Saint Tropez

Saint Tropez is the glamour anchor of the French Riviera summer, and provisioning it is an exercise in contradiction. It is a small Provençal village that becomes, every July and August, one of the most demanded ports in the Mediterranean. The harbour is small. The streets are medieval and packed. The boats are enormous and mostly lying at anchor in the gulf or off Pampelonne, not stern-to in the old port. And the supply chain, which serves a sleepy village ten months of the year, gets hit by the entire international yachting elite for eight weeks. That seasonal whiplash is the single most important fact for a chef to internalize: St Tropez in June or September is a relaxed, beautiful Provençal provisioning experience; St Tropez in peak August is a logistics knife-fight where everything is booked, jammed, and triple-priced.

The good news is that St Tropez runs on the same Riviera supply machine as Antibes and Monaco, the same EU/VAT and bonded-stores framework, the same big provisioner field (Froggy, Green Chilli, Just, Gourmet Deliveries, Riviera Gourmet), most based in the Antibes/Nice/Monaco corridor and delivering down the coast. So if you've worked the Antibes page, you already understand the spine. What St Tropez adds is one of the great markets in France, the Place des Lices, a proper covered fish market, and a cluster of excellent named local artisans (butcher, baker, cave) that let you build a real Provençal program when you have the time and the season is sane.

The geography: the Port de Saint-Tropez is the old harbour in the village; many superyachts can't berth there and instead anchor in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez or off Pampelonne and tender in, or berth at the larger marinas nearby (Marines de Cogolin, Port Grimaud) and run provisions across the gulf. Plan your delivery logistics around where the boat actually sits.

Section 0: The First Phone Calls

The local agent matters more in St Tropez than almost anywhere, because berthing in the old port is scarce and the town runs on connections. The provisioning itself mostly comes down the coast from the big Riviera houses.

Listen to your captain first. Many captains have a preferred agent and a relationship that goes back years. Ask before you call anyone. The names below are who to call when the captain does not have one, or when you need a second option. If your captain swears by someone who is not on this list, tell me and we will list them.

Yacht agents (local): - Agence Maritime Tropézienne (A.M.T.), part of the Fratelli Cosulich group and run under the Catalano Shipping Services banner (catalanoshipping.com, Saint-Tropez office page). Manager: Céline Arnaud. Harbour authority liaison, provisioning, laundry and dry cleaning, services at anchor, restaurant bookings (a real service here, where a Club 55 table needs booking weeks ahead), event organization, helicopter and limo transfers, crew accommodation and temporary crew. They also support Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez. - The big Riviera provisioners double as logistics support and deliver into the gulf.

Customs / VAT context: France, EU. Same framework as the Antibes page: French VAT (20% standard on most goods), and the EU bonded-stores / avitaillement regime for VAT-and-excise-exempt provisioning on eligible commercial/charter yachts (goods sealed in EU waters, for consumption outside EU territorial waters). Route bonded beverage and eligible goods through a provisioner/agent set up for it; pay VAT on everyday retail and market purchases.

The actual first move: confirm where the boat will sit (old port, gulf anchorage, Pampelonne, or a nearby marina), book the agent early for peak season, and line up your primary Riviera provisioner for the bulk while reserving the St Tropez markets and artisans for the fresh-and-local layer.

Section 1: Pre-Arrival Orders to Lock In

The binding constraint here is not lead time, it's the peak-season crush. Plan accordingly:

• Peak-season everything (July to August): Pampelonne is at its liveliest, the gulf is full, and demand structurally exceeds supply. Your provisioning should be locked days ahead minimum in peak weeks, and your beach-club and restaurant reservations booked weeks ahead through the agent.
• Specialty proteins, Wagyu, custom cuts, game: 2 to 4 days through your Riviera provisioner (Froggy, Just, Green Chilli); Green Chilli airfreights out of Rungis.
• Bonded beverage: set up the paperwork ahead through the agent/provisioner.
• Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez (25 September to 3 October 2027) and the Paradis Porsche car rally (the weekend after Les Voiles): the autumn event weeks fill the port again; order ahead.
• Market-day timing: the Place des Lices market runs Tuesday and Saturday mornings, and the covered fish market runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings. If a guest turnaround misses those days, you're on the Place aux Herbes market (April to October), the village artisans and your provisioner. Plan the menu to the market days.

