Annihilated is very much exaggerated, even if the bakery sector is changing for sure and is facing the same issues of inflation as everyone.
Number of bakeries is stable around 33 000 in 2025, down from 36 500 in 1990 [0][1]
Revenues are up for both independant and franchised, and while the franchises grow faster than independants, they represent >90% of the total bakeries.
> The renegotiation — brokered by the French government — comes as many of France’s 33,000 bakeries face financial ruin amid spiking energy costs spurred in part by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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> Energy suppliers like TotalEnergies and EDF have agreed to allow the country’s bakeries to renegotiate their contracts if they struggle to pay their bills due to rising energy and crop prices, according to Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire.
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> These companies have agreed in principle “to dissolve contracts when prices have risen prohibitively high and unsustainable for some bakeries,” Le Maire told reporters.
The precise number of 33 000 bakeries would mean that all of them faced financial ruin?
That's a bit much.
I remember this was at the time when there was this EU rule which mandate to align the price of electricity on gas. Only Spain and Portugal did not apply it.
We have to remember those oven use enormous amount of electricity and in fact many bakeries do not produce much of what they sell on-site. It is often made in factories.
Funny enough there is a better chance that bread you buy in a supermarket have been cooked on-site than in a small bakery.
> The sad part is France annihilated most of the last small independent bakers a few years ago when they they jacked up energy prices.
What? Source? "Last small independent bakers" What? France is full with bakers. There are bakeries everywhere, even villages have a bakery. Most are mom and pop shops.
And what do you mean "they" jacked up prices? There was a war that severely impacted energy markets, and France had to nationalise the national electricity provider to cover the massive gap because most of that price difference was passed on to consumers. From what I recall, France was one of the countries that isolated the most.
It is now quite hard to find a really good croissant there.
On the bright side the new Renault 5 looks fantastic [0]
- [0] https://www.renault.co.uk/electric-vehicles/r5-e-tech-electr...