After Christmas, Easter is the second highlight of sales for chocolate. Last year at this time, nearly 15,000 tons were sold. No wonder, therefore, that the supply is plethoric and expands each year a little more. With a growing share of equitable and organic products.
Today, nine out of ten purchases of chocolate are made in supermarkets. Priority in hypermarkets: this is where 58% of sales were made last year. Next come supermarkets (37%). At the bottom of the list are convenience stores, such as bakeries and artisan chocolatiers, which account for only 4% of sales. And the average chocolate basket of the French is 19 euros.
"I prefer to take a little and good quality"
In supermarkets, a trend is notable: alongside essential brands, the bio and fair trade sector is becoming increasingly important. Even if the desires of young and old sometimes seem difficult to reconcile in the alleys of this hypermarket of Paris region in which Europe 1 has extended his microphone. A mother piled in her basket "Ferrero Rocher eggs, Lindt rabbits, Milka and Kinder". "I also have a little white chocolate panda made in France that I like a lot, but I'm not sure that it pleases my daughters," she says. "When I change, they do not eat it ..."
"I am taking an organic product but the little one is used to having a rabbit", still blows a father. We must adapt. "I'm watching if I find an organic rabbit." Another mother has made her choice. "I found last year's chocolates, not eaten under the bed, it's really disgusting, so this year I'm taking organic, I prefer to take a little and good quality."
Fewer ingredients in organic products
But is the bio really better? To find out, our journalist has had a wide selection by a "chocolateologist", Christiane Tixier, based in Toulouse. The author of the Chocolate, this food that wants you good (ed. Of Organization) is formal: it is always better to linger on the label of the chosen product. "The list of ingredients should be short, for chocolate, it's cocoa paste, cocoa butter, sugar, milk if you have a milk chocolate," says the specialist.
READ ALSO - "Bio" does not rhyme (yet) totally with "Made in France"
Beware of "the presence of fatty acids such as palm oil, shea oil". "Since cocoa has the chance to contain its own fat, cocoa butter, it is useless to add other vegetable fats," explains Christiane Tixier. Last advice: "Always favor a sufficient percentage of cocoa.In dark chocolate, it takes at least 65%, 35% for milk chocolate.It is better because we have a really chocolate product." And the verdict is without appeal, "there are fewer ingredients" in organic products.
Higher prices
Organic chocolate for Easter is therefore rather a good idea, but not necessarily within the reach of all budgets. According to a study by Simon Kucher, this is usually 60 euros per kilogram in supermarkets, twice the price of a standard product. On the other hand, there is no noticeable difference in price between dark chocolate, milk chocolate or white chocolate. The secret is to not hesitate to search for promotions.
If we now compare the different types of actors, large retailers offers unsurprisingly the cheapest chocolates on the market, followed by bakeries, where the price doubles. Then come the artisan chocolatiers and the specialized actors. The maximum difference observed by this study is 1 to 6.5 between a national brand in supermarkets and a well-known chocolate chain. But is not it better to buy in smaller quantities but of better quality?