Will brioches, croissants, rolls and other pastries become luxury products? The price of bulk butter has increased by almost 55% since the start of the year, reaching today almost 10 euros per kilo. The first to be impacted are bakers and pastry chefs, butter being an essential element for their work, present in almost all recipes.
Some professionals could find themselves in trouble and therefore have to increase prices. Frédéric Martin, the baker from Châtillon-sur-Colmont, the owner of the store At Délices Châtillonnais, has not planned to charge its customers more, for the moment, because it had already done so in 2023 due to the increase in its electricity bills : “What we had increased came to compensate for that. Prices increased by 10 cents, at home it’s 1.20 euros for a croissant and 1.30 for pain au chocolat. Customers realize this but Well, we sell fewer pastries during the week, it’s still a weekend pleasure. We have to manage losses as best we can so that there aren’t too many left over every evening.
Vincent Feiller, a baker in the Ferrié district of Laval, also has no intention of increasing his prices. And to avoid a waltz of labels, he installed accounting software on his computer which can react very quickly, he explains: “There is a little red alert when we reach high thresholds for purchasing raw materials. For the moment we are basing ourselves on the average prices that we have in Laval, 1.20 euros per croissant and 1.30 the pain au chocolat. You have to think about being consistent and having a consistent margin behind it, that’s the most important thing.”
It’s not just butter that is expensive for professionals in the sector. There is also the significant increase in the price of cocoa, another essential raw material, more than 60% since the start of the year.
