• Restaurants and Cafes: Market SizeThe French market for restaurants and cafés stagnated in 2003 to reach a value of €30.2 billion (US$33.9 billion).

• Restaurants and Cafes: Market SectorsRestaurants was the largest sector, accounting for 93% of total sales in 2003.
Disturbed by the various food crises, consumers increasingly looked for simple, healthy, familiar and safe food found in traditional meals.

• Restaurants and Cafes: Share of MarketThe French restaurants and cafes market is highly fragmented, with the leading five operators representing only 4.2% of total turnover in 2003.

• Restaurants and Cafes: Marketing ActivityTotal advertising expenditure in France is expected to reach €8.1 billion in 2003, this represents a 1% increase over the previous year.

• Restaurants and Cafes: Corporate OverviewAs the market is highly fragmented, all of the major players remained in an unstable position.

• Restaurants and Cafes: Buffalo Grill saBuffalo Grill's turnover decreased by 7.1% to reach €363.4 million in 2003.

• Restaurants and Cafes: Groupe Flo saGroupe Flo's turnover decreased by 1.5% from 2002 to reach €379.1 million in 2003.

• Restaurants and Cafes: Interbrew nv saInterbrew SA’s turnover stagnated in 2003 with only 0.7% growth to reach €7 billion in 2003.

• Restaurants and Cafes: DistributionThis section is not applicable.

• Restaurants and Cafes: Consumer ProfileConsumer expenditure on food totaled €181 billion in 2003, of which spending in foodservice represented almost 29%, one percentage drop from 2002.

• Restaurants and Cafes: Market ForecastsThe market is forecast to grow by 6.5% over the review period to reach a value of €32 billion (US$36 billion) in 2008.

• Restaurants and Cafes: Sector ForecastsSales from restaurants will likely grow by almost 7% over the forecast period to reach over €30 billion in 2008.