FRANCE. Hediard – one of the few companies to span the fine food and confectionery sectors – has been picking up new international business driven by its self-contained gondola display and new café boutique concept.
The French deluxe epicerie launched its point-of-sale unit two years ago in travel retail by developing a complete tailored assortment for Aelia at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. In November the company won the fine food concession at Nice Airport terminal 1 with Aelia and has recently finished building the shop. Last week the latest Hediard boutique opened with Aelia at the Eurostar’s Gare du Nord rail station in Paris and the company continues to expand.
Hediard was exhibiting at the Duty Free Show of the Americas last week for the first time to grow its presence in the Americas markets. The company already has confectionery spaces in New York JFK terminal 1, Washington Dulles and Chicago O’Hare airports. Its dedicated gondola concept, with a footprint of just 10sq m (108sq ft) has also opened in Brussels, Moscow and Manila airports.
Hediard vice president Jean-Claude Bronner told The Moodie Report: “We will soon enter DFS Hawaii with a brand space. Our café boutique is a new concept opening in Oman, Dubai, Casablanca and Moscow. We would like to open in airports too; the main goal is to open in the Middle East.
“Hediard is a generalist food company with a great heritage. We can operate in any space, the bigger the better, but it depends on the operator.”
Hediard operates in 35-40 countries with 200 points of sale and 15 freestanding stores. The new café boutique concept serves the company’s well-known jams, fruit jellies, iced chestnuts, biscuits, chocolates and marzipan confectionery all made by the company’s own production facility in the South of France, plus teas and coffee.
The company operates through Pommares Agencies for the Americas and Caribbean, where there are now several stand-alone stores in mainly French tourist markets such as St Martin and Guadeloupe, as well as Tahiti and Mauritius.
Trade enquiries to Jean-Claude Bronner at email: jeanclaude.bronner@hediard.fr
