Company Perspectives:
Picard is unique on the French frozen food market because it is both a distribution label and a brand name. The strength of this innovativ e concept enables us to offer our customers the double guarantee of a well-known brand and our own distribution network that now comprises more than 600 points of sale and 23 home delivery bases. For 30 year s Picard has selected and created the best products and perfected the best recipes in order to enable our customers to enjoy the pleasure of eating well every day.
History of Picard Surgeles

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Private Equity Accounting Software for Professionals www.fundcount.com Picard Surgeles is France's leading frozen foods specialist. The Font ainebleau-based company operates as both a manufacturer and a distrib utor, with a network of more than 500 retail stores throughout most o f France. The company also operates an e-commerce capable web site an d offers home delivery services. Picard's revenues of more than EUR 7 85 million ($890 million) gives it a market share of more than 12 percent of the total French frozen food market, as well as approxima tely one-third share among the country's frozen food specialists reta ilers. Picard has distinguished itself through a commitment to high q uality and innovation. Some 95 percent of the more than 1,000 product s on offer at the company's stores are either produced by Picard or p roduced exclusively for the company, and sold under the company's own brands, especially the Picard name. Other brands include a line of p repared exotic meals under the Cuisine Evasion brand; ice cream, sorb ets, and other frozen desserts under the François Théro n name; Formule Express, for microwaveable meals; and Le Soleil, for Mediterranean dishes. Originally focused on the Parisian region, Pica rd has been steadily completing its national coverage, backed by a st rong logistics support system. The company also has begun a foray int o the international market, operating 45 stores in Italy, and offerin g delivery services to Belgium. Picard is led by Chairman and CEO Xav ier Decelle. In 2005, the company was acquired by investment group BC Partners.
Retail Frozen Foods Pioneer in the 1970s
Picard's growth into France's leading frozen foods specialist began o nly in the 1970s, when the company was acquired by Armand Decelle. No netheless the Picard name had already been associated with the frozen products market since as early as 1906, when Raymond Picard began pr oducing ice blocks and delivering them to local restaurants, cafes, a nd homeowners in Fontainebleau. By 1920, Picard's business had become known as Les Glacières de Fontainebleau--Etablissements Picar d. Other sources, however, date the establishment of the Picard famil y business to the 1940s.
That year marked a revolution in the international grocery industry. Clarence Birdseye had recognized the potential for flash-freezing foo ds while on a trip to the Arctic. Returning to the United States, Bir dseye developed a method for flash-freezing foods on an industrial sc ale, and the frozen foods industry was born. The frozen food revoluti on--which allowed the nutrients and flavors in foods to be preserved far longer than was the case with fresh foods--was slow in reaching F rance, however, where freezers, and even refrigerators, remained rari ties through the first half of the century.
This situation changed in the years following the post-World War II p eriod. France entered a period of extended economic boom. At the same time, as disposable income levels grew, the country embraced home ap pliances on a large scale. The growth of a leisure industry also enco uraged the growth of a convenience foods industry, enabling consumers to spend less time in the kitchen. Refrigerators grew in size and ad ded freezer compartments. Meanwhile, restaurants and cafes installed dedicated refrigeration and freezer capacity.
By the early 1960s, the Picard family had recognized that its traditi onal business of providing ice was doomed; instead the company conver ted itself to a wholesale supplier of freezers and frozen foods to th e commercial sector. In 1962, the company changed its name to Etablis sements Picard. The company's earliest products included chopped meat , breaded fish, spinach, and other vegetables. Over the next decade, the company continued to add to its catalog, and by the beginning of the 1970s, the company handled more than 300 frozen food items.
By then, a new consumer market for frozen food products had begun to develop in France. At first confined in large part to the rural and a gricultural sector, where large-sized freezers were more practical, t he market began to expand to include urban markets as well. The relat ively young supermarket industry responded to demand by broadening th eir frozen food offerings. At the same time, the country saw a boom i n catalog-based home delivery services. Picard itself decided to ente r this category, launching its catalog in 1971, backed by a small fle et of trucks. The family-owned company's operations remained decidedl y local. With just 10 employees, the company posted sales of only 6;750,000 into the early years of the 1970s.
The Picard name's fortune changed dramatically in 1973, when Armand D ecelle bought the company from the Picard family. Decelle had already had a successful career as CEO of Compagnie Générale d e Conserve, a canned good business later known as Secab-Daussy. Decel le had recognized the huge potential of the frozen foods business--in large part because of the superior quality, and convenience, of froz en foods over fresh and canned goods.
Decelle broke with Picard's past, however, steering the company's foc us to the consumer retail market. The company maintained its small ho me delivery business (which later grew into a significant part of the group's business), but now turned its attention to the retail store channel. In 1974, Decelle opened a first Picard frozen foods supermar ket, on the Rue de Rome, in Paris. The operation of the store not onl y served as an outlet, it also placed the company in greater proximit y to its customers and allowed it to tailor its product offering to c lient needs.
Picard quickly built up a range of some 400 frozen food items. The su ccess of the first store encouraged Decelle to open a second store, i n Pavillions-sur-Bois, followed by several others through the decade. Supporting the company's growing retail network was a new logistic f acility in Saint-Ouen L'Aumone in 1976. The opening of this site perm itted the company to take control of its supply and transport require ments and backed Picard's first growth phase. By the end of the decad e, the company operated more than 20 Picard stores.

