French frozen-food brand Picard will sell five bakery and pastry products in more than 150 Sainsbury’s stores across the UK from 26 October 2026. The listing puts the brand into the frozen aisles of a major supermarket group, and follows a separate online launch of 20 products on the Rohlik platform in central Europe.
Picard announced the two partnerships within days of each other. It says it is present in 19 countries and grows outside its home market by working with established local retailers, with a selected range adapted to each market. Retail Times reported the Sainsbury’s listing on 14 October 2026, and because the start date is 26 October, the products are not yet on shelf at the time of writing. The announcement gives no sales target and no investment figure for the UK.
What goes on the shelves on 26 October
The range has five lines: All-Butter Croissants, Mini Croissants, Mini Pains au Chocolat, Rustic Baguettes and Pastéis de Nata. According to the announcement, the breads and pastries are made in France with French wheat and free-range eggs, while the pastéis de nata are produced in Portugal to a traditional recipe. All five will sit in the frozen aisles. Picard frames the launch around demand for food that combines convenience, quality and less waste, arguing that freezing preserves taste and lets shoppers use only what they need. Those are the company’s own claims.
A supply partnership, not a franchise
The arrangement is a distribution deal. Picard supplies products, and Sainsbury’s lists them in its own stores. The announcement does not use the word franchise, and the UK has no legal definition of one, so the label rests on how the companies describe their own agreement. Picard is the supplier here, and Sainsbury’s is the retailer, which means the shop, the fascia and the staff remain Sainsbury’s. Cécile Guillou, chief executive of Picard Group, called the listing “an important milestone for Picard in the UK”, and tied it to the group’s ambition to grow internationally.
How the deal is described
The announcement presents a listing in more than 150 stores, not a shop-in-shop, a concession or a network of branded units of the kind run by the food and drink franchises in the UK. Only Picard executives are quoted in the coverage reviewed, so Sainsbury’s own description of the deal is not stated.
The online launch in central Europe
Points de Vente reported that 20 Picard references went live on Rohlik in the week before 14 October 2026. Rohlik is an online grocer trading in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, Austria and Romania. Maxime Margain, international director at Picard, said the two launches reflect growing interest among European retailers in differentiated products that add value to their ranges. The Rohlik range is online only, while the Sainsbury’s listing puts the products in physical stores, so the two deals test different routes to the same shopper.
What the announcement leaves open
The Sainsbury’s range goes on sale on 26 October 2026. Picard has not published how many units it expects to sell, how long the listing runs or whether more products will follow, the kind of detail set out up front by brands in the UK franchise directory.
Sainsbury’s is not quoted in the coverage reviewed, so the grocer’s plans for the range are not stated. The announcement also does not break the 150-plus stores down by nation, so how many sit in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is not published. Early availability reports from the stores themselves will be the first indication of how the listing is rolled out.
