A jar of Bonne Maman mixed-berry jam with German labelling
Bonne Maman is a French food brand owned by Andros. Established in 1971, it is known for fruit preserves sold in glass jars with handwritten-style labels and red-and-white gingham lids. Its range has expanded to include marmalades, compotes, biscuits, cakes, chilled desserts and sweet spreads.
The name, literally "good mother", is a French term of endearment for a grandmother. The brand's presentation draws on associations with family recipes and homemade food.
History
Origins
Bonne Maman originated in Biars-sur-Cère, in southwestern France. Andros developed from a regional fruit and walnut business whose history dates to 1910. Jean Gervoson and Pierre Chapoulart established the Andros company in 1959, and the Bonne Maman brand followed in 1971.
The brand combined industrial production with packaging intended to evoke homemade preserves. Its development was associated with Gervoson and Andros executive Pierre Roche-Bayard, who helped turn the family business into a larger food producer.
Diversification
Bonne Maman expanded beyond preserves into biscuits in 1997 and chilled desserts in 2008. In 2021, it entered the chocolate and hazelnut spread market.
A hazelnut chocolate spread was introduced to the United States in 2023. The product extended the brand into a category distinct from its established fruit preserves and was marketed as containing no palm oil.
In 2024, the brand introduced ready-to-bake pie fillings in the American market, initially offering apple, blueberry and cherry varieties in glass jars.
Branding and packaging
Bonne Maman's preserve jars use a white label with calligraphic lettering and a gingham-patterned lid, known in French as a motif vichy. The design was intended to distinguish the industrially produced preserves through the visual language of domestic jam-making.
Le Parisien credited Roche-Bayard with devising the packaging. According to an account from his nephew published in 2017, the red-and-white pattern was inspired by curtains at the family farm, while Roche-Bayard drew the label using a penholder he had retained from his school years.
The gingham motif has also appeared on packaging for later product categories. The hazelnut chocolate spread, for example, uses an embossed glass jar with a red gingham lid.
Products
Preserves and spreads
Fruit preserves remain a principal part of the brand's range. Andros markets the preserves sold in North America as containing no high-fructose corn syrup, additives or added preservatives, and identifies them as Non-GMO Project Verified.
Alongside retail jars, the brand supplies individual portions for food-service customers. These include small jars and packets intended for hotels, restaurants, airlines and other catering settings.
Biscuits, cakes and desserts
The biscuit range includes fruit tartlets, chocolate chip cookies and other small biscuits. Chilled desserts include chocolate mousse, crème caramel, crème brûlée, rum baba and fruit-flavoured mousses.
Seasonal products
Bonne Maman also sells Advent calendars containing miniature jars. The calendars were among the food and drink versions discussed by NPR in 2017 as part of the expansion of Advent calendars aimed at adults.
International markets
Bonne Maman is sold outside France through national and regional product ranges. In 2017, Le Parisien reported that it held approximately 35 percent of the French jam market.
The brand also established a substantial position in Britain. A 2007 competition assessment concerning Premier Foods' proposed acquisition of RHM described Bonne Maman as the United Kingdom's second-largest jam brand, following growth from a niche position in less than ten years.
2021 viral story
In February 2021, a story circulated on social media claiming that the family behind Bonne Maman had sheltered Jews during the Holocaust. Law professor Michael Perino said that an unidentified woman in a New Jersey supermarket had told him she bought the brand because its owners' family had hidden her family in Paris during the war.
Reporting by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency did not establish the claimed connection. The company declined to discuss the family's personal history, citing privacy. The account therefore remained unverified.
