One week before Easter, the chocolate industry is very worried. Chocolate sales at this time of the year represent 30% of annual sales. At the time of the state of health emergency put in place due to the epidemic of coronavirus, some craftsmen try to organize themselves to be able to open their shop for a few days, others have already made the decision to leave the shutter down.
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"Easter will not take place at Benoit this year, we decided to close our shops to shelter our employees", sadly says Anne, the owner of the chocolate factory Benoit in Angers, in Maine-et-Loire. It is a first in four years for the brand. "It's a shock, we can hardly believe it." But Anne will still try to sell the stocks she had prepared for Easter.
"We don't make anything anymore, production has stopped completely"
"At my level, I will try to respond to a few customer requests," she explains. "But it will be difficult because I am alone with my sister who lives in Paris." Like Anne, thousands of chocolate makers are trying to organize themselves: online orders, deliveries, drive ... All solutions are welcome to limit losses.
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"We don't make anything anymore, production has stopped completely," explains Frédéric Chambeau of the Confederation of Chocolate and Confectioners of France. "The idea now is to sell in the shop. The problem is that we will not sell. On average, today, chocolate makers are losing between 60 and 70% of their turnover business. " The post-Easter period does not look any better, since summer is traditionally the most depressing period for the chocolate sector.