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Establishing a Frozen Foods Brand in the 1980s
In 1980, the company adopted a new store name, Picard Les Surgeles, a s well as a new logo featuring a blue snowflake. By then, however, Pi card was facing with growing competition from the supermarket sector, which not only had begun capturing the major share of the Paris regi on's fresh foods market, but also was coming to dominate frozen foods . Picard's suppliers soon favored the larger supermarket groups; face d with difficulties of supply, lower quality standards, and higher pr icing than its competitors, Picard made the strategic move of launchi ng its own branded line of foods, starting with vegetables.
The company soon took over much of the processing and packaging of mu ch of the Picard line, which was launched with some 400 items, and la ter doubled. In support of this effort, the company moved to a new he adquarters in Nemours. The site housed a new state-of-the-art warehou se facility, as well as a packaging plant and a small quality laborat ory. The company established strict quality standards, firmly positio ning itself on the high end of the consumer foods market. Although th e company's prices were higher than those of the supermarkets (and ev en higher than the prices at the small grocery shops), Decelle, joine d by twin sons Xavier and Olivier, put into place the company's promo tional pricing policy.
Each month, the company's stores and catalog placed a number of items on promotion, with discounts ranging up to 40 percent off. Unlike pr omotional items at other retailers, however, which tended toward unso ld and de-stocked items, Picard's promotions featured only ongoing it ems normally available at its shops. In fact, Decelle's original moti vation for the discount pricing policy was to encourage its customers to try new food items. Yet the company quickly recognized the added benefit of the discounted pricing, in that the lower prices on those items allowed a customer to balance his spending at the Picard store, bringing their total purchases more in line with the prices at the s upermarkets. Sales of the group's monthly promotions regularly accoun ted for 25 percent of total sales and more, and remained a mainstay t hroughout the company's expansion.
Picard invested little in promotional activities, preferring to gener ate new customers through word of mouth. In 1986, however, the compan y began publishing a monthly newsletter, Lettre Picard, which was distributed at the group's stores as well as in the Parisian edit ions of two television program guides.
Picard's commitment to quality and innovation resulted in the establi shment of a full-scale laboratory in Nemours in 1986. The company als o set into place a team of food engineers, assigned the task of devel oping new products and recipes for the group's ever-expanding line. C onsumer testing of new products, however, remained in the field. Rath er than invest in costly consumer research polling and studies, the c ompany instead preferred to place products directly in its stores. Pr oducts were then given a four-month period to prove themselves.
The company took a similarly organic approach to the expansion of its sales network. After establishing some 100 stores throughout the Par is region, the company decided to expand to the south of France, incl uding the regions of Lyons and Nice, as well as the Antibes. The grou p's choice of new target markets was dictated by the reasoning that t hese were popular vacation destinations for its Parisian consumer bas e, providing a ready-made consumer base for the brand. The first stor es outside of Paris opened in 1987, supported by a new logistics cent er at Vitry-sur-Seine. The following year, Armand Decelle turned over leadership of the company to sons Olivier and Xavier, who became co- CEOs.
Changing Owners in the New Century