Section 2: Dock Delivery Logistics

Three delivery realities depending on where the boat sits:

• Port de Saint-Tropez (old port). The iconic harbour in the village: 734 berths in two basins, yachts up to about 70m, and summer berths that need booking well ahead. Capitainerie, 1 Quai de l'Épi: +33 (0)4 94 56 68 70, capitainerie@portsainttropez.com. Manned 24 hours from 1 April to 12 October; 8:00 to 18:00 with a 12:00 to 14:00 break the rest of the year. Deliveries are hand-carried or trolleyed along the quay through summer crowds. Tight and medieval.
• Gulf of Saint-Tropez / Pampelonne anchorage. Where most of the large superyachts actually lie. Provisions and guests move by tender. This is the defining St Tropez logistic: your delivery often goes dock-to-tender-to-anchorage, so timing and coordination with the deck/interior team is everything.
• Pampelonne anchoring rules. Pampelonne Bay is a managed mooring field now. Ramatuelle runs a ZMEL (zone de mouillages et d'équipements légers) of about 210 eco-moorings, booked online, for boats up to 80m. Under the Préfecture maritime order 177/2026 (in force since 24 June 2026), 24m to 45m boats go on the ZMEL moorings, 45m to 80m boats anchor in their own designated zone, and 80m-plus boats in a separate zone. Under-24m boats can't anchor inside the buoyed areas, and nobody of any size anchors on posidonia seagrass. Ramatuelle municipal police patrol the bay. For you, this means the boat's zone sets the tender run, so ask the captain which zone you are in before you plan delivery times.
• Nearby marinas (Les Marines de Cogolin, Port Grimaud, Sainte-Maxime). Larger berthing across the gulf; many boats base here and run provisions over. Confirm the delivery point with your provisioner when you order.

Provisioner trucks deliver to the marinas and the port; for boats at anchor, coordinate the tender run. The market run in the village is on foot. Parking in the village is brutal in season; go early.

Section 3: Specialty Imports

Same Riviera machine as Antibes, delivering down the coast.

• The big Riviera provisioners, all working the coast:
• Just Provisions. Fratelli Cosulich group provisioner (same group as A.M.T.), branch office in Monaco, just-provisions.com. Dry, fresh and frozen in temperature-controlled trucks out of a HACCP warehouse, Europe-wide delivery. Call to confirm St Tropez delivery windows.
• Gourmet Deliveries. Fresh product and floristry, refrigerated vehicles along the French and Italian Riviera, airfreight worldwide. Contacts Gaby +33 (0)6 18 73 80 20 and Corrine +33 (0)6 30 99 87 95, gourmet-deliveries.com. Call to confirm St Tropez delivery.
• Froggy Gourmet (25-27 avenue des Frères Roustan, Antibes, +33 (0)4 93 34 05 38, froggygourmet.fr). 20+ years of yacht and villa provisioning across the Med and Caribbean.
• Green Chilli (Antibes main warehouse, managed by Antonio Dias). Own tracked refrigerated trucks for Mediterranean deliveries, worldwide airfreight out of Rungis.
• Riviera Gourmet (740 Avenue Roumanille, Biot). Serves the Côte d'Azur ports, with a "Distance" division for long-range deliveries.
• Bioshop Market (Les Vitrines du Soleil, 923 Route du Littoral, Grimaud, on the main road toward Port Grimaud, 04 94 45 06 65). Organic grocery: fresh produce, bread, eggs, cheese, wine. Monday to Saturday 9:30 to 13:00 and 15:30 to 20:00, Sunday 10:00 to 14:00. Order by phone or email and collect.

The framing for the boss: St Tropez delivers a full Provence-grade specialty program, the same as Antibes (because it largely IS Antibes' supply chain), plus excellent local artisan product when the markets are open.

Section 4: Proteins

• The Riviera provisioners (Froggy, Just, Green Chilli) for the premium charter program: verified-marbling Wagyu, custom-aged beef, milk-fed veal and lamb, game, foie gras, the full air-freighted protein layer. The volume backbone.
• Boucherie Thierry. 60 Rue Georges Clemenceau, with a second shop at Lot 2, ZA Saint-Claude. +33 (0)4 94 97 03 28 or +33 (0)4 94 43 94 39. Run by the Latini family. Certified-origin meat bought as whole carcasses: Blonde d'Aquitaine beef from Périgord, Corrèze veal raised with the mother, Sisteron lamb. Open year-round: Monday and Sunday 7:00 to 12:30; Tuesday to Friday 7:00 to 12:30 and 16:30 to 19:30; Saturday 7:00 to 13:00 and 16:30 to 19:30. Your cut-to-order center-of-plate relationship.
• The Place des Lices market for Provençal charcuterie on market mornings.
• Auchan Gassin-La Foux (see Section 7) for everyday and volume protein.

