In France, nearly 60 million galettes des rois are sold each year. And if consumers are racing for low prices since inflation due to Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine, some risk being disappointed with the prices of pancakes at the beginning of January. In fact, the price of butter is soaring, going from 5,500 to more than 8,000 euros per ton. And when we know that butter represents half the weight of a pancake…
In addition to the price of butter, there are also increases in the cost of energy and other ingredients such as eggs, affected by avian flu. But the bakers assure us: they will try as much as possible to cut back on their margin to avoid penalizing consumers too much.
“The price of pancakes has been completely crazy for years.”
It is possible that the price of pancakes will increase by 10 to 50 cents per slice in bakeries. “That will be wise”assures Dominique Anract, president of the National Confederation of French Bakery and Bakery-Pâtisserie, to BFM. Wise, perhaps. But for most French people, the slightest increase is very badly received today.
“Everything is good to increase prices”launches an angry Internet user on X. “The price of cakes has been totally crazy for years”annoys another. “It’s just overpriced in bakeries, I’ve been making them myself for several years now.” Some assure us: this speech seems to come back like a leitmotif every year. “Is there anything wrong with this country?” For this young woman, “If it’s not butter, it’s diesel. If it’s not diesel, it’s sugar. If it’s not sugar, it’s chocolate”.
“It has become unaffordable, we will do without it”comments a user on X. “I did without it last year, and I’m going to do without it this year too”continues another a little further. “Like everything else… Soon we won’t be able to afford anything.” Because we checked, just out of curiosity. And the price of the galette des rois has indeed increased in 2022, then in 2023, in 2024 and finally in 2025 – always for the same reasons.
Faced with this news, there are those who intend to do it themselves. “It costs 10 times less, just a little time.” And then those who forget pastry chefs and turn to hard discount brands like Lidl. Or even towards frozen food brands like Picard. “The one from Lidl is very good and at a very good price”confides a gourmand. It is in fact priced at less than 5 euros this year. At Picard, it will cost 6.99 euros to treat yourself to a frangipane pancake. Whatever the case, pancakes remain the flagship product at the start of the year for the 35,000 bakeries in France. “Each sells on average 500 to 2,000 pancakes during this period, 4,000 to 5,000 for the best placed and up to 10,000 for the winner of the Best Cake Prize”concludes Dominique Anract.