As it continued its expansion, the Decelles decided to open up the co mpany's capital to outside investors. In 1991, the company sold a 10 percent stake to French hypermarket giant Carrefour. The company now launched a new expansion drive, opening as much as 15 new stores each year. By 1994, the company's network had expanded to 300 stores, and the group had opened a new logistics center in Avignon to support it s rising sales. In order to achieve still faster growth, the Decelles agreed to sell a majority stake in the company to Carrefour that yea r. Carrefour now took control of 79 percent of Picard, paying the Dec elles, who retained 21 percent of the company, nearly EUR 140 million .
Despite the change in ownership, the Decelle brothers remained at the head of the company and continued to lead Picard as an independent o peration. Yet the backing of Carrefour enabled the company to shift i ts expansion into overdrive; through the rest of the decade, the comp any began opening as many as 40 and even 50 new stores each year. By the end of the decade, Picard had established itself as a national ch ain, with more than 500 stores. The company also had launched an effo rt to replicate its successful retail formula on an international lev el, buying up the 45-store Gel Market from struggling French rival Ge l 2000.
Picard also launched its own e-commerce capable web site. The group's Internet sales, while limited to the larger metropolitan markets, bu ilt on the strong home delivery unit, which boasted more than 20 deli very bases throughout France into the 2000s.
Carrefour's takeover of Promodes, creating not only France's leading distribution group, but also one of the world's largest retail compan ies, led to a change of strategy. In 2001, Carrefour sold Picard to a management buyout, led by the Decelle family, and backed by an inves tment consortium headed by British buyout specialist Candover. The bu yout marked Olivier Decelle's exit from the company's direction; Xavi er Decelle continued as sole chairman and CEO.
With Candover's financial backing, Picard continued on its growth cou rse, boosting its store network to 600 stores by the end of 2004. The company began eyeing the possibility of going public. Instead, in De cember 2004, the company announced that it was being sold to a new in vestment group, BC Partners, in a secondary buyout that enabled Cando ver to nearly triple its initial investment. Despite the change in ow nership, Xavier Decelle remained as head of the group, which in just 30 years had established itself as the French frozen foods leader. Pi card hoped to build on this position, establishing its brand on an in ternational scale into the new century.
Principal Competitors: Carrefour S.A.; Etablissements E. LeCle rc S.A.; ITM Entreprises S.A.; Groupe Auchan; Rallye S.A.; Toupargel- Agrigel S.A.; Thiriet S.A.; Maximo.
Chronology
* Key Dates: * 1906: Raymond Picard begins producing and delivering ice block s in Fontainebleau. * 1920: The company becomes Les Glacières de Fontaineblea u--Etablissements Picard. * 1940s:Picard begins the first wholesale sales of frozen foods and fre ezers. * 1962: The company changes its name to Etablissements Picard an d focuses on the distribution of wholesale foods and freezers. * 1971: The company launches the first frozen foods catalog and home delivery sales. * 1973: Armand Decelle acquires Picard company. * 1974: The first Picard retail store opens. * 1979: Headquarters are moved to Nemours. * 1980: The Picard frozen foods brand is launched. * 1987: The company opens its 100th store; the first store outsi de of the Paris region opens. * 1991: Carrefours buys a 10 percent stake in Picard. * 1994: Carrefour boosts its stake to 79 percent and backs an ac celerated store expansion program. * 1999: Picard acquires 50 Gel Market stores in Italy from Gel 2 000. * 2001: Carrefour sells Picard to a management buyout backed by an investment consortium led by Candover. * 2004: Candover sells the Picard stake to investment group BC P artners.
Additional Details * Private Company * Incorporated: 1920 as Les Glacières de Fointainebleau-E tablissements Picard * Employees: 3,000 * Sales: EUR 785 million ($920 million) * NAIC: 445110 Supermarkets and Other Grocery (Except Convenienc e) Stores; 445210 Meat Markets; 445299 All Other Specialty Food Store s; 311412 Frozen Specialty Food Manufacturing; 311411 Frozen Fruit, J uice, and Vegetable Processing; 311712 Fresh and Frozen Seafood Proce ssing

