Chilled soups to stop the slump in the French baby soups sector

With the decline in the French standard soups sector, several small baby food manufacturers specialising in home delivery have launched premium quality soups in chilled packaging.

The French baby food market is highly segmented and has been unusual in the significance of the size of its soups sector. These products are designed to be fed to babies in the evening. However, consumption has fallen significantly in the last few years, declining from 9,647t in 2010 to 5,425t in 2016, down by 43.8%. The sector has been particularly hard-hit by the trend towards home cooking and growing competition from the evening meals segment.

La Potion des Lutins and Comme des Papas have both introduced chilled organic soups, which are claimed to be free from artificial additives. They are packaged in screw-top bottles and can be spoon-fed or used in a baby bottle. In addition, they can be thinned with water or milk to suit the taste of individual babies.

The products target older babies (more than eight months and more than 12 months, respectively), aiming to retain consumers of commercial baby food as they age, with usage typically tailing off as babies grow older and are fed versions of home-made family foods.

Both suppliers are marketing sophisticated variants. For La Potion des Lutins, the varieties are carrot & cumin soup, leek & potato soup, pea velouté, and sweet potato & turnip velouté, while Comme des Papas has a more limited range of pea velouté and beetroot soup available. The premium packaging, upmarket flavours, and organic credentials come at a price. Comme des Papas charges €2.80 for a 250ml pack, while a 230g bottle from La Potion des Lutins costs €5.60.

While the price of these products may be expected to put parents off, recent research published by Le Parisien-Aujourd'hui en France Magazine shows that the quality of the food parents give to their babies is of prime importance (63%), followed by the absence of additives (48%), with price ranking only third (30%). Combined with the convenience of home delivery and that packs can easily be resealed, these products may prove attractive to busy parents. The proof of the soup brands' success, however, will be whether the two dominant players in the French baby food market, Bledina (Danone) and Nestle, decide to move into the area.