Snacks in 2025: The big picture
Snacks continues to be a thriving sector within France, and saw strong increases in value growth over 2025, although this was very much led by the rising cost of chocolate. By contrast, volume sales are struggling to regain momentum in many categories, and this reflects the still fragile nature of consumer purchasing power. Outside of chocolate confectionery, savoury snacks are seeing the strongest growth boosted by the ever popular apéro concept in France, an early evening socialising ritual among friends and family. Changing consumption patterns are benefiting the snack industry in France, as consumers focus less on longer meals, and are open to more snacking opportunities, with younger consumers central to the development of this trend.
Key trends in 2025
Intentional indulgence remains a key focus for French consumers, and this is strongly reflected within the snack categories, such as chocolate confectionery and ice cream. Successful new products tend to be indulgent and made from quality ingredients. Trusted brands are performing well in this sector such as Ferrero which has successful transitioned into ice cream and biscuits. Within snacks, these indulgent products remain affordable for most consumers who continue to purchase them despite recent price rises, particularly in chocolate confectionery. Most manufacturers using chocolate in their products have raised retail prices. Some smaller artisanal companies have been forced to adjust their ingredients as they have lower bargaining power to negotiate ingredient costs. As a result, there has been a rise in fruit and nut chocolate products as they ultimately use less chocolate and are therefore cheaper to produce.
Competitive Landscape
Snacks in France is dominated by multinationals such as Mondelez International, Ferrero, Nestlé SA, Mars Inc and PepsiCo Inc. Mondelez France SAS is the leading player within snacks followed by Ferrero France SA. Mondelez offers a range of products across the snacks category including savoury snacks which Ferrero is not yet present in. Mondelez is relatively discrete in its ownership of some classic French snack brands such as LU and Cote D’Or with many consumers not realising that these brands are owned by the American company. In the early part of 2025, there was a good deal of consumer backlash surrounding American goods, and with a large number of snack companies from the US, this could affect sales. French consumers are very supportive of French companies and like to buy French made and French brands. However, within snacks a lot of French brand names are used, even though the parent company is from the US.
Channel developments
Large grocery retailers, such as supermarkets and hypermarkets, remain the most popular places to buy snacks in France. Hypermarkets continue to see a decline in share as French consumers increasingly opt for shops in close proximity, as well as retail e-commerce. The grocery chain Casino (which owns Monoprix, Franprix as well as Casino) struggled to see a profit in 2024 and has sold a number of sites which have been picked up by rival chains. Hypermarkets have the widest range of snack products and are often used as testing grounds for new products in France. Nonetheless, their size continues to work against them as consumers find it time consuming to shop in hypermarkets and prefer a more intimate size of shop as well as building relationships with shop staff. Packaged snacks are facing competition from all sorts of food service offerings, particularly with the growth of large and inventive bakery chains. These stores, such as Ange and Marie Blachere, are often positioned next to a supermarket or hypermarket, enabling consumers to pop in briefly to get a fresh snack rather than negotiating the aisles of a much larger store.
What next for snacks?
Snacks is predicted to continue growing well over the forecast period as French consumers continue to embrace these products which provide an instant pleasure hit as well as offering convenience. Busy lifestyles are driving snack consumption occasions across all generations, although Gen Z and Millennials are leading the change within France as a whole. Affordability will be key to new product development, and pack sizes will continue to diversify thereby offering sharing and individual portions.
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Overview:
Understand the latest market trends and future growth opportunities for the Snacks industry in France with research from Euromonitor International's team of in-country analysts – experts by industry and geographic specialisation.
Key trends are clearly and succinctly summarised alongside the most current research data available. Understand and assess competitive threats and plan corporate strategy with our qualitative analysis, insight and confident growth projections.
Data and analysis in this report provides further detailed coverage dedicated to a comprehensive range of core packaged food categories.
If you're in the Snacks industry in France, our research will help you to make informed, intelligent decisions; to recognise and profit from opportunity, or to offer resilience amidst market uncertainty.
The Snacks in France report includes:
- Analysis of key supply-side and demand trends
- Detailed segmentation of international and local products
- Historic volume and value sizes, company and brand market shares
- Five year forecasts of market trends and market growth
- Robust and transparent research methodology, conducted in-country
This report answers:
- What is the market size of Snacks in France?
- Which are the leading brands in Snacks in France?
- How are products distributed in Snacks in France?