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Picard Surgeles is France's leading frozen foods specialist. The Fontainebleau-based company operates as both a manufacturer and a distributor, with a network of more than 500 retail stores throughout most of France. The company also operates an e-commerce capable web site and offers home delivery services. Picard's revenues of more than EUR 785 million ($890 million) gives it a market share of more than 12 percent of the total French frozen food market, as well as approximately one-third share among the country's frozen food specialists retailers. Picard has distinguished itself through a commitment to high quality and innovation. Some 95 percent of the more than 1,000 products on offer at the company's stores are either produced by Picard or produced exclusively for the company, and sold under the company's own brands, especially the Picard name. Other brands include a line of prepared exotic meals under the Cuisine Evasion brand; ice cream, sorbets, and other frozen desserts under the François Théron name; Formule Express, for microwaveable meals; and Le Soleil, for Mediterranean dishes. Originally focused on the Parisian region, Picard has been steadily completing its national coverage, backed by a strong logistics support system. The company also has begun a foray into the international market, operating 45 stores in Italy, and offering delivery services to Belgium. Picard is led by Chairman and CEO Xavier Decelle. In 2005, the company was acquired by investment group BC Partners.
Picard's growth into France's leading frozen foods specialist began only in the 1970s, when the company was acquired by Armand Decelle. Nonetheless the Picard name had already been associated with the frozen products market since as early as 1906, when Raymond Picard began producing ice blocks and delivering them to local restaurants, cafes, and homeowners in Fontainebleau. By 1920, Picard's business had become known as Les Glacières de Fontainebleau--Etablissements Picard. Other sources, however, date the establishment of the Picard family business to the 1940s.
That year marked a revolution in the international grocery industry. Clarence Birdseye had recognized the potential for flash-freezing foods while on a trip to the Arctic. Returning to the United States, Birdseye developed a method for flash-freezing foods on an industrial scale, and the frozen foods industry was born. The frozen food revolution--which allowed the nutrients and flavors in foods to be preserved far longer than was the case with fresh foods--was slow in reaching France, however, where freezers, and even refrigerators, remained rarities through the first half of the century.
This situation changed in the years following the post-World War II period. France entered a period of extended economic boom. At the same time, as disposable income levels grew, the country embraced home appliances on a large scale. The growth of a leisure industry also encouraged the growth of a convenience foods industry, enabling consumers to spend less time in the kitchen. Refrigerators grew in size and added freezer compartments. Meanwhile, restaurants and cafes installed dedicated refrigeration and freezer capacity.
By the early 1960s, the Picard family had recognized that its traditional business of providing ice was doomed; instead the company converted itself to a wholesale supplier of freezers and frozen foods to the commercial sector. In 1962, the company changed its name to Etablissements Picard. The company's earliest products included chopped meat, breaded fish, spinach, and other vegetables. Over the next decade, the company continued to add to its catalog, and by the beginning of the 1970s, the company handled more than 300 frozen food items.
By then, a new consumer market for frozen food products had begun to develop in France. At first confined in large part to the rural and agricultural sector, where large-sized freezers were more practical, the market began to expand to include urban markets as well. The relatively young supermarket industry responded to demand by broadening their frozen food offerings. At the same time, the country saw a boom in catalog-based home delivery services. Picard itself decided to enter this category, launching its catalog in 1971, backed by a small fleet of trucks. The family-owned company's operations remained decidedly local. With just 10 employees, the company posted sales of only $750,000 into the early years of the 1970s.
The Picard name's fortune changed dramatically in 1973, when Armand Decelle bought the company from the Picard family. Decelle had already had a successful career as CEO of Compagnie Générale de Conserve, a canned good business later known as Secab-Daussy. Decelle had recognized the huge potential of the frozen foods business--in large part because of the superior quality, and convenience, of frozen foods over fresh and canned goods.
Decelle broke with Picard's past, however, steering the company's focus to the consumer retail market. The company maintained its small home delivery business (which later grew into a significant part of the group's business), but now turned its attention to the retail store channel. In 1974, Decelle opened a first Picard frozen foods supermarket, on the Rue de Rome, in Paris. The operation of the store not only served as an outlet, it also placed the company in greater proximity to its customers and allowed it to tailor its product offering to client needs.
Picard quickly built up a range of some 400 frozen food items. The success of the first store encouraged Decelle to open a second store, in Pavillions-sur-Bois, followed by several others through the decade. Supporting the company's growing retail network was a new logistic facility in Saint-Ouen L'Aumone in 1976. The opening of this site permitted the company to take control of its supply and transport requirements and backed Picard's first growth phase. By the end of the decade, the company operated more than 20 Picard stores.
In 1980, the company adopted a new store name, Picard Les Surgeles, as well as a new logo featuring a blue snowflake. By then, however, Picard was facing with growing competition from the supermarket sector, which not only had begun capturing the major share of the Paris region's fresh foods market, but also was coming to dominate frozen foods. Picard's suppliers soon favored the larger supermarket groups; faced with difficulties of supply, lower quality standards, and higher pricing than its competitors, Picard made the strategic move of launching its own branded line of foods, starting with vegetables.
