Ethnic foods—particularly Latin American and Asian-inspired products—continue to go mainstream everywhere, and as of late, they’re expanding in convenience stores nationwide. Retailers are finding bottom line benefits in broadening their menu base to cater to consumers of all demographics, and particularly younger ones.
These foods have the portability that busy consumers these days seek, but they also offer more exciting flavor profiles beyond basic breakfast sandwiches and baked goods, offering a competitive leg up in this growing arena.
According to Technomic, 31% of Retailer Meal Solution (RMS) customers (of any type of retailer) say the availability of ethnic items is important in the purchase decision for prepared foods/beverages. And, 44% of RMS customers, up from 40% in 2012, say they’d like retail stores to offer more prepared foods with ethnic ingredients/flavors.
Global flavors continue to trend in all segments of the foodservice industry, from full-service to fast casual, quick-serve and even non-commercial operations. But as the frequency of snacking escalates and consumers eat more on the run, c-stores have a unique advantage to offer these ethnic eats in portable, convenient form.
Better Burritos
Breakfast burritos still reign as the breakfast sandwich alternative during the morning daypart. The National Restaurant Association’s 2017 What’s Hot survey reported ethnic-inspired and traditional ethnic breakfast are still hot (No. 1 and No. 3 in the breakfast category overall), which includes breakfast burritos highlighting more global flavors.
Beyond breakfast, though, c-stores are beginning to introduce flavorful meat, vegetable and chile-stuffed burritos during the afternoon and dinner hours to cater to late shift workers, families and students looking for a quick and easy, satisfying meal.
Convenience-focused, hand-held ethnic foods have a place for snacking as well. According to IRI’s State of the Snack Industry report, hand-held, non-breakfast items saw a 10.3% growth rate in 2015, just behind appetizer snack rolls like sushi, dried meat snacks and bakery snacks, and ahead of many other snack items like candy and coated pretzels, trail mix, dips and cheeses.
On top of that, indulgent items seem to be driving in growth (3.1%) compared to healthy items (2.5%) as 59% of consumers overall indulge when snacking, IRI reported, so these protein-packed products fall somewhere between both categories. Younger consumers are the driver of these snack-appropriate products. Roughly 64% of younger millennials and 54% of older millennials eat three or more snacks each day, spaced throughout all dayparts, IRI reported.
Beyond Burritos
Tacos are another product more c-stores are now offering. The NRA’s survey also found that 62% of respondents believe street food-inspired main courses—like tacos—are still hot. But this also means there is room for other portable “street food” Mexican items like mini chimichangas, chile rellenos, quesadillas and taquitos with different protein and flavor fillings.
Even the National Restaurant Association’s 2017 What’s Hot report cited ethnic/street food appetizers like these as the No. 4 top trend in the small plates category. And, in the Global Flavors category, ethnic condiments/spices took the No. 1 spot, followed by authentic ethnic cuisine, ethnic fusion and Latin American flavors.
Empanadas, in particular, appeal to consumers because of their portable, handheld form and because they can offer a wider variety of flavors in a compact, delicious pastry-based shell. For c-store operators, empanadas can be brought in pre- or par-cooked and easily finished in an oven or warmer on-site.
Some c-stores have already responded to this, experimenting with more ethnic flavors by offering Latin American and Asian-inspired taquitos, eggrolls and similar variations warmed on roller grills so they’re easy for the operator and hot and fresh for the consumer. Offering a condiment station, with Asian dipping sauces or Latin condiments like salsas, chopped jalapenos and more offer an extra value-add for consumers looking to experiment with their snacks and on-the-go meals.
With such a growing range of ethnic-inspired, handheld foods, c-stores have the potential to stock their warmers, displays and grills with a much wider variety intended to excite existing core customers, but also attract many new ones.
This post is sponsored by Ruiz Foodservice