Ethnic Foods Shortage

Ethnic foods will capture one out of every seven new food dollars in the decade ahead, according to a report by PROMAR International, an Alexandria,Va. (USA) -based firm specializing in food industry research and consulting.

The report reveals strong discrepancies between the amount of ethnic foods sold at U.S. retail and foodservice venues in 1997. Even though overall retail food sales outpaced foodservice sales ($383 billion vs. $326 billion), ethnic food sales at foodservice far outstripped those made at retail.

For example, Mexican/Tex Mex sales at foodservice were $11 billion vs. less than $2 billion at retail. Sales of Chinese foods were over $6 billion at foodservice vs. less than $1 billion at retail. In short, consumers are hungry for ethnic flavors, but they’re not finding them nearly as often in retail foods.

Other indicators point to growing acceptance of bolder ethnic flavors. U.S. consumption of spices has risen steadily for the past 20 years, according to the American Spice Trade Association.

Hot spices (capsicums, black/white pepper and mustard seed), enjoyed the strongest growth (80+%) during the same time period.