The company soon took over much of the processing and packaging of much of the Picard line, which was launched with some 400 items, and later doubled. In support of this effort, the company moved to a new headquarters in Nemours. The site housed a new state-of-the-art warehouse facility, as well as a packaging plant and a small quality laboratory. The company established strict quality standards, firmly positioning itself on the high end of the consumer foods market. Although the company's prices were higher than those of the supermarkets (and even higher than the prices at the small grocery shops), Decelle, joined by twin sons Xavier and Olivier, put into place the company's promotional pricing policy.
Each month, the company's stores and catalog placed a number of items on promotion, with discounts ranging up to 40 percent off. Unlike promotional items at other retailers, however, which tended toward unsold and de-stocked items, Picard's promotions featured only ongoing items normally available at its shops. In fact, Decelle's original motivation for the discount pricing policy was to encourage its customers to try new food items. Yet the company quickly recognized the added benefit of the discounted pricing, in that the lower prices on those items allowed a customer to balance his spending at the Picard store, bringing their total purchases more in line with the prices at the supermarkets. Sales of the group's monthly promotions regularly accounted for 25 percent of total sales and more, and remained a mainstay throughout the company's expansion.
Picard invested little in promotional activities, preferring to generate new customers through word of mouth. In 1986, however, the company began publishing a monthly newsletter, Lettre Picard, which was distributed at the group's stores as well as in the Parisian editions of two television program guides.
Picard's commitment to quality and innovation resulted in the establishment of a full-scale laboratory in Nemours in 1986. The company also set into place a team of food engineers, assigned the task of developing new products and recipes for the group's ever-expanding line. Consumer testing of new products, however, remained in the field. Rather than invest in costly consumer research polling and studies, the company instead preferred to place products directly in its stores. Products were then given a four-month period to prove themselves.
The company took a similarly organic approach to the expansion of its sales network. After establishing some 100 stores throughout the Paris region, the company decided to expand to the south of France, including the regions of Lyons and Nice, as well as the Antibes. The group's choice of new target markets was dictated by the reasoning that these were popular vacation destinations for its Parisian consumer base, providing a ready-made consumer base for the brand. The first stores outside of Paris opened in 1987, supported by a new logistics center at Vitry-sur-Seine. The following year, Armand Decelle turned over leadership of the company to sons Olivier and Xavier, who became co-CEOs.
As it continued its expansion, the Decelles decided to open up the company's capital to outside investors. In 1991, the company sold a 10 percent stake to French hypermarket giant Carrefour. The company now launched a new expansion drive, opening as much as 15 new stores each year. By 1994, the company's network had expanded to 300 stores, and the group had opened a new logistics center in Avignon to support its rising sales. In order to achieve still faster growth, the Decelles agreed to sell a majority stake in the company to Carrefour that year. Carrefour now took control of 79 percent of Picard, paying the Decelles, who retained 21 percent of the company, nearly EUR 140 million.
Despite the change in ownership, the Decelle brothers remained at the head of the company and continued to lead Picard as an independent operation. Yet the backing of Carrefour enabled the company to shift its expansion into overdrive; through the rest of the decade, the company began opening as many as 40 and even 50 new stores each year. By the end of the decade, Picard had established itself as a national chain, with more than 500 stores. The company also had launched an effort to replicate its successful retail formula on an international level, buying up the 45-store Gel Market from struggling French rival Gel 2000.
Picard also launched its own e-commerce capable web site. The group's Internet sales, while limited to the larger metropolitan markets, built on the strong home delivery unit, which boasted more than 20 delivery bases throughout France into the 2000s.
Carrefour's takeover of Promodes, creating not only France's leading distribution group, but also one of the world's largest retail companies, led to a change of strategy. In 2001, Carrefour sold Picard to a management buyout, led by the Decelle family, and backed by an investment consortium headed by British buyout specialist Candover. The buyout marked Olivier Decelle's exit from the company's direction; Xavier Decelle continued as sole chairman and CEO.
With Candover's financial backing, Picard continued on its growth course, boosting its store network to 600 stores by the end of 2004. The company began eyeing the possibility of going public. Instead, in December 2004, the company announced that it was being sold to a new investment group, BC Partners, in a secondary buyout that enabled Candover to nearly triple its initial investment. Despite the change in ownership, Xavier Decelle remained as head of the group, which in just 30 years had established itself as the French frozen foods leader. Picard hoped to build on this position, establishing its brand on an international scale into the new century.
Principal Competitors
Carrefour S.A.; Etablissements E. LeClerc S.A.; ITM Entreprises S.A.; Groupe Auchan; Rallye S.A.; Toupargel-Agrigel S.A.; Thiriet S.A.; Maximo.
Further Reading
"Carrefour Sells Frozen Food Division to Consortium," Grocer, February 24, 2001, p. 14.
O'Donnell, John, "Backers to Cash in Picard Chips," Sunday Times, May 5, 2002, p. 2.
Mitteaux, Valérie, "Nous voulons gagner la bataille du quotidien," e-marketing.fr, March 1, 2002.
"Picard, le bon élève de la galaxie Carrefour," e-marketing.fr, April 1, 2000.
"Picard manie les P et refroidit ses rivaux," Challenges, September 5, 2002.
"The Secondary Buyout of French Frozen Food Retailer Picard Surgeles by BC Partners Has Been Backed by 913m [euro] of Debt," Acquisitions Monthly, March 2005, p. 62.
"Sur toute la chaîne, Picard reste de glace," Challenges, September 1, 2000.
— M.L. Cohen

