Bakery revenue in France: key figures for the sector

What is a bakery's revenue?#

A bakery whose profits are subject to personal income tax has average revenue of €225,000 excluding VAT. For bakeries subject to corporate income tax, the average is €417,000 excluding VAT. Both averages come from the Fiducial panel of 400 stores, for fiscal year 2020. Divided by the number of companies, the 2021 Insee total gives about €454,000 excl. VAT per company.

Why two averages? Under personal income tax (impôt sur le revenu, or IR), profit is taxed in the owner's name. Under corporate tax (impôt sur les sociétés, or IS), it is taxed in the company's name. Business size and tax regime go together: the largest bakeries are most often incorporated.

The sources consulted do not publish a single average revenue figure for the trade. The two sources provide three figures: Fiducial publishes two averages by tax regime, while we calculate an average per company from Insee's sector total.

The Insee calculation is above both Fiducial averages: the two sources do not cover the same businesses or the same year. Insee counts all companies in the sector in 2021. Fiducial's figures cover one accounting firm's clients in 2020, the year of the pandemic.

All amounts in this article exclude VAT, unless stated otherwise.

These annual amounts cover 2020 and 2021. This article gives no average annual revenue for 2025: the 2025 data presented below covers costs and customer traffic.

How many customers does a bakery and pastry shop serve each day, and what is the average ticket?#

The 2026 edition of the Observatoire Fiducial, based on 2025 results from 400 stores, counts 295 customers a day on average, with an average ticket of €6.40. The page does not say whether the average ticket includes VAT.

These two figures show how daily sales add up. 295 visits at €6.40 come to about €1,888 in sales a day: that is our calculation, not a Fiducial figure. We do not multiply that amount by the number of days the stores are open because we do not have a source for that figure. And this calculation uses 2025 data, while the annual averages presented above date from 2020: do not compare them directly.

Bread is only part of the basket. A baguette costs €1.12 on average in the 2026 panel. And in the 2021 panel, 89% of stores also sold something other than bread, such as snacks or pastries.

Bakery revenue: €225,000 under income tax, €417,000 under corporate tax#

These two averages come from the Observatoire Fiducial des boulangeries-pâtisseries, 2021 edition. Fiducial is an accounting firm. Its panel includes 400 bakeries selected from its 2,500 bakery clients, with figures based on 2020 accounts: 45% are taxed under IR and 55% under IS.

Average revenue is about €225,000 under IR and €417,000 under IS (€225,222 and €416,960 in the panel).

These averages hide wide gaps. Eight out of ten bakeries under IR make less than €300,000. Under IS, one in three tops €450,000.

The panel leans rural: 54% of bakeries are in rural areas, 44% in urban areas. It is a sample of accounting files, not a census. It gives ballpark figures.

From revenue to margin: payroll, rent and net income#

Revenue says nothing about profitability. Fiducial's management ratios show what is left, line by line. Unless noted otherwise, they come from the 2026 edition, based on 2025 results.

The first line item is purchases of raw materials (flour, butter, sugar) and of goods for resale. It makes up 31% of revenue, under both IR and IS.

The rest forms the gross margin, which still has to pay for wages, rent and other expenses.

Wages come next. Payroll costs are 35% of revenue under IR and 41% under IS. Rent is 6% in both cases.

Net income comes to 11% of revenue under IR, before the owner's income tax, and 3% under IS, after corporate tax. The overview page for the 2026 edition gives neither these results in euros nor the gross margin percentage; the 2021 edition provides both for the 2020 accounts, as shown below.

Do not read this gap as a difference in profitability.

Under income tax, the wages counted here do not include what the baker pays himself to live on. His social insurance contributions are included in the costs, and he pays himself out of what remains. Under corporate tax, his pay is already included in wages. So the 11% under IR first goes to pay the baker, and the two percentages cannot be compared directly.

To answer the question of a bakery's average profit, use the Fiducial amounts rather than a margin rate. They say how much is left in euros, with the tax regime specified. But they date from the 2020 accounts and do not give a baker's current income.

Opening a bakery or estimating store revenue: how should you use these averages?#

If you are opening a bakery, an average is not a target. Actual revenue can be higher or lower depending on the location and its catchment area (the area customers come from). The financial forecast (projected financial statements for the first few years), prepared for that specific location, sets out the baker's expected revenue.

To organize your prospecting, start by counting the stores in your area and noting what they sell: bread only, pastries, snacks. The 2020 averages cannot tell you their current sales or what they buy from you. To estimate your sales potential, use purchases by comparable customers and the needs your sales reps have identified.

Count locations, not companies: the store is what your sales rep visits. And start from a real count rather than an assumption. The calculator for counting businesses to prospect in your area uses census data, and the Observatory publishes dated counts by trade.

The bakery sector according to Insee: 28,525 companies in 2021#

A bakery, here, is a craft shop that bakes its bread and pastries on site, often cakes as well, and sells them over the counter, mostly to consumers. Insee files these companies under code 1071C in the business register (bakery and bakery-patisserie). Its 1071C profile counts 28,525 companies and 29,995 stores in 2021. For the number of bakeries operating today, and who holds the market, see our study on the number of bakeries in France.

How many bakeries are there in France? Within this scope, the answer depends on the unit. One company can run several stores, hence the gap of about 1,500 between the two counts: for prospecting, count the stores.

Insee does not publish an average revenue figure. You work it out by hand: €12,962.9M of sector revenue divided by 28,525 companies gives about €454,000 excl. VAT per company. That is our calculation, not an Insee figure.

The calculation presented here uses Insee data for 2021, published in March 2024.

Sources#

• Fiche secteur 1071C, Fiches sectorielles 2021, INSEE
• Fiches sectorielles 2021 et avis du 24 mars 2025, INSEE
• Observatoire Fiducial des boulangeries-pâtisseries, édition 2021, Fiducial
• Observatoire Fiducial 2026 de la boulangerie-pâtisserie, Fiducial