The U.S. minority population reached 100.7 million this year, up from 98.3 million in 2006, according to reports from the U.S. Census Bureau. That means that about one in three U.S. residents is now a member of an ethnic minority. Hispanics remain the largest ethnic group, followed by African Americans and Asian Americans.

This has triggered a broad response among retailers in terms of new ethnic food sections and international aisles. But such initiatives are not only an effort to cater to ethnic populations; by offering foods from various cultures around the world, supermarkets cater to the growing number of mainstream shoppers who are more educated about unique tastes, thanks, in large part, to international travel and the growth of TV cooking shows and celebrity chefs. Customers are searching for different tastes and textures — and are seeking out retailers that meet their needs. From curry powder to gefilte fish, an ethnic assortment helps retailers differentiate their stores in a new and exciting way. To get a better idea how the food industry is handling ethnic retailing, SN held its first-ever roundtable on the topic.

Participants were Bret Vitek, international food buyer, Jungle Jim's International Market, Fairfield, Ohio; Bob Highsmith, marketing senior vice president, Minyard Food Stores, Coppell, Texas; Kimberly Wallace, ethnic category director, Tree of Life, a St. Augustine, Fla., distributor; Susanna Whitmore, principal, New American Dimensions, a Los Angeles-based ethnic marketing research and consulting firm; and Anna Xie, research and Strategic Planning Manager, interTrend Communications, Long Beach, Calif., an Asian American communications agency. Topics of discussions ranged from the need to understand the ethnic sub-segments that shop specific stores, to new approaches to private label and misconceptions about ethnic shoppers. SN's Carol Angrisani moderated.

Following are excerpts from the roundtable:

SN: What are some of the dos and don'ts that you've learned about marketing to ethnic groups?

MINYARD'S HIGHSMITH: We have found out we need to clearly understand who the audience is and who the ethnic group is that we're marketing to, and the number of customers by their ethnic background and our sales goals. If you have a store that serves 80% Latino consumers and other stores serving 50% Latino consumers, you cannot market them the same way.

SN: What are some of the new ways that you've reached out to your ethnic clientele?

HIGHSMITH: What we're testing now in a couple of stores is merchandising international food in the front of the store. Normally, it's down the aisle somewhere. It's about 90 to 190 feet of low-profile counters featuring items representing the ethnic mix that our survey and focus group shows that we have in that location. We've got flags from 25 countries represented. We have a multiethnic mix in these stores. And a lot of the product was requested from our customer base.

JUNGLE JIM'S VITEK: We're putting our produce ethnic mix, whether it be African American or Asian or Hispanic, out in huge bulk displays.

SN: Bob, you told SN recently that you were considering marketing your Carnaval-brand private label to other retailers. Have you decided to do so?

HIGHSMITH: We're going through a major transition, where we sold our warehouse and we're going to AWG for service. Because of this, we have not expanded that Carnaval label. We may offer it to other retailers in the future. But at this point, we've decided just to hold back and reserve it for ourselves.

SN: How important is the private label when it comes to marketing to ethnic groups?

HIGHSMITH: It's extremely important, because you're giving them a quality item at a great price. The Carnaval label is also important in very key items like tortillas, peppers and canned beans, and we will continue with that.

SN: Which ethnic foods are growing in popularity?

TREE OF LIFE'S WALLACE: Hispanic food is continually growing. But I'm also seeing growth in Indian, Middle Eastern and Caribbean food.