Le Foie Gras au Japon (document en anglais)

I. Introduction

France is the largest producer of foie gras, representing 71% of the global volume in 2012. This figure is related to the fact that the product is being part of the French culture. However, foie gras belongs to a seasonal market as this product is usually consumed during Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Bearing this in mind, producers try to develop foreign markets in order to increase their sales of foie gras at non-peak periods.

A. Overview of Japan

Japan, with its 127 million inhabitants has managed to establish itself as one of the main world powers. Rich, powerful and at the top in terms of new technologies, the country is, despite everything, experiencing a slowdown and a recession due to the global crisis.

However, even if they are affected, one sector is still doing well and is not faced by this crisis: the luxury food market.

Food plays an important part in the Japanese society, as it is the second highest expense just after the housing. The food market is worth more than 490 billion of dollars per year, which is explained by the fact that Japan has a large middle to high class that is generally spending 25% of their income for food, representing an expense between $179 and $776 per person/month.

Moreover, Japan is an extremely competitive and attractive market, attracted by good, fresh, high quality products and influenced by dietary habits of rich countries. Nowadays, 9.7% of the worldwide millionaires are Japanese and more than 60% of food needed to feed Japans inhabitants is coming from abroad. Furthermore, Japan is currently the second largest importer of French foie gras, importing nearly 600 tons of it every year.

Once reserved for the high class, foie gras is conquering little by little the average class, who also wants to have access to these kinds of products for special days. To sum up, foie gras is a known and appreciated product in Japan and at the same time it reflects the beginning of a new trend, which French exporters should keep on following.

B. Overview of the brand

Delpeyrat is a French company specializing in luxury products such as black truffles and foie gras. The company was founded in Sarlat, which is located in Perigord in 1890 . Its founder, Pierre Delpeyrat wanted to use sterilization as a method of conservation in order to ideally preserve foie gras and black truffles, two main products of French gastronomy.

Delpeyrat’s main goal is to become the world leader of foie gras. To achieve this goal, the company invested 10 million Euros in the extension of its current factory. This extension will create a space of 7,000 square metres at the site of St. Pierre-du-Mont in Landes, which is reserved for the transformation of foie gras. With regard to this, Delpeyrat will possess the most efficient and the world's largest production unit of foie gras. Consequently, the factory will increase the production of foie gras from 5000 to 6000 tons per year, which represents 35% of the global market. Furthermore, Delpeyrat wants to create a new process of transformation of foie gras that will allow firing at a lower temperature to improve the gustative aspect, while maintaining the use life of the product. In general, this will increase the company’s functionality and productivity.

II. Internal Analysis

A. Primefact

People

In general, the foie gras manufacturer Delpeyrat has almost 2000 employees working in 10 branches of the enterprise these days. The major executives of the company are Thierry Blandinieres and Bernard Guillerm. Thierry Blandinieres serves as President and as Director of Publication for Delpeyrat, while Bernard Guillerm works as Managing Director of the company.

Reputation

Pates, such as foie gras are typical French products, which are mainly produced and consumed in France. However, the country also exports great quantities of the product to foreign countries, like the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Germany and Japan, because of its huge popularity there. With regard to the international high demand of foie gras, Delpeyrat is one of few and highly esteemed producers in France that distributes its gourmet food abroad. This is the reason why the company enjoys an excellent reputation worldwide.

Delpeyrat’s good reputation is not only due to its existence for 120 years, its long-standing tradition as well as its expertise and its knowledge in this field, but also due to its professional and skilled employees that maintained and passed on all the ancient and original recipes from generation to generation and also created modern and innovative recipes over the time. Moreover, a precise selection of raw materials, the control of recipes and a pure preparation process enable an unchanged and substantial taste of the products and also emphasize the good reputation of the company.

With relation to its brand, Delpeyrat is planning to expand to foreign markets by extending its network of “La Comtesse du Barry” stores abroad, with the aim to promote French gastronomy and to make its product range as well as the brand name internationally more known. Nevertheless, it already exists a certain brand awareness of Delpeyrat in some Asian countries due to its presence in this country. Delpeyrat’s widespread brand knowledge in Asia is certainly attributed to the fact that Asians are very fond of the quality and taste of French culinary specificities, like foie gras.

Intellectual Property

The high quality of Delpeyrat’s products is a matter of considerable importance and enables great advantages for the company. Still, the products need to be controlled and provided with certifications in order to guarantee the required quality. Therefore, it is necessary to respect strict specifications at all stages of the production process. Products that are produced by Delpeyrat are distinctive for their origin, including their specific regional character and the traceability of their production.

With respect to this, Delpeyrat’s foie gras is tagged with a label stating “Indication Géographique Protégée Sud-Ouest”, which signifies “Protected Geographical Status Southwest”. This labelling is important in order to prove and guarantee the origin of the foie gras as well as to emphasize its special quality, uniqueness and authenticity.

Furthermore,

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