An Emerging Market

Hispanic dishes historically rely heavily on fresh ingredients – tomatoes, peppers of various kinds, onions, herbs and the like.
Also historically, it was traditional for the woman of the house to prepare it all – from scratch.
But like so many others, Hispanic American families are pressed for time. A growing number are reaching for fresh-cut produce.
And they are a force to be reckoned with. There are about 51 million Hispanics in the U.S. today, a number that’s expected to be at about 60 million by 2020. That means Hispanics represent about 17 percent of the U.S. population – and growing.
Darren Seifer, food and beverage industry analyst at the NPD Group in Rosemont, Ill., said the company conducted a study recently of Hispanic food consumption trends in the U.S. Over the course of a year, the study had about 2,400 Hispanic individuals from about 875 households complete a two-week meal diary.
The resulting “It’s Meal Time with U.S. Hispanics” report was focused on five markets with large concentrations of Hispanic populations: New York, Miami, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles. Those studied represented a range of backgrounds – from the New Yorkers’ Caribbean, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rican roots to the Cuban-American population of Miami, and the others with strong ties to Mexico.
The study offered a glimpse into a population that is becoming more open to convenience foods – especially among those who are younger and tend to be English language-dominant.
“Our consultant said that as a lot of women enter the workforce, they are, with a little bit of guilt (adopting) some of these convenience foods, for the sake of helping them … with keeping their jobs and balancing family and their work life,” Seifer said.
Venessa Contreras, an account director with the Los Angeles-based full-service Castells & Associates advertising agency, which specializes in the Hispanic-Latino market, said it’s a culture that is predisposed to fresh ingredients. That helps make the fresh-cut products an easier sell for time-pressed cooks..
“These types of products have always been important to Hispanic consumers,” she said. “For Hispanics, natural and organic  – that wasn’t a recent trend. It’s something already inherent.”
What’s new is the idea of buying them in value-added form. But as Seifer noted, it’s a matter of adapting what works.
“Both parents are working, and the moms really look for quality and fresh ingredients, and appreciate the convenience – especially for products like bagged salads where they’re already cut for you and washed,” Contreras said.
Fritz Stelter, executive vice president and cofounder of Field Fresh Foods in Gardena, Calif., said there’s been an explosion in interest among Hispanic consumers for fresh-cut and value-added products. Second and third generations represent the fastest-growing segment, he added. They’re buying everything from snack packs of cucumber or jicama sticks with chili powder and lime to fresh-cut lettuces, peppers of various types and cactus. In fact, the company has been developing a line of products specifically targeted to Hispanic consumers that it hopes to sell to Hispanic grocery stores, in lieu of the stores doing the cutting in house.
“We’ve got, I’m going to say, 22 items,” he said.
A soup base mix might include fresh sliced mini corn on the cob, a cabbage wedge, cilantro and other items. A taco mix could offer ingredients like cilantro, chopped onions and sliced radishes.
“What we’re looking to do is create a uniform and consistent program of some of these cut items,” he said.
Alfonso Cano, produce director for the 36-store Northgate Gonzales Markets in southern California, said the chain saw the seeds of a shift to fresh-cut and value-added product begin back around 2007.
“Our company was started in 1980 and it was a lot different shopper then,” he said. “My parents were born and raised in Mexico, and the owners of our company were born and raised in Mexico.
“But us as a second generation, which includes me and my sisters, the owners’ kids – the culture has changed. There’s a new generation of customer.”
About two years ago, the company began shifting to value-added products in earnest. It meant changing the way produce was displayed to free up space for the new items – a little risky, Cano said, after doing things a certain way for a long time. But it was more than worth the gamble.
“We used to have four feet of salads on one shelf, and now we have stores with 16 feet of the packaged salads with four rows,” Cano said. “We do Ready Pac Bistro Bowls, Earthbound containers, Fresh Express and also Mann’s.
“We’re doing up to four-foot cut fruit and vegetable sets. And now we’re going vertical, we’re going shelving.”
Fresh-cut mangoes, guavas and papaya are popular sellers, as are “caldo packs,” or mixes for soups that might include potatoes, onions, radishes, cilantro and a little piece of corn.
“They buy them and pour it into their soups,” he said.
And it continues to evolve.
“This is a huge success story,” Cano said. “It was a change worth doing.”

Kathy Gibbons, contributing writer