My husband’s first job out of college was working as a supervisor of the boneless loin line at JBS-Swift in Worthington, MN. His job was to oversee 80 people on the line, most of whom came from foreign countries. The communication gap made his job interesting, as many of his workers came from places like Somalia, Mongolia, Mexico and Guatemala.
Over time, he befriended some of his co-workers. When I visited Tyler on the weekends (we were engaged at the time), we would go out with some of his Hispanic colleagues. I was excited to practice the Spanish I had learned in school and while studying abroad in Argentina in college, and the women were always patient with my choppy language skills. It was during these Friday-night conversations that these women shared their recipes for authentic dishes like tacos, fajitas and real corn tortillas, and I gained a greater appreciation for their culture. I couldn’t wait to try my hand at recreating some of their recipes.
Without a doubt, the Hispanic population is rapidly growing in the U.S. They number 44.3 million people, and it's the fastest growing enthic group in the U.S. What’s more, this is a population segment that loves beef, and one the beef industry needs to really pay attention to.
I recently ran across an interesting study that shed light on Hispanics’ shopping behavior. According to a study conducted by Hispanic Business, “Hispanic women represent the most passionate and proactive shopper segment searching for the best deals across all retail channels.”
The research findings indicate that:
- 60% of Hispanic women use apps to search for the lowest price, while 53% make it a point to search online before going shopping.
- 53% are using their mobile devices in the store to find electronic coupons, sales and discount codes.
- 75% are using traditional coupons to get the lowest sale price.
- 54% only buy items that are on sale.
- 63% will travel further to shop at a store where they can save money.
Knowing that Hispanic women are smart, savvy shoppers and represent a huge segment of consumers here in the U.S., the beef checkoff has developed a Hispanic Toolkit to help supermarkets better serve the Hispanic customer base, providing the right beef cuts to prepare Latino dishes.
The Hispanic Toolkit includes a bilingual Beef Cuts & Dishes Dictionary, bilingual peel-off recipe labels, bilingual signs and bilingual recipes. These resources were placed in a separate section in the meat case of cuts preferred by Hispanic shoppers, according to Beef Checkoff News.
Read about the entire study here.
What Hispanic women choose to purchase in stores may be a far cry from your current worries about getting the hay put up before the next rain hits, but boosting beef demand is critical for maintaining high cattle prices. Addressing the specific needs and shopping behaviors of such an important and growing demographic as Hispanics, who utilize a lot of protein in their traditional ethnic dishes, can be a big boost to beef demand.