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Private Company Incorporated: 1920 as Les Glacières de Fointainebleau-Etablissements Picard Employees: 3,000 Sales: EUR 785 million ($920 million) NAIC: 445110 Supermarkets and Other Grocery (Except Convenience) Stores; 445210 Meat Markets; 445299 All Other Specialty Food Stores; 311412 Frozen Specialty Food Manufacturing; 311411 Frozen Fruit, Juice, and Vegetable Processing; 311712 Fresh and Frozen Seafood Processing
Picard Surgeles is France's leading frozen foods specialist. The Fontainebleau-based company operates as both a manufacturer and a distributor, with a network of more than 500 retail stores throughout most of France. The company also operates an e-commerce capable web site and offers home delivery services. Picard's revenues of more than EUR 785 million ($890 million) gives it a market share of more than 12 percent of the total French frozen food market, as well as approximately one-third share among the country's frozen food specialists retailers. Picard has distinguished itself through a commitment to high quality and innovation. Some 95 percent of the more than 1,000 products on offer at the company's stores are either produced by Picard or produced exclusively for the company, and sold under the company's own brands, especially the Picard name. Other brands include a line of prepared exotic meals under the Cuisine Evasion brand; ice cream, sorbets, and other frozen desserts under the François Théron name; Formule Express, for microwaveable meals; and Le Soleil, for Mediterranean dishes. Originally focused on the Parisian region, Picard has been steadily completing its national coverage, backed by a strong logistics support system. The company also has begun a foray into the international market, operating 45 stores in Italy, and offering delivery services to Belgium. Picard is led by Chairman and CEO Xavier Decelle. In 2005, the company was acquired by investment group BC Partners.
Retail Frozen Foods Pioneer in the 1970s
Picard's growth into France's leading frozen foods specialist began only in the 1970s, when the company was acquired by Armand Decelle. Nonetheless the Picard name had already been associated with the frozen products market since as early as 1906, when Raymond Picard began producing ice blocks and delivering them to local restaurants, cafes, and homeowners in Fontainebleau. By 1920, Picard's business had become known as Les Glacières de Fontainebleau—Etablissements Picard. Other sources, however, date the establishment of the Picard family business to the 1940s.
That year marked a revolution in the international grocery industry. Clarence Birdseye had recognized the potential for flash-freezing foods while on a trip to the Arctic. Returning to the United States, Birdseye developed a method for flash-freezing foods on an industrial scale, and the frozen foods industry was born. The frozen food revolution—which allowed the nutrients and flavors in foods to be preserved far longer than was the case with fresh foods—was slow in reaching France, however, where freezers, and even refrigerators, remained rarities through the first half of the century.
This situation changed in the years following the post-World War II period. France entered a period of extended economic boom. At the same time, as disposable income levels grew, the country embraced home appliances on a large scale. The growth of a leisure industry also encouraged the growth of a convenience foods industry, enabling consumers to spend less time in the kitchen. Refrigerators grew in size and added freezer compartments. Meanwhile, restaurants and cafes installed dedicated refrigeration and freezer capacity.
By then, a new consumer market for frozen food products had begun to develop in France. At first confined in large part to the rural and agricultural sector, where large-sized freezers were more practical, the market began to expand to include urban markets as well. The relatively young supermarket industry responded to demand by broadening their frozen food offerings. At the same time, the country saw a boom in catalog-based home delivery services. Picard itself decided to enter this category, launching its catalog in 1971, backed by a small fleet of trucks. The family-owned company's operations remained decidedly local. With just 10 employees, the company posted sales of only $750,000 into the early years of the 1970s.
The Picard name's fortune changed dramatically in 1973, when Armand Decelle bought the company from the Picard family. Decelle had already had a successful career as CEO of Compagnie Générale de Conserve, a canned good business later known as Secab-Daussy. Decelle had recognized the huge potential of the frozen foods business—in large part because of the superior quality, and convenience, of frozen foods over fresh and canned goods.
Decelle broke with Picard's past, however, steering the company's focus to the consumer retail market. The company maintained its small home delivery business (which later grew into a significant part of the group's business), but now turned its attention to the retail store channel. In 1974, Decelle opened a first Picard frozen foods supermarket, on the Rue de Rome, in Paris. The operation of the store not only served as an outlet, it also placed the company in greater proximity to its customers and allowed it to tailor its product offering to client needs.
Picard quickly built up a range of some 400 frozen food items. The success of the first store encouraged Decelle to open a second store, in Pavillions-sur-Bois, followed by several others through the decade. Supporting the company's growing retail network was a new logistic facility in Saint-Ouen L'Aumone in 1976. The opening of this site permitted the company to take control of its supply and transport requirements and backed Picard's first growth phase. By the end of the decade, the company operated more than 20 Picard stores.
Establishing a Frozen Foods Brand in the 1980s
In 1980, the company adopted a new store name, Picard Les Surgeles, as well as a new logo featuring a blue snowflake. By then, however, Picard was facing with growing competition from the supermarket sector, which not only had begun capturing the major share of the Paris region's fresh foods market, but also was coming to dominate frozen foods. Picard's suppliers soon favored the larger supermarket groups; faced with difficulties of supply, lower quality standards, and higher pricing than its competitors, Picard made the strategic move of launching its own branded line of foods, starting with vegetables.
The company soon took over much of the processing and packaging of much of the Picard line, which was launched with some 400 items, and later doubled. In support of this effort, the company moved to a new headquarters in Nemours. The site housed a new state-of-the-art warehouse facility, as well as a packaging plant and a small quality laboratory. The company established strict quality standards, firmly positioning itself on the high end of the consumer foods market. Although the company's prices were higher than those of the supermarkets (and even higher than the prices at the small grocery shops), Decelle, joined by twin sons Xavier and Olivier, put into place the company's promotional pricing policy.
Each month, the company's stores and catalog placed a number of items on promotion, with discounts ranging up to 40 percent off. Unlike promotional items at other retailers, however, which tended toward unsold and de-stocked items, Picard's promotions featured only ongoing items normally available at its shops. In fact, Decelle's original motivation for the discount pricing policy was to encourage its customers to try new food items. Yet the company quickly recognized the added benefit of the discounted pricing, in that the lower prices on those items allowed a customer to balance his spending at the Picard store, bringing their total purchases more in line with the prices at the supermarkets. Sales of the group's monthly promotions regularly accounted for 25 percent of total sales and more, and remained a mainstay throughout the company's expansion.
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Dining In - Chez Picard

