Epiphany and its galette des rois are often a nice childhood memory: we hand out the shares blindly, gorge ourselves on frangipane (or brioche) and devour our share with the hope of finding the bean there. and to be crowned the queen or king at the end of a meal (and to sometimes achieve this with a helping hand from an adult who cuts). All without realizing that its price increases from year to year.
After the sharp increases in wheat prices in 2022 (+ 41%), energy in 2023 (+ 71% for small businesses), according to government data, 2024 was the year of butter (+ 40% ). Consequences: as the Epiphany approaches, inflation once again invites itself to the tables of gourmets of king cakes and into the bakers’ ovens.
“We decided to increase the price of individual portions this year,” tells 20 Minutes Enzo Maillet, 24, employee and son of the manager of a bakery in downtown Marseille. The prices of four shares (17 euros), six shares (23 euros), and eight shares (32 euros) have not changed between 2024 and this year, as have all the other products.
From 12.41 euros to 16.33 euros per kg of butter in 2024
“In 2022 and 2023 we had already made increases on everything of the order of 10% cumulative. This primarily concerned baguettes, breads and pastries,” continues the young baker who gradually took over the family business employing eleven people and has “only known inflation since. Because if there had only been butter,” he continues and lists in bulk: “electricity, increases in the minimum wage, but also Covid 19, the riots…”
The price of butter with 82% fat content, per kg and in wholesale prices excluding taxes, increased from 12.41 euros in January 2024 to 16.33 euros currently, according to the dedicated website of the Ministry of Agriculture. This represents an additional cost of around 3,000 euros per year for this bakery which buys 800 kg per year. This has come to weigh a little on margins during this end-of-year holiday period, where sweet treats, rich in butter, can represent up to 15% of annual turnover.
“The cake is once a year”
But on the customer side and regarding the pancakes, the increase goes rather unnoticed: “In fact, the galettes and brioches des rois are once a year and customers don’t remember the prices. So we have no reaction, at least not like when we increase the number of baguettes or pastries,” observes Enzo Maillet.
This is confirmed by Agnès, who finishes her shopping nearby: “As with many things, prices regularly increase. But the brioche des rois is not an everyday purchase,” she puts things into perspective. At the checkout counters of bakeries, salesmen and women, however, clearly see the attention of customers to the prices of the cakes displayed in the windows. “They look at the prices and I think they compare,” remarks one of them.
Because when it comes to cakes, prices and qualities can vary greatly, from 4 to 12 euros on average in supermarkets and from 17 to 30 euros at an artisan baker, according to Paul Boivin, the director of the FEB (Federation of Bakery Companies – pastry), interviewed by AFP. Last year, the average prices for six-part galettes des rois increased by an average of three euros in supermarkets, by one euro in the provinces and by two euros in Paris, France Info calculated.
We will have to reach a little for a 2025 assessment of the increase in the price of pancakes. Such is the life of purses, but there is no need to tell the children that.
