EXOTIC TASTES

MIKE STERNMAN

Ethnic cuisines recently added to America's melting pot are helping to drive supermarket sales of spices and seasonings, retailers told SN.

An ever-widening menu of international foods has drawn interest to such spices as cumin, jerk spice, tarragon and curry. In addition, spicy seasonings used for popular Mexican meals are entering the mainstream as never before.

"We are seeing an increase in sales of spices and packaged chili and taco mixes," said Mort McKillop, merchandiser for frozen, grocery and dairy at G&R Felpausch Co., Hastings, Mich., a member of Spartan Stores, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Riser Foods, Bedford Heights, Ohio, supports four different ethnic spice lines in its Rini-Rego stores that serve Spanish-speaking customers, said Tony Zimbicki, director of grocery merchandising. Some of Riser's Marketplace concept units feature 60 feet of Hispanic foods, including spices.

Gourmet-food distributors are also offering more variety, said Andy Knoblauch, buyer-supervisor, at St. Cloud, Minn.-based Coborn's, which serves areas with large migrant worker populations. "We're authorizing more 'authentic Mexican' labels from Mexico."

But even stores that don't have significant ethnic demographics are reporting brisk sales of spices.

"Our [customer base] isn't high in ethnic diversity," said a Wisconsin retailer, who did not want to be identified. "But that category is taking off, very fast. So I know that non-Hispanic people are crossing over to the Mexican category. We haven't expanded sections, but we do promote more."

Food fashions are driving the demand for exotic spices, especially among younger customers, retailers said.

"People are becoming more adventurous," said Bob Harris, new business development manager for McCormick & Co., Sparks, Md.

"The trendy items have picked up," said Ron Mann, a buyer at Raley's Supermarkets, West Sacramento, Calif. To complement Jamaican cooking, jerk spice -- often featured in the cooking magazines -- is becoming popular, said Mann.

Pat Ferguson, a buyer at Redner's Markets in Reading, Pa., said customers who "wouldn't try hot stuff before" were converted when they tried packaged cajun seasonings on buffalo wings.

"A couple of years ago you couldn't sell buffalo wings. Now we can't keep them in the stores," he said.

Just as strong as ethnic spices are grilling seasonings, said John Corcoran, category manager, Big Y Foods, Springfield, Mass.

"Sales of the new barbecue flavor enhancers are coming mostly from the young shoppers. Some males are venturing into cooking through grilling," Corcoran said.

Several buyers noted that sales have been helped by a heavily promoted grilling brand offered in both spice and marinade formats. The flavorings have capitalized on the popularity of gas grills and the rise of indoor stovetop grilling, according to McCormick's Harris.

Another popular item is cooking bags with seasonings. An older, but recently restaged two-vendor category, the blend product jumped 15.2% to $53.1 million in the 52 weeks ended Sept. 14, 1996, according to ACNielsen, Schaumburg, Ill.

Part of the reason for this increase is the movement toward meal solutions, said retailers.

"Spice companies are targeting items toward meal solutions," commented Joe Cunnane, senior grocery buyer, Genuardi's Family Markets, Norristown, Pa. "People are looking for these items during the week when they don't have time to prepare a meal."

Dollar sales of spices and extracts jumped 4% to $1.4 billion in the 52 weeks ended Sept. 28, 1996, according to ACNielsen. Much of this increase, though, was due to higher prices. Of the dollar sales increase, supermarkets advanced 2.8% to $1.3 billion, while mass outlets picked up 40.6% to $49.4 million and drug stores moved 19.2% to $26.3 million. Supermarket dollar share slipped 1.1% to 94.5%.

But retailers may be able to boost traffic and sales not only by capitalizing on the popularity of ethnic foods, but also by offering lower prices.

"In spices, the biggest thing this year is the big-bottle, low-end 99-cent items," said Coborn's Knoblauch. "Too many competitors are coming in with the cheap line, so we carry McCormick/Schilling's low-end Spice Classics brand and we're selling the heck out of them." Doug Keller, director of grocery for Save Mart Supermarkets, Modesto, Calif., predicts that even brand-name prices will come down in the future.

The scope of the spice business is reflected in the number of stockkeeping units: 2,300 new spices, extracts, and seasonings were offered to all distribution channels from 1992 to 1996 -- a 26% increase in the number offered in the prior five years, according to Marketing Intelligence Service, Naples, N.Y.

There's still a large consumer base for spices that supermarkets have yet to reach. Susheela Uhl, a Malaysia-born ethnic foods and ingredients consultant, said that consumers with ethnic backgrounds have been flocking in increasing numbers to specialty-food shops, which in turn are beginning to evolve into larger, more ambitious operations.

"They feel that [supermarket] outlets will not stock the products they need." said the Mamaroneck, N.Y.-based consultant.

The consultant also pointed to several specialty operations that have branched out, such as the Bengal Tiger, a restaurant in White Plains, N.Y. that recently opened an adjacent Indian grocery.

Likewise, other Asian supermarkets -- such as Japanese-run Yaohan and Chinese-Korean oriented Hong Kong Supermarket -- have targeted large immigrant communities in Edgewater, N.J., and Flushing, N.Y.

Joining in wooing the ethnic consumer are a number of operators in key Southwest and California markets, including Minyard Food Stores. The Coppell, Texas-based chain reported increasing its spice business considerably among Hispanics after converting dying stores in ethnic neighborhoods to its successful Carnival banner around 1991. Carnival-banner stores feature a wide selection of Mexican foods.

The company sent one of its associates to Mexico for six months to study the culture so the Carnival stores would meet the needs of the market, explained Joe Tarver, Minyard's senior vice president of purchasing.

The Carnival stores feature an expanded section of Hispanic spices that are packed in clear cellophane bags with the Carnival name. Nearly one-third of the 100 SKUs carried in the store are Hispanic-related.