Adapting to the food of another country can occasionally be a challenge for expats. It seems as if you're always missing something. In Indonesia, we ate lots of rice but missed good pasta. In Trinidad, we ate some amazing East Indian food but missed wholegrain bread. Get a group of international expats together and it won't be long before they start talking about which foods they miss the most. The Swiss miss raclette and fondue, Americans miss Mexican food, Australians miss Vegemite and barbecues, and the French miss baguettes, cheese, and Picard, a chain of gourmet quality frozen food stores.

With the abundance of fresh food and markets in France, this always came as a surprise. Surely, I mistakenly thought, the French make their meals from scratch! Now, with a few months in Paris under my belt, I understand their attachment to this company that produces everything from salads to a wide range of delectable main courses, such as duck breasts stuffed with mushrooms and Couscous Royale, to luscious deserts, such as Tarte Tatin and a wide selection of ice cream and sorbet. And the most amazing thing is that their products are very reasonably priced. | Just a few of the frozen herbs that are available at Picard. |

So instead of cooking after a busy day visiting Paris, why don't you do like Stéphane and I did last Saturday and enjoy a three course dinner at home, complements of Picard. | Tomato, mozzarella, and basil millefeuilles. Euros 3.50 for 2. |

| Puff pastry with spinach and goat cheese. Euros 3.80 for 4. |

| Tiramisu with raspberries and mangoes. Euros 8.95. |

With over 800 stores in France, there's a good chance that you'll find a Picard near you. The only downsides are that the little French freezers are rarely large enough to store all of the goodies that you'll find and the instructions on the packages are only written in French. Bon appétit!
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Labels: dining, frozen food, insider's tip, meals, Picard
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Picard is France's favourite store
September 03, 2010
FROZEN food firm Picard is French people’s favourite international chain, a study among 14,000 consumers in six countries shows.

The store is liked for its large choice, the look of the shops, its service and its value for money, revealed the poll by market analysts OC&C.

Second most popular was Scandinavian furniture store IKEA, while internet bookshop Amazon, which came top in the USA, UK and Germany, was third equal with perfume and beauty stores Sephora and sports stores Decathlon.