For a charter chef: provisioner for the air-freighted premium, Boucherie Thierry for the special cut, the market for Provençal charcuterie.

Section 5: Seafood

• Marché aux poissons (the covered fish market). Porte de la Poissonnerie, in the old town beside Place aux Herbes. Local fishermen sell the day's catch off marble slabs: daurade, loup, rouget, rascasse, octopus, chapon, moray. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 8:00 to 13:00, year-round. This is the local-seafood highlight.
• The Riviera provisioners for premium and imported seafood (blue lobster, turbot, oysters, caviar) via the Rungis/Atlantic supply, reliable and to-spec.
• Regional species: Mediterranean loup de mer (sea bass), daurade (sea bream), rouget (red mullet), local shellfish, and the proper Provençal fish for bouillabaisse and soupe de poisson. Wild Med fish is expensive and seasonal; provisioners backstop with farmed and imported.

Build guest seafood around the fish market on Thursday to Saturday, backed by a provisioner order for guaranteed supply the rest of the week.

Section 6: Produce and Farm-Direct

This is St Tropez at its best: the Place des Lices market, one of the great Provençal markets.

Held on Place des Lices, every Tuesday and Saturday morning, 8:00 to 13:00, year-round, under the plane trees (the square doubles as the pétanque courts the rest of the week). Sun-ripened fruit, fresh seasonal vegetables, artisan cheeses, olives, tapenades, cured meats, fresh herbs, spices, olive oil, flowers, plus the fougasse and tarte tropézienne for a market snack. Locals go early for the freshest produce, and the real chef's tip is that prices here are reasonable by Côte d'Azur standards, a rarity in St Tropez.

• The Place aux Herbes market in the village, daily 7:00 to 12:45 from 1 April to 31 October (some closure days in April, May and October): fruit, vegetables and flowers, a cheese producer and a wine merchant. Your produce run when the Place des Lices isn't running. There is no year-round daily produce market.
• Bioshop Market (Grimaud, toward Port Grimaud) for organic produce.
• The Riviera provisioners (Riviera Gourmet, Gourmet Deliveries) for volume and organic produce delivered to the gulf.

The move: hit the Place des Lices early on a market morning for the soul of the menu, delegate volume to the provisioner. Get there at opening in peak season; it's mobbed by 10am.

Section 7: Dry Goods and Pantry

• The Riviera provisioners for the épicerie fine pantry layer delivered.
• Auchan Gassin-La Foux (120 Carrefour de La Foux, Gassin, a few minutes from St Tropez, +33 (0)4 94 55 24 00) for bulk provisioning items, the volume dry-goods and crew-staple run. 2026 hours: Monday to Saturday 8:00 to 20:30 (to 21:00 from late March), Sunday 8:00 to 12:30; daily 8:00 to 22:00 from late June to early September.
• Local supermarkets for everyday retail.
• Metro (trade cash-and-carry) is for big boats buying case lots only; call to confirm the nearest depot before you drive. Most boats are better served by Auchan and the provisioners.

Section 8: Bread and Bakery

France, so bread is exceptional, and St Tropez has a local specialty worth knowing.

• Aux Deux Frères. 5 rue des Commerçants, just behind Sénéquier. +33 (0)4 94 97 00 86. Family bakery since 1965, run by cousins Elisa and Andy Delpui; organic bread, pastry, and their own tarte tropézienne. A favorite of yacht and villa chefs, and it supplies a Pampelonne beach restaurant. Open daily 6:00 to 19:00, closed roughly 11 January to 24 February.
• La Tarte Tropézienne. Place des Lices, +33 (0)4 94 97 94 25. The town's signature brioche-and-cream tart, created here by Alexandre Micka in 1955. A local-flavor guest dessert and a nice authentic touch.
• The Place des Lices market for fougasse, bread, and pastry on market mornings.
• Provisioners for volume charter bread (specify sourdough, baguette, brioche, crew buns).

Build the bread program on Aux Deux Frères plus the tarte tropézienne for the regional signature.

Section 9: Alcohol and Beverages

Heart of Provence rosé country, with the bonded-stores angle for the serious cellar.

