Marketing Foods to Hispanic Consumers in Kentucky Siddhartha

Marketing Foods to Hispanic Consumers in Kentucky Siddhartha Dasgupta Kelly R. Probst Tess Caudill FSMIP

Why Hispanics? l Kentucky’s Hispanic population: 119, 138 Census 2000 l Currently estimated 100, 000+ in Lexington l l Food preferences: Fresh meats, fish, and vegetables l Home cooking l Willing to pay premium for food quality l

Hispanic Popl’n Conc. : GIS

What products did we investigate? l Live, Whole, and value-added Seafood (Tilapia, prawns, catfish, bass) l Goats l Chickens l Hogs l

Respondent Characteristics N=144 l l Gender: M 45%; F 47% Country of Origin: Mexico(65%); Honduras(6%); Guatemala (4%); El Salvador (3%); Nicaragua (3%) l Age: < 30 (41%); 31 -40 (31%); 41 -50 (13%); 51 -60 (4%); 61 -65 (0. 70%) l Annual HH Income: l l l Less than $20 K to less than $30 K to less than $40 K to less than $50 K or more 52% 28% 10% 2% 4%

Food Shopping Characteristics Trips/month: 2 -3 (38%); 4 (35%); >4 (15%) l Times: During week (47%); Weekend (39%) l l l Both during week & weekend (3%) Willingness to buy from a farm: l l I would like to travel to a farm (56%) I would not like to travel to a farm (21%) I would like to travel but not able to (16%) Miles willing to travel: 0 -5 (24%); 5 -10 (27%); 10 -20 (21%); >20 (8%)

Food Shopping Characteristics l Grocery spending per month: l l l $0 -$199 $200 -$299 $300 -$399 $400 -$499 >$500 (27%) (29%) (20%) (13%) (9%) Willingness to support farmers delivering food: Yes (85%); No (9%) l Main grocery store: Wal Mart (44%); Kroger (30%) l l Smaller chain (Save-A-Lot) (17%); Hispanic (10%)

Results: Seafood at home use l Tilapia (Mojarra) 79% l Freshwater Prawns (Camarones de aqua dulce)51% l Bass (Robalo) 31% l Catfish (Bagre) 24% l Product form preference l Live (17%); Whole (79%); Fresh fillet (44%); Frozen fillet (16%); Don’t buy fish (0)

Results: Seafood outlet preference l Supermarket 57%; Farms 30%; Hispanic groceries 18%; Farmers markets 0

Results: Goats Product form for home use: Live (12%), Whole Carcass (29%), Live or whole (1%), Other(15%), Do not buy goats (4%) l Bought a live goat in KY: Y 13%; N 79% l Like to buy live goat: Y 48%; N 52% l l Live goat type: Adult (N=28); Juv (N=25) Willing to butcher goat: Y 33%; N 67% l How often buy live/yr: 1 (13%), 2 (18%), 3(10%), >=4 (6%), No response (54%) l

Results: Goats

Results: Live Goats Stated WTP

Results: Chickens Preferred chicken product form: Live (26%), whole (57%), breast (44%), don’t buy chicken (0. 7%) l Willingness to buy live chickens Y 52%, N 42% l Venue preference for live chickens: farm (37%), Hispanic store (14%), farmers; markets (11%), no response (31%) l Popular live chickens: yellow hen (38%), Cornish cross hen (24%) l

Results: Chickens

Conclusions l Hispanic markets are suitable for: l l Live and whole meats & seafood WTP data shows: l l l Live tilapia ($2 -$2. 75/lb) Live adult goat ($100 -$120/head) Live 5 -lb hen ($5 -$10/head) 56% will travel to a farm within 5 -10 miles for seafood, goats, & chickens l 85% support farmers bringing product to Hispanic communities (Hispanic CSA) l

Acknowledgements FSMIP KSU-Ag Marketing Ask me about other product markets!