The others in the top 10 were Fnac (Books, music, technology), Nature & Découvertes (gardening and outdoor pursuits), the supermarket Leclerc, Vente Privée (an internet site hosting sales of reduced price designer goods) and clothes stores Zara.

The study asked consumers to rate stores they had visited at least once in the past six months on criteria such as price, quality, service, choice, atmosphere and how suitable the products are to their needs.

It showed how popular e-commerce has become, while, according to one of the authors of the study, Jean-Daniel Pick, the ordinary high street stores that did well are ones with a “clear concept” and convenient location.

Picard dates from 1906 when it was founded by Frenchman Raymond Picard as Les Glacières de Fontainebleau, a company making ice blocks for keeping food fresh before refrigerators.

It both makes and sells frozen food and has 730 stores. It is also possible to order by internet and telephone for home delivery.
Photo: Meg Zimbeck/Flickr

Monday, 26 July 2010
Lion Capital to acquire Picard
Lion Capital LLP (“Lion”) is pleased to announce that an agreement has been reached whereby Lion Capital has been granted a period of exclusivity for the purposes of reaching a definitive agreement for Picard (“Picard”) with BC Partners. The communication and consultation process with employee representatives is expected to start before the end of the week. Following the completion of this process, BC Partners will be able to enter into a formal agreement with Lion. This should result in completion of the transaction in the fourth quarter of 2010, after it has been approved by the European Competition Authorities.
Picard is one of the leading specialised retailers in the French frozen food market, selling a very wide range of product references through a network of 820 retailing outlets. The company’s product range covers all product categories, from starters to desserts and from raw ingredients to prepared meals. Picard has posted an impressive track record of financial performance in France over the last twenty years through strong and resilient like-for-like sales growth and rapid expansion of its store network. The company also operates outlets in Italy and recent openings in this country are promising. In its most recent fiscal year, Picard generated over €1.1 billion of total sales.
Lyndon Lea, Partner of Lion Capital, said: “Picard has established an enviable position within the frozen category by delivering consumers high quality food products with superior taste and nutritional characteristics at attractive price points. Throughout the economic cycle, the company has driven consistently strong financial performance by offering a high quality and convenient alternative to fresh food, underpinned by a strong emphasis on product innovation. Lion is uniquely positioned to support Picard's continued success through our strategic focus on high quality consumer brands and deep expertise within the food and retailing subsectors.”
Ends
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Picard's Gourmet Frozen Food Store
By Joop de Boer | Published: Friday November 5, 2010
The French have some issues. Should the comfort and ease of the modern fast food culture be accepted, or should they stick to the habits of the traditional French kitchen? Of course, the French gastronomical tradition is of high standards, but specifically in big cities the pace of life speeds up, and the urban dweller simply does not have the time to spend hours in the kitchen waiting for a cassoulet to cook. Therefore it’s not a surprise that in Paris a chain tof urban comfort supermarkets has emerged. Picard runs supermarkets selling frozen products only. The space is full of sedan-type freezers (the ones you have to open from above), and sells predominantly frozen delicacies, ready for the microwave. Most of the products originate from the French ‘cuisine’, which means that quiches and escargots beat the pizza’s here. All products can be prepared in the oven or microwave in disposable pans. No preparation, no clean-up.

Picard offers its clients a hit-and-run gastronomy, for those who are busy but still want to eat traditional French meals. Interesting about the concept is that it focuses on people with a metropolitan lifestyle being not regularly at home. Buying fresh food then always leads to mold in the fridge. A current collective habit is that we tend to buy not only what we need, but what we possibly might need. When plans change we just accept throwing stuff away. Picard is based on this phenomenon of ‘in case’ stock that we increasingly cram our fridge with. I’m not saying Picard is a green company though. All the freezers in the store, which is unexpected and comfortably warm by the way, cannot be profitable for the world’s energy problem.
Picard as a formula is very successful in France. What Picard is known for is the richness of its offering, the high quality of products, and its service to customers. All based on a rich history, as explained by Highbeam.
“Picard’s history dates back to the 1920s when the Picard family delivered ice in the Seine and Marne Region. After World War II, as technology progressed, they began delivering frozen food. In 1973 Annand Decelle purchased the home delivery business and created Picard. The company began placing its name on products 12 years later. In 1998 the chain adopted the logo that it has used ever since: a snow flake symbolizing the world of frozen freshness and, within it, a little orange-colored diamond symbolizing life. Carrefour bought the operation in 1994. Ten years later it was sold again, this time to a company called BC Partners. Like other freezer centers, Picard sells more than 1,000 items. Each year Picard adds more than 150 products and removes items that do not meet a need. It tracks stock keeping units.”