Top-Selling Produce at Hispanic Markets

The Hispanic market is an important one for any brand to tap into considering the fact that United States Hispanics currently have $1.7 trillion in purchasing power, and this figure is expected to rise in the years to come.

To reach Hispanic audiences successfully, it is an imperative to first understand them by knowing who they are and where they spend most of their time.

For instance, Hispanics love to cook and if you're a farmer or planning to open a Hispanic retail store, you might consider tapping into this market but it is important to determine which fruits and vegetables are top-selling among them.

According to Produce Bluebook, Hispanic produce staples such as tomatoes, avocados, mangos, and peppers are as much mainstream than any fruits and vegetables. These are abundant at Hispanic retail stores, but there are other items whose growing demands should also be addressed.

"The first items we had were Hispanic products: chayote squash, jicama, tomatillos. We used to only market to Hispanic stores," said Robert Schueller, director of public relations for Melissa's/World Variety Produce, Inc. in Los Angeles. Melissa's/World Variety Produce has been in the industry for 35 years and since, they are known to sell Hispanic ingredients.

"Being based in L.A., on the West Coast, it's the largest Mexican-American population in the country, " Schueller added. "We have the right portfolio for these stores here, whether they're Hispanic retailers or mainstream stores catering to Hispanic consumers."

The public relations director noted that throughout the years, there is a tremendous growth of mangos. "Mangos are something 20 years ago, I'd never had one," he shares. "But Hispanic culture really made them popular, more popular than bananas in Hispanic stores. A Hispanic shopper will buy 10 mangos at a time."

Cactus leaves are also top-selling among the Hispanics. "Jicama is something many Latin families will buy every time they shop," Schueller notes. "Chayote squash-we can't sell enough of it. It's not really a mainstream item but big [with] Hispanic and Asian populations."

Raquel Espinoza, director of sales and marketing for Produce House LLC in Nogales, AZ, supplies staples like tomatoes and hot peppers.

"Cantaloupes do really well in the fall," she added. "We've been doing it for four years and it keeps expanding. We'd love to see the hard squash category take off; Latinos don't consume it much. There's a lack of information on how to use it. We need to do more educating and marketing and give recipes that are user friendly."

For Alex Jackson Berkley, sales manager for Frieda's Inc. in Los Angeles, this is a good time to offer specialties because consumers want more produce choices than ever before.

"In Southern California, the market is changing, where there's so much more variety. The second and third generations want more variety. We see dragon fruit, jackfruit, ginger, turmeric-these items used to be more expensive."

In an article by Abasto, traditional Hispanic fruits and vegetables such as radish, papaya and avocado are also offered by supermarkets to target Latino shoppers.

In 2018, the most consumed fruits and vegetables by Hispanics in the United States were a combination of traditional American products.

In the fruit department, the top-selling products include apples, grapes, avocados, pineapples, melon, strawberry, green lemon (limes), papayas, blackberries, and mangos. Meanwhile among vegetables the best-selling products in the Hispanic market include as onions, lettuces, cucumbers, tomatoes, chiles, squash, broccoli, carrots, cabbage, and radishes.