• Provence rosé. St Tropez sits in the middle of the Côtes de Provence rosé region; the local rosé is the deck-aperitif and lunch staple, and you can source local. Whispering Angel (Château d'Esclans) is produced nearby.
• Cave Jeroboam by Millesima. Place de la Croix de Fer, +33 (0)4 94 49 17 54, contact@cavejeroboam.net, cavejeroboam.net. Open year-round. The deepest fine-wine selection on the peninsula, in every format from magnum to nabuchodonosor. The wine-merchant relationship for a curated cellar and local rosé.
• Bonded beverage through your provisioner/agent. For an eligible charter yacht, alcohol moves VAT-and-excise-exempt (sealed in EU waters), the real saving on a Champagne-and-rosé program. Route it through a bonded-set-up provisioner rather than retail.
• The Riviera provisioners for Champagne procurement and rare allocations.

VAT note: French 20% VAT applies at retail; bonded is the legitimate tax-free route on eligible items. Provision the volume cellar from the cave or via bonded supply, not from the village tourist shops.

Section 10: Crew Meal Provisioning

Ask your chief stew or purser what the crew food number is on your boat before you shop. Some boats run a per-head daily cap, some have none, and it changes boat to boat.

St Tropez is one of the most expensive crew-feeding ports on the map in peak season. Treat it like Monaco: keep crew provisioning cheap and elsewhere where you can.

• Auchan Gassin-La Foux for bulk crew staples at the best local pricing.
• The Place des Lices market late in the morning for reasonably-priced excellent produce to round out crew meals (prices here are unusually fair for St Tropez).
• Stage crew bulk before you arrive in the gulf if the itinerary allows.
• Metro only if you are a big boat buying case lots.

On the crew budget: peak-season St Tropez will punish it. The discipline is to buy crew volume at Auchan and the market (fair prices), stage bulk before the gulf if possible, and reserve the village and the provisioners for guest-side product.

Section 11: The One-Day Ground Run

The run hinges on what day it is and where the boat sits.

Market morning (Tue/Sat), on foot in the village: - Place des Lices market at opening (8am), before the crush. Produce, charcuterie, cheese, olives, herbs, flowers. Go early; it's mobbed by mid-morning in season. - Aux Deux Frères for the day's bread plus a tarte tropézienne. - Boucherie Thierry for the special cut, Cave Jeroboam for rosé and the cellar. - On Saturday, the fish market at the Porte de la Poissonnerie is open too.

Fish day (Thu/Fri): - Marché aux poissons from 8am for the local catch, plus the Place aux Herbes market next door for produce (April to October).

Any day: - Bioshop Market (Grimaud) for organic. - Auchan Gassin-La Foux for volume and crew staples. - Place/confirm the Riviera provisioner order (Just, Froggy, Green Chilli, Gourmet Deliveries) for the volume proteins, air-freighted specialty, bonded beverage, and anything the markets can't cover, delivered to the marina or tendered to the anchorage.

Realistic timing: the village market-and-artisan walk is a beautiful 2 to 3 hours on foot. The heavy provisioning goes to the provisioner truck and the Gassin run. For boats at anchor off Pampelonne, build in the tender-transfer time; it's the hidden hour in every St Tropez provision. In peak August, start at dawn or delegate almost everything to the provisioner; the village is unworkable by midday.

Section 12: Contingency Planning

What's likely to fall through, and the backup:

• Peak-season gridlock (July to August). This is the defining St Tropez contingency. The village is jammed, parking is impossible, the port and beach clubs are booked solid, and prices spike. Provision at dawn, delegate the bulk to provisioners delivering from up the coast, book the agent and any restaurant/club reservations weeks ahead, and never plan a same-day peak-August village run on a tight guest turnaround.
• Boat at anchor. Much of the fleet lies off Pampelonne or in the gulf with delivery only by tender. Coordinate every delivery window with the deck team and build in the transfer time. Product can't sit in the August sun on a quay waiting for a tender.
• Market-day dependency. The Place des Lices runs Tuesday and Saturday mornings; the fish market Thursday to Saturday mornings. Miss them and you're on the Place aux Herbes market (April to October), Boucherie Thierry, Aux Deux Frères and your provisioner. Plan the menu to the market calendar, or shift the fresh run.
• Bonded/VAT errors. Same as Antibes/Monaco: get the bonded-stores paperwork right via the agent/provisioner or overpay 20%. Confirm the boat's eligibility before ordering.
• Autumn event weeks. Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez (25 Sept to 3 Oct 2027) and the Paradis Porsche rally the weekend after refill the port after the summer; supply tightens again. Order ahead in those windows.
• Off-season wind-down. St Tropez is a village ten months a year. In the shoulder/off-season some vendors keep short hours or close (Aux Deux Frères shuts mid-January to late February; the Place aux Herbes market runs only April to October). Boucherie Thierry, the Place des Lices market, the fish market and Cave Jeroboam run year-round.