- How is the rise of e-commerce and/or the expansion of modern grocery retail impacting traditional retail?
- What are the key health and wellness concerns driving, or challenging, sales in Snacks?
- How significant are vegan and vegetarian dietary requirements in determining sales growth in France?
- How has COVID-19 impacted consumer demand? To what extent have lockdown, home seclusion and stockpiling boosted sales? Will the longer term economic repercussions of the pandemic stimulate or suppress future growth?
- Where is future growth expected to be most dynamic?
- How significant will values-based claims, such as sustainability and ethical labelling, be in supporting future growth and brand equity?
Snacks in France
Snacks in 2025: The big picture
Key trends in 2025
Competitive Landscape
Channel developments
What next for snacks?
DISCLAIMER
Chocolate Confectionery in France
KEY DATA FINDINGS
Price increases drive value sales of chocolate confectionery
Ferrero France SA leads in chocolate confectionery
Hypermarkets lose some ground as local stores gain traction
Chocolate confectionery faces a slight uptick in sales
Dubai chocolate trend moves mainstream
Sustainability legislation will likely push up chocolate prices
Gum in France
KEY DATA FINDINGS
Gum category sales return to growth
Perfetti Van Melle France SAS maintains a strong lead
Hypermarkets is leading channel for gum sales
Natural gums are set to gain traction
Flavour combinations and sustainability to drive product development
Functional and wellness benefits to help expand usage occasions
Sugar Confectionery in France
KEY DATA FINDINGS
Sugar confectionery volume growth slows over 2025
Haribo-Ricqlès-Zan SA maintains its leading position
Hypermarkets takes the lead in sugar confectionery
Flat performance ahead for sugar confectionery
Further debate over new sugar tax
Functional sweets are blurring the barriers with food supplements
Ice Cream in France
KEY DATA FINDINGS
Better performance is anticipated for 2025
Multinational players lead the ice cream category
Large grocery retailers account for bulk of sales
Robust performance but the category remains weather dependent
Smaller bite-sized formats to gain appeal
Innovative new flavours are likely to propel category growth
Savoury Snacks in France
KEY DATA FINDINGS
Social occasions spur consumer interest in new products and flavours
PepsiCo France SNC continues its lead in savoury snacks
Large grocery retailers remains key channel as convenience stores gain ground
Innovation and healthy snacks to spur growth
Collaborations and new flavours to stimulate consumer interest
Functional snacking options to expand
Sweet Biscuits, Snack Bars and Fruit Snacks in France
KEY DATA FINDINGS
Snack bars lift the overall category
Mondelez France holds distinct position in competitive landscape
Modern grocery retailers lead in terms of sales
Buoyant outlook as health and indulgence drives snacking occasions
Dried fruit set to gain traction as healthy snacking rises in popularity
Product innovation is critical to future growth
The following categories and subcategories are included:
Snacks
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- Chocolate Pouches and Bags
- Boxed Assortments
- Chocolate with Toys
- Countlines
- Seasonal Chocolate
- Tablets
- Other Chocolate Confectionery
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- Bubble Gum
- Chewing Gum
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- Boiled Sweets
- Chewy Candies
- Gummies and Jellies
- Liquorice
- Lollipops
- Medicated Confectionery
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- Power Mints
- Standard Mints
- Toffees, Caramels and Nougat
- Other Sugar Confectionery
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- Frozen Yoghurt
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- Single Portion Dairy Ice Cream
- Single Portion Water Ice Cream
- Plant-based Ice Cream
- Unpackaged Ice Cream
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- Bulk Dairy Ice Cream
- Ice Cream Desserts
- Multi-Pack Dairy Ice Cream
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- Bulk Water Ice Cream
- Multi-Pack Water Ice Cream
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- Nuts, Seeds and Trail Mixes
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- Potato Chips
- Tortilla Chips
- Puffed Snacks
- Rice Snacks
- Vegetable, Pulse and Bread Chips
- Savoury Biscuits
- Popcorn
- Pretzels
- Meat Snacks
- Seafood Snacks
- Other Savoury Snacks
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- Dried Fruit
- Processed Fruit Snacks
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- Cereal Bars
- Protein/Energy Bars
- Fruit and Nut Bars
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- Chocolate Coated Biscuits
- Cookies
- Filled Biscuits
- Plain Biscuits
- Wafers
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This report originates from Passport, our Snacks research and analysis database.
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