Food-to-go in Paris

4 hours ago
3 min read

Here are some of our key takeouts from our latest visit to the French capital:

Bakery-led food-to-go remains standout

It's no surprise, given the importance of the boulangerie in France, that this has been a springboard for many into the food-to-go sector. And with multiple operators in this space, there are some great things going on here. One of our reference points is Eric Kayser, which operates from almost 30 locations across the city, given how it's been able to extend appeal from a core strong bakery into a wide range of salad and snacking options, with good representation of healthier options in the mix.

2. Paris offers considerable healthier eating inspiration

Paris is a huge city, with many of its population interested in healthy eating.

This has enabled the likes of Cojean and the Belgian business Exki to develop scale in the city - Cojean has around 25 locations, and Exki around 10. Both offer considerable inspiration, around product, environment and the holistic proposition, not least in the attractive combination of hot and cold bowls on offer. This time we were also impressed by Popotes - our first visit to this operator. The emphasis is primarily on quality ingredients, but for us it plays nicely into many of the healthier eating trends we see across the market. A differentiated proposition with branches in Dijon, Rennes and Lyon as well as Paris, it has a focus on meeting missions flexibly throughout the day.

Lucie is creating a new way to shop for food-to-go 24/7

The Lucie Ultrafrais concept began in the South West of France, but in late 2025 opened its first Parisian location. It has since opened a second, bringing total store count to 20. It's an unmanned store, focused on freshly prepared food-for-now and food-for-later, carrying up to 120 SKUs. Access is via a credit card swipe, customers self-select from the shelves before placing the items into a the checkout box, which via RFID recognises each item placed into the box and calculates the total owed. A distinctive concept overall that has relevance for the future of food-to-go and wider convenience in a range of locations.

Among supermarkets, Monoprix stands out as the innovator

Monoprix has a long-standing focus on food-to-go that continues to develop. We recently explored its Monoprix's latest Cantine concept at Monoprix Beaugrenelle. Described as a food hall, for our definition it's not really that. But it does demonstrate Monoprix's ongoing commitment to food-to-go, offering a range of solutions to meet food-for-now needs, with some enticing bakery and rotisserie options. We were also struck by a strengthening focus on protein, in common with many other markets. Within food-to-go a great example of this is the range of pastry-free quiches - in effect a more substantial version of egg bites.

Supplier innovation in Paris supermarkets and convenience is strong

On each of our recent visits we've been fascinated to explore how food-to-go supplier brands feature in Parisian food retail stores. Whether it's fresher, better quality ingredients or distinct global cuisines, there's a lot to learn from in-store. There are some strong and inspirational players in this space, including Picadeli and Foodmaker, but also MyPie - a business that was inspired by New Zealand pies to bring hot food-to-go into French supermarkets, Luna Foods - bringing a range of global cuisine oriented food-to-go brands onto French supermarket shelves and Kumo Foods - which is doing a great job in developing Asian food ranges.