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Cardenas Markets is looking to add around seven new stores per year.

Part of the reason Hispanic customers are relying so heavily on
authentic store-prepared foods, Gomez says, is the simple fact that
many of those foods are not exactly easy to make.
"I think convenience is a huge part of it. When we get home, we want
to prepare a home-cooked meal, but at the same time you don't want
to go through the whole process," he says. "I was talking to one of our
customers the other day. She's Mexican-American and told me 'We love
Mexican food, but it's so hard to cook sometimes.' She said they come
to us for the convenience of being able to buy carnitas or tres leches
cake or flan."
savory bread similar to a baguette traditionally made in Mexico - are
increasingly popular. Austin, Texas-based retailer Supermercado
Poco Loco says it has continued success with bolillos and conchas, a
Mexican sweet bread.

Just as important as authenticity and convenience, though, is freshness. Gomez says Cardenas Markets is in the process of trying to scale
some of its production to make things easier on its team members, but
it won't do so at the cost of freshness.

"Our customers come from a wide mix of cultures, so we always want
to offer a wide variety of new and traditional items to keep the cases
fresh and exciting," says Israel Guevara, Supermercado Poco Loco's
bakery manager. "Our top sellers continue to be bolillos and conchas,
but we also sell a lot of cookies and cakes."

"It's all about trying to prepare all of these things as close to the point of
consumption as possible," he says. "We want to try to scale and make
things simple for our operations team, but at the same time we know
our customer doesn't want to buy something that was made three days
ago, or in some cases even yesterday."

Traditional Hispanic cakes like tres leches cakes, flan, chocoflan and
more are vital to any panaderia.

To accomplish that, Cardenas approaches production as a restaurant
would, preparing small batches of food as closely as possible to when
they think the customer will need it. "I think
that really resonates with our customers,"
Gomez says.

Not just for Hispanics
While stores like Cardenas Markets and Fresco
Y Mas are obviously geared toward Hispanic
shoppers, they hope to draw shoppers from
all demographics. Bill Nasshan calls them
Hispanic-influenced shoppers.
"Many of our customers before we converted
(from Winn-Dixie to Fresco Y Mas) were Anglo,
and those customers continue to shop the
store, as well as black customers, whether
they're Caribbean, African, Bohemian or
Jamaican," he says. "They all continue to shop
the store after conversion."
"I think we're learning that the Hispanic
influence in the United States is strong,

14 * SEPTEMBER 2017 * instore

particularly in the Southeast. The beauty of
the Southeast is that the Hispanic population
has had an impact for a long time and many
Anglo and black customers have adopted
many of the flavors and tastes that Hispanics
have brought to this part of the country."
Cardenas Markets' John Gomez says a sizable
portion of the company's shoppers are not
Hispanic, but enjoy the foods, atmosphere and
experience.
"We really want to become a destination
for anybody who wants to experience what
shopping at a Hispanic store is all about,"
he says.

Keying on culture
Like any retailer, the Hispanic supermarket
needs to understand its customer base.
"In this part of our footprint, if you're really
listening and paying attention and focusing
on your customers, you'll realize that catering
to the Hispanic or Hispanic-influenced
customer in an authentic and original way
will get that customer's loyalty and will get
trips from that customer," Nasshan says. "I'll
go broader and say that what we're doing
with Fresco Y Mas is a microcosm of what I
believe most retailers are looking to do, which
is to understand who their customer is in
each local market and how to market best for
that customer. I think when you look at the

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