• No more austere bakery and soberly given bread by a craftsman worn out by his work?
  • Instagram fever is taking hold of many of these establishments, especially in Paris, with products increasingly worked visually.
  • A way to keep up with current food consumption trends, and renew the sector.

The rain threatens seriously but out of the question for Noémie to leave the queue. The thirty-year-old knows it, at the end of this queue of nine more people, the Parisian greyness ends and it's off for the explosion of colors. Once inside Tranché!, in the 9th arrondissement, one of the most hyped bakeries in the capital, you will be amazed. Colorful croissants, fluffy cabbage, brookies - mix between a brownie and a cookie - XXL. Here everything is beautiful, multicolored, canon, excessive. In a word: aesthetic. Proof of this is that if there is a crowd before entering the shop, there is also a crowd at the exit, most customers stopping to take pictures of their purchase before leaving the premises permanently.

A behavior that Noémie does not fail to reproduce, showing off her pastries like trophies in front of her phone: "It's been weeks that I see this bakery pass on Insta and that we talk about it with my colleagues. That's it, I finally did it." She later said she was very satisfied with the taste of pain au chocolat and flan. But in reality, the young saleswoman was already conquered even before the first bite.

"Why can't a bakery be sexy?"

"Visual pleasure now counts as much as taste for the consumer," says Marie-Eve Laporte, a teacher-researcher at IAE Paris-Sorbonne and a specialist in the evolution of eating behavior. A fundamental trend in the world of bakery, agrees Dominique Anract, president of the Confédération Nationale de la Boulangerie-Pâtisserie Française (CCNBPF): "The industry continues to renew itself and surf on new trends, in this case images on social networks. The bakery has gone through multiple crises in recent times – Covid-19, energy prices – and it is by following the tastes of consumers that it manages to survive. A rather simple follow-up, continues the president. Unlike other businesses, the bakery is in direct contact with its customers every day, and even several times a day: "For the morning croissant, the lunch sandwich, the dinner bread. We quickly see what pleases and what does not please. »


At Tranché!, Marie, one of the co-founders, understood this well. "We wanted to dust off the image of these establishments, which had remained a bit like the poor children of trendy food. Why can't a bakery be sexy? " she asks. For a long time, while the waves of foodporn and the instagramabilization of food were sweeping, the bakery was able to keep this image a little old-fashioned, with the artisan who gets up at 4 am to make sober bread as the Germinal worker goes to the mine.


Now, Zola has been put away in the closet, and we go to the bakery opening the eyes - and drawing the camera. At Tranché!, the stars are brookie, creamy cabbages and flan, sometimes revisited with chocolate for a maximum of greed. But also, in a more classic way, bread and croissants. Between beauty and tradition, we do not skimp on efforts. "We think a lot about the visual aspect of each product and how to make them as greedy and sexy as possible," continues Augustin, another co-manager. It's a business where you have to pay attention to detail – all choices are carefully thought out. A concept that also influences the layout and location of the bakery: "There is an opening on the kitchen, to show that we are transparent about our products and their craftsmanship. It's on a street corner, which makes it more photogenic." Etc. etc. The sense of detail, we repeat.

You have beautiful breads, you know

We find the same approach at Babka Zana, another bakery in the capital (also in the 9th) which, as its name suggests, "has chosen to put Babka in majesty", to use the words of Sarah, co-founder. A star product that can be found everywhere on the stalls, chocolate, fruity, pistachio or cinnamon version. The babka was chosen in the first place "because it's good" - let's not mess around on the sense of priorities either - "but also because it's beautiful. It's aesthetic, with a beautiful blend of colors and a nice dressage. Better yet, the babka is "beautiful at every stage of its preparation", a great opportunity for videos and photos for social networks. Because here too, we put the image forward: "As soon as we opened in 2020, we had a photographer," Sarah continues.


The beauty of the products "allows bakeries to move upmarket and give them a more modern image," confirms Marie-Eve Laporte. But also to counter another trend, that of healthy and healthy food, not necessarily bakery-compatible. And that's good, "a beautiful visual aspect reduces the perception of nutritional risk," says the specialist. Feel guilty by making the pleasure even more greedy, a real tour de force.

Word of mouth digital version

"Instagram has contributed a lot to our success," admits Sarah, whose bakery has 72,000 followers. An obvious equation: not everyone can taste one and the same babka, but everyone can see his photograph and be tempted. Marie-Eve Laporte reminds us, 85% of the photographs on Instagram have something to do with food.


At Trench!, open only since December, social networks also play their part. The bakery has recently made the "buzz" on TikTok and Instagram, between anti-waste promo on the cabbages of the day before at 1 euro and its Easter flan. A digital reputation that is felt on the turnover: "Especially on weekends, when some customers come from far away because they spotted us on social networks," continues Marie. On weekdays, when people have less time to travel, we stick to the neighborhood clientele. "Yes, social networks are shaking up the codes, but old-fashioned word-of-mouth and regulars remain indispensable and in the majority." Not everything has changed either in the land of bread and leaven.

The risk of too much and caricature

At Bo & Mie (2nd) too, we understood the advantage of being visible online, explains Jean-François, co-manager and in charge of social networks - 175,000 followers on Instagram all the same. Beyond the beautiful - "we take more and more professional photos" - there is the search for proximity for the consumer. "We film our recipes, our preparations, the stages of making the pastries, the team. As a result, the customer feels more integrated, closer to us," he says. A habit that is very much due to confinement, according to Sarah, "where it was common to film the preparations of his recipes".


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Be careful, however, not to fall into caricature. Recently, Thierry, manager of La boulangerie moderne (5e), which serves as the settingfor the Netflix series Emily in Paris, complained of excessive expectations around his products, and defended himself "from trying to be good, without necessarily being beautiful, and by entering a price without doing very high-end". But everything is not contradictory in the eyes of Jean-François: "We make products to please customers, before thinking about social networks. Even without Instagram, we would try to make appetizing products, it's our job and our passion. What works on the networks is what works in real life, there is no secret or deception."

  • Consumption
  • Economy
  • Bakery
  • Feeding
  • Instagram
  • Social Media
  • Food