Whole food Wholesale Trade in France

The whole food wholesale trade presents a very varied picture in France - very big general wholesalers operating nationally next to small specialists and regional players. Their ranges fluctuate between 170 and over 8,000 articles. The market is shared by around 20 companies.

Picture: Bjorg by Distriborg

Four wholesalers supply full product ranges to sales networks of between 1,100 and 1,600 stores. Bonneterre (Picture) and Kalisterra are two of these major national players and both are a part of the Distriborg group of companies. Distriborg, with its organic brand goods, is very important both for the specialist whole food trade and for the conventional retail food trade. The group’s portfolio includes not only firms with a long tradition such as Bonneterre (founded in 1950) but also its own modern enterprises, such as Kalisterra that was created in 2005 from already existing units. Another important national player is “Pur Aliment”. This wholesaler, with its emphasis on health foods, has been operating since 1907 and since 1992 has been a part of the group of companies belonging to the Claus family (represented also in Switzerland, Germany and Austria). Its own brand Pural is very well established internationally.

The remaining nation-wide wholesalers are specialists supplying between 300 and 1,100 stores. One of them is “Aquibio” (Picture), a supplier of frozen foods that developed from a producers’ association in western France. Others are ProNatura and Vitafrais, which are fruit and vegetable specialists, and the specialist wholesalers “Nature” and “Bleu-Vert” (picture below) that deal in food supplements and natural cosmetics. “Nature” has taken a step in the direction of the retail trade and the natural food trade with its shop-in-shop concept (“Boutique Nature”), and its own “Nature” shop concept is to follow as a franchise system.

The regional full-range wholesalers “Biocash”, “Naturdis”, “Pronadis”, “Provences Bio” and “Relais Vert” are firmly established in their own territories. The number of clients they supply is between 150 and 600. Some of them have agreements with each other to protect their territory, and they collaborate well on this basis by exchanging information or joining together as purchasers and without trying to take each others’ clients. Naturally they are exposed to competition by the national players and they have tried to create their own identity by modernising their logistics and service and by supplying high-quality ranges of goods (Fair Trade in the case of Relais Vert; only organically certified natural cosmetics in the case of Pronadis).  They are maintaining their position in the market by paying particular attention to small shops.

There are regional specialists for fruit and vegetables, for drinks and for dry goods and health foods. These firms supply between 50 and 250 shops each. By buying up Chantenat in the west of France, Distriborg is making its mark in regional fruit and vegetable marketing. The brand article company “Euronat-Priméal” bought up the wine specialist “Bio-Land” in order to develop its own distribution, including for its own dry range, in the Paris conurbation. ” Scot la Cigogne” in Alsace is part of the organic tradition and itself still produces goods in the farmers’ cooperative from which the company developed.  30 % of the goods traded originate in the region. Sparbé, a family run dry goods wholesaler in the South West, would like to supply private customers direct in the future via the internet.

Many of the organic wholesalers were founded in the 1990s at the time of the first great organic boom in France. They frequently developed out of agricultural producer associations, organisations formed by producers and consumers or shopkeeper associations. In some cases, individual shop owners developed themselves into wholesalers.

The influence exerted by brand article companies like Distriborg and Euronat is considerable and there is a lot of evidence that these companies want to continue their expansion in the trade by buying up traditional wholesalers. These firms have an international strategy in the same way as Pur Aliment with Pural.

Even though the companies are very diverse, they have one feature in common: whether large or small, long-standing or recently set up, regional or national, specialist or full range supplier, independent or subsidiary, all the available data indicate a growth in turnover of at least 10 % annually for the organic wholesale trade in France.

Overview of Organic Wholesalers in France

*estimate of the proportion of the total turnover of the companies listed here which is estimated to be about 220 million Euros.
** belonging to the Distriborg group of companies

Contact with French Organic Wholesalers