basket, I first went to the bakery, but since this summer I have been coming to the supermarket. It is less expensive.” Sandwich and chips under the elbow, he gets away with it for 5.07 euros at the checkout.

“We limit ourselves a lot at lunchtime. We take the bare minimum.”

Nicolas, construction worker

at franceinfo

“The smallest working-class restaurant now costs 14.90 euros”notes Maxime, a 35-year-old plumber, happy to breathe after a morning in the concrete dust. “We always put 5 or 6 euros out of our pocket, whereas with the basket, I’m always below.”

Euros gleaned here and there, but no nostalgia for Stéphane, 50-year-old site manager, gray cap screwed on his head. “The restaurant was good, but boring. We ate in a hurry to be able to get back to work and finish quickly. There, out of 20 workers, 18 of us take the ‘basket’. We swallow our sandwich or our bowl with others, it’s over in less than an hour, and we leave earlier in the evening.” That day, he treats himself to carbonara pasta and two packets of fruit cake, for 6.88 euros.

“Before, I took the dessert that went with it”

In front of the refrigerated windows of the supermarket, the lunch break turns into a mathematical puzzle for Ely, a 16-year-old high school student, who has come with her friend Anouche. “My mother just found me 3.10 euros in the car today”she explains, before deciphering the labels.

“There, for 2.67 euros, I have three sandwiches in the box. But if I take this, I won’t have chips…

– I’ll take the chips if you want.”

The two teenage daughters of single moms on wages “not terrible”see that“we are less happy” at home. Behind, another group of high school girls awaits their turn. “I have the same pocket money as usual, but the prices are going up”, slip one of them. And his girlfriend to embrace the mothers who look at the catalogs of promotions “the whole week”.

Inflation leads to all sorts of quitting. Sofia, a teacher at the University of Angers, resists a 7 euro salad that “eyeball” and falls back on an entry-level version at 3.52 euros. Michel, a physiotherapist in the neighborhood, comes to reduce his portions. Since the beginning of the year, this fifties buys a packet of sandwiches, instead of two. In his hands, the cheapest in the store: 1.30 euros for the two triangles Lyon rosette and pickles. With biscuits and a can, it comes out for less than 4 euros.

Chloé is content with a quiche. “Before, I took the dessert that went with it, to finish on a sweet note”, says this 26-year-old medical secretary. The rest of the family is also tightening their belts. “My spouse brings his bowl home and my son has to choose between cheese and yogurt in the school canteen. He is no longer entitled to both. But hey, the main thing is to have a varied meal. A the house, meat and vegetables, it becomes complicated.”

“A social misery that is setting in”

The rise in prices could continue until the summer, after a “red spring” on the food inflation front, warns the firm NielsenIQ. To mitigate the impact, the government and the big brands are promising an “anti-inflation quarter” operation. On the heights of Angers, the boss of the U Express, Christophe Marandon, is working on a list of 50 products almost at cost price. In the loudspeakers of the supermarket, spots are already praising the current campaigns: “Purchasing power emergency” And “the fortnight of Ultra low prices”.

In his store, where he goes “95 hours a week” since the opening in 2021, the manager sees “a social misery to settle”. He recounts the robberies that escalate, sometimes for ham, and “this little 80-year-old granny who starts to sting”. He quotes “these students who eat chips for less than one euro and water for 49 cents”. He observes organic sales “fall over” and reduced the size of its meat department. Conversely, “minimum prices” and private label products “explode”.

At the forefront of inflation, Christophe Marandon adapts, listening to his customers. If he refused to throw a first price baguette at a few tens of cents, he agreed to prepare “homemade” baguette sandwiches that were asked of him “every day”. He also agreed to sell off at -30% the baguettes of the day before, previously given to the Restos du Coeur. “I ended up doing it, because a lot of people asked me for it. Maybe 50 or 100 times”, he says.

“People are increasingly looking for products soon to expire at -30%.”

Christophe Marandon, manager of the U Express Angers Les Capucins

at franceinfo

Arrived in the middle of the morning, before the midday rush hour, Michaël is one of them. He gets his hands on the penultimate baguette at 80 cents, against 1.15 euros full pot. “I always check if there are orange reductions”, pasted on items approaching the use-by date, slips this 30-year-old paramedic. He also unearthed a triple sandwich “XXL tuna egg raw vegetables”, sold off at 1.94 euros. On the way to the checkout, like the other customers, he ignores the Easter chocolates. Now is not the time for egg hunts, but for low prices.