Baking Tradition

MATTHEW ENIS

Hispanics, as a demographic, have earned quite a reputation as discerning grocery shoppers. Having the right assortment in a store's perishables departments, and having that assortment as fresh as possible is crucial. Otherwise, these shoppers tend to head elsewhere, sometimes making two or three stops to complete a shopping list.

“Their buying patterns are very fragmented,” noted Sidney Hopper, chief operating officer for the Amigos-United division of United Supermarkets, Lubbock, Texas. “They go to the panaderias [bakeries], carnicerias [butcher shops], they go to the local taquerias.”

Part of what United has attempted to do with its Hispanic grocery formats — first with Supermercado in 2000, and now with its Amigos locations — is to bring all of those elements under one roof, Hopper said.

“Not try to be everything to everyone, but bring in those items that are most relevant — the ones that remind them of the traditional stores that they're shopping at. The one thing that we're learning now is that there's a lot more local mom and pop shops that are open and thriving in a lot of areas. We're trying to give them that.”

As are many other supermarket chains. Hispanics and Latinos now constitute more than 15% of the United States' population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and during the past decade, the demographic has expanded at about four times the rate of the national population as a whole.

It's a group that's quickly growing in importance for retailers of every stripe. Fortunately, for supermarkets, cooking is ingrained in the culture, particularly for first- and second-generation immigrants. But, it's also a demographic that has exacting standards when it comes to grocery shopping — they expect a specific and unique assortment of fresh foods.

“Hispanic customers are very demanding — very specific about what they put on the table for dinner,” Juvenal Chavez, founder of San Jose, Calif.-based Mi Pueblo Food Centers told SN in an earlier interview. “It was the perception in the past that the Hispanic customer did not have the same level of expectations as mainstream shoppers, and for that reason, no one was offering a selection specific to those customers.”

As independent chains such as Mi Pueblo continue to expand, and as larger grocers continue launching Hispanic formats such as United's Amigos and Publix's Sabor, supermarket retailers should stay aware of the importance Hispanic shoppers place on fresh food departments, including bakery operations with a selection of traditional breads.

“I believe the bakery could be one of the primary reasons they come to our store,” said Juan Enchinton, business manager of Hispanic innovation for United. “For the big shopping list, they're going to travel the whole store, but it's very common to see people come in just for the bread in the morning or afternoon, or just for the tortillas around lunchtime or in the evening. So, it's actually a destination for us, not just a secondary business.”

Bolillos, the crusty, everyday bread used to make Mexican sandwiches, or tortas, are an important product for any authentic Hispanic bakery, Enchinton said. But, shoppers will expect other staples as well, such as conchas [sweet breads], and galletas and polvorones [traditional cookies].

“Bolillos are a big one. The way that Hispanics shop — first and maybe the second generation shop — they plan their meals daily and bolillos are a really big part of what they make at home. But, you also have a lot of other traditional items, like the conchas [sweet breads], the puerquitos [molasses sweetened cookies cut in the shape of piglets]. There's about five or six items that they count on you for every day. And, that's what makes them come into your store every day — to pick up these items fresh.”

Hispanic grocery formats are proliferating in California, which is currently home to more than 13 million of the nation's self-identified Hispanic and Latino people, according to the Census Bureau. And grocers generally agree that fresh bakeries are an important part of those formats, noted John Kirkpatrick, a Salem, Ore.-based bakery consultant.

“Grocers in the Hispanic community look at bakeries as being a key component of their growth potential,” he said.

However, he noted that many of these operators now recognize that bakers schooled in pure from-scratch production on a commercial scale are tough to find, and have been looking to automate some of their processes.

“Often, what they're looking at is a hybrid of the Mexican traditional bakery,” he explained. “They're looking for some level of automation. More efficient ways to produce those products in larger volumes, but still get that hand-finished look.

“The definition of ‘from scratch’ is probably what's changing. Make it out of a mix and it's going to be ‘from scratch.’ I think the trend is toward more efficient production methods, more mechanization. And more mix-type or prepared-type products, but still finishing the product by hand. Having it made on-site is still a huge, huge draw, and in the Hispanic market it's really critical.”

At Amigos locations, the strategy has been to use a combination of at-store baking with mixes, and to purchase some items partially prepared by partner bakeries.

“It's getting harder and harder to find true first generation authentic bakers,” Enchinton said. “So, we've partnered up with some people who are creating, actually doing some of the work beforehand for us. But, we do put them in our ovens, raise the dough and bake them. You get the same flavors.”

Hopper agreed, explaining that the fresh baked aspect of these items was generally most important.

“The important part of it is, within your operation, understanding that fresh and hot is what [customers] are looking for,” said Hopper. “You don't want to go in the morning and bake everything you're going to sell that day during the first two or three hours you're in the shop, and then just let it sit out there the rest of the day. Not only to Juan's point — that a lot of [our Hispanic] customers shop daily, so you want them to have a fresh, hot product to take home — but it's also part of the experience for that guest. Being in the store and smelling the bread baking, seeing the tortilla machine operating, giving out samples. It's about the product as well as the experience.”

Grocers that don't have the option of expanding their bakery operation or baking a selection of items in-store might also consider partnering with a local panaderia to supply fresh baked breads and cookies on a daily basis. Allen Lydick, president of Raleigh, N.C.-based Mexigrocers noted that these commissary-type relationships have proven effective for some supermarkets in the Atlanta area.

But, even as a growing number of independent Hispanic grocers move toward machine portioning and mixing, and other methods of automation, most are still sticklers for hearth ovens to bake their breads, Kirkpatrick noted.

“They're very reluctant to move to the rack ovens with bollias and conchas. They still prefer hearth baked. It's that crust. They're choosing to keep both types of production.”

And, Kirkpatrick observed, as many other experts have, that specialty formats which manage to appeal to the Hispanic demographic with service and freshness are likely to see their appeal spread to the local “anglo” population as well.

“There's a lot of non-Hispanics now shopping in these markets because of these fresh offerings that they have. They're actually competing pretty well with some of the regular stores in those areas. They often have lower prices, but their periphery — their bakery, meat departments, delis, they're all service oriented.”

He continued: “What I haven't seen is a mass wholesale effort, crossover for Hispanic products into [conventional supermarkets]. It's moving in that direction, but I haven't seen it yet. The growth is primarily in those [Hispanic format] stores, and those stores are growing by leaps and bounds.”

The crossover appeal of these formats has not been lost on Hopper, who said that business from non-Hispanic shoppers has been steady and growing at United's Amigos format.

“We definitely are seeing that,” Hopper said. “We just completed a conversion of one of our traditional format stores in Lubbock to the Amigos banner last November. And, we saw a lot of folks that did not live in that trade area come in there to shop and they still do. It's become a catering destination for a lot of businesses around town. The thing about it, Mexican food is still the most popular dine out restaurant in almost every market. There's definitely an opportunity. It's not just Hispanic guests anymore.”