“It’s a good year, we’re on a good trend,” rejoice catering professionals

Metro is the number 1 supplier to restaurateurs in France. A few days before the end-of-year holidays, the halls of its 100 stores reserved for professionals are always full. The end of 2025 seems to be shaping up well for the catering sector.

The Nanterre Metro store looks like a classic hypermarket, except for the size of the XXL carts. Another difference when passing through the front door of the 15,000 m2 of stores is the unusual packaging: a whole salmon, a whole wheel of cheese… To enter, you have to show your credentials, with a professional card. Usually, 2,000 customers walk its aisles every day; there are 3,000 of them at the moment.

The caterer Nicolas Fallet came to do his shopping. At the moment, its purchases are very targeted: “I only have oysters, scallops and foie gras. That’s really the festive part. In December, that represents 20% of the activity, so it’s a big period.” Lydia confirms. In his restaurant of charcuterie and cheese platters, in Paris, in the 14th, there are crowds. She didn’t experience this every year: “I have a lot of people at the moment,” a third more, estimates the restaurateur.

“I have a full house almost every evening. People are happy to go out, they want to get together. We can definitely feel the excitement.”

Lydie, a restaurateur from the 14th arrondissement of Paris

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As a result, Lydie has to refuel more often. “Obviously, I buy more often, I come more regularly to restock. I’m delighted,” she concludes with a smile.

The stalls are overflowing with festive products of all kinds. Example at the tide: “You have line-caught bass, John Dory, magnificent turbots, lobsters, King Crabs, of course, scallops and lobsterpresents Reda, 25 years in the house. Things are going very well, we work very well during these periodswelcomes the seller, an expert in seafood. I think it’s a good year, we’re on a good trend at the moment”. He remembers that“there were complicated years, Covid, post-Covid”, For example. “Many restaurateurs had closed. There, we feel that things are starting again well. We serve a lot of starred restaurants, from beautiful establishments. They don’t stop ordering.”

In his Michelin-starred restaurant, very close to the Champs-Élysées, Frédéric Simonin is already full for New Year’s Eve. But today the party is a little different than it used to be. “During the holidays, I’m doing an exceptional menu for three days. I’m going to feature a free-range chicken egg as a starter. Then, a lobster ravioli and behind it, beefexplains the chef. I will make a menu for the 31st a little more elaborate while being careful not to go overboard with prices. Today, people watch a lot more so we treat ourselves with mackerel, sardines, œeggs. Before, it was easier to add sole, turbot and lobster. I can afford it, I’m in a star hotel. But, nevertheless, I am careful not to overflow.”

For a wholesaler like Metro, 15% of the year’s sales will be made in December, more precisely, the last 15 days of the month because customers book at the last moment. And then the years are not the same. Even in gastronomy, there are unpredictable fashions. A big headache for Flavien Sollet, the national sales director at Metro. “Around ten years ago, everyone reserved their New Year’s Eves a month, two months in advance. Now, that’s over, so restaurateurs are still in uncertaintyhe explains. For us, it’s extremely complicated because we have to take the risk. There are years when we will sell a lot of geese, the next year, it will be the capon, the next, the hen…”. This year he took “as always”, a risk on oysters with a “very short product life”. “The volumes can be extremely impressive.

“Today, we are going to find ourselves with volumes 150 times higher than what we usually spend. For a hall like here, it is already a few hundred thousand euros, but for the 99 Metro halls, several million euros are at stake.”

Flavien Sollet, national sales director at Metro

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When you sign the purchase order, “everyone’s hand is shakinghe confesses. But we have no choice, we have to go!”

But good news: inflation has calmed down, even for luxury products. A breath of fresh air for customers and obviously for restaurateurs, rejoices Pascal Peltier, the boss of Metro in France. “We are rather in a period of disinflation. For example, on foie gras, oysters, we are rather between -8, -10%, or prices much more accessible than last year. We observe very strong differences between restaurateurs. They have an inflation of all costs which was very significant, therefore, in the short term, a greater difficulty than in past years. But overall, the restaurant industry is holding up well in France.”

The end of the year seems to be smiling on restaurateurs. But the holidays give the impression of a parenthesis. For many traditional restaurants, over the past two years, the drop in attendance has reached 20%. And it is estimated that this year, every day, 25 restaurants have closed permanently.