With the rapid growth of multicultural households in America and their unparalleled influence on the marketplace, retailers must consider new strategies that include a wider range of the fresh food products and flavor profiles that appeal to these critical consumers. The convergence of diverse multicultural taste profiles has exposed many Americans to new cuisines and created growing appetites for more adventurous meals, resulting in complex while nonetheless tremendous opportunities in food retailing.
Most American households are entering a new mainstream with their own unique set of culinary preferences adopted from various global ethnicities. These new shopping patterns are responsible for the higher perishable purchase rates of multicultural consumers and their non-Hispanic white counterparts.
Understanding the influence multicultural consumers wield on all perishable shoppers across the meat, produce, seafood, deli, and bakery categories will be critical for any retailer looking to leverage new growth opportunities over the next several decades.
Multicultural populations are more likely to shop for fresh at clubs, in part because that channel’s discounts for quantity purchases meet the needs of multicultural buyers and their larger household sizes. Some Club stores have also been vigilant about appealing to concentrations of multicultural consumers near each outlet, offering ethnic items like Kobe style beef or pre-seasoned pork for Mexican carnitas in the fresh section, as well as frozen versions of ethnic foods in the store center.
