Ethnic & Specialty Food Market Resources
Ethnic & Specialty Food Markets
Specialty food markets have grown in popularity in the United States as immigrant communities have worked to develop infrastructure for accessing familiar and culturally important foods and as US consumers more broadly have incorporated a broader number of cultural inspirations in their food purchasing decisions. Interest in specialty food markets also includes growth in segments like Certified Organic, 'natural,' minimally processed and others defined by Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) credence attributes. While some of these trends overlap with interest in local foods, they are distinct trends, and businesses looking to access these markets need to understand that for some channels there will be minimal premium or little interest in local products, while for others local may carry a significant premium.
Key Requirements
Ethnic and Specialty Markets include a wide range of market types from farmers markets with large numbers of consumers from a particular national or ethnic group, all the way to grocery stores making large purchases at a regional or national level. Once you determine which kind of specialty market you are targeting, we recommend checking out our other market pages related to that kind of channel.
| Marketing Time Required | Highly Variable |
| Required Product Volume | Medium-Low |
| Potential Sales Volume | Medium |
| Price Per Item | Highly Variable |
| Difficulty of getting into this market | Low-Medium |
| Importance of Product Quality & Shelf-Life | Medium-High |
How do I get started in marketing Ethnic and Specialty foods?
The first step will be identifying which kind of market you are targeting. Will this be a direct market like a farmers market, roadside stand, or CSA or is something at a larger scale like a restaurant, grocery store, or other kind of wholesale market. In addition to checking out the pages for those kinds of market channels, you should also investigate which crops and varieties are best to grow for that market. For example, the larger globe eggplants popular in American and some Italian cooking are less common than the elongated slender eggplants common in Asian cuisines. In some cases there may be specific crops where you can supply a pocket of niche demand like fava beans for middle-eastern-American communities.
Challenges
- Identifying and connecting with consumers can be an initial challenge.
- If you are not very familiar with the agricultural products of a particular cuisine, there may be a learning curve for which crops to grow or how to grow them.
- In larger markets, lower prices, higher volume expectations, additional food safety certifications and other challenges associated with wholesale channels will also apply.
Opportunities
- Meeting the specific demands of specific consumers can be a lucrative part of your marketing mix.
- There are different scales of specialty markets that you can access as you grow.
- Many of the crops grown for specialty markets may have some cross-over appeal with a wider customer base interested in incorporating a wider range of unfamiliar products in their cooking.