Hispanic Dining Habits.

ADVO, Inc. has major implications for restaurant operators searching for new ways to reach the burgeoning Hispanic consumer market, which has grown in population by 50% over the past decade.

The study, titled El Mercado Restaurante (The Restaurant Market), focused on three restaurant categories-casual/family dining restaurants (with full table service), quick serve restaurants and pizza restaurants-and included take-out, eat-in and delivery. It found that Hispanic consumers spend 20% more per week at these dining establishments than non-Hispanic consumers (general market). The data also shows that Hispanic consumers place different levels of importance on certain restaurant attributes, including family-friendliness, price, service and variety, and illustrates the potential value that bilingual, culturally relevant promotions have in helping restaurateurs market to Hispanics.

“Attracting Hispanic consumers is a major opportunity for restaurant owners, and this research can help them better reach this expanding marketplace to drive traffic and increase sales,” notes Thérèse Mulvey, vice president of Market Intelligence at ADVO, which has committed significant resources to helping its 17,000 advertiser clients better understand the Hispanic marketplace. “This study shows that Hispanics have some distinct restaurant dining habits and attitudes that-if tapped by restaurateurs-may offer new ways to cater to this increasingly important consumer demographic.”

Hispanics-Especially the Acculturated-Spend More

Overall weekly spending at restaurants is significantly higher among Hispanics, who reported spending an average of $71 per week eating out or having food delivered to home or work-while non-Hispanics reported spending only $59 per week. This disparity is even greater among acculturated Hispanics, who are defined as having fully adapted to the mainstream American culture while still maintaining the perspectives and values of their native culture. This group reported spending an average of $108 per week at restaurants-83% more than the general market consumer.

“This finding underscores how important food is to these consumers, and how willing they are to spend their income on restaurant purchases. Moreover, it serves as a reminder that-as with any consumer group-it’s important to avoid making generalities,” says Mulvey. “Within the Hispanic consumer audience, there are different segments that sometimes show different dining habits. In these cases, acculturation tends to be a key differentiator, and restaurant owners should take note.”

Focus on the Family

Overall, Hispanics and non-Hispanics agree that the most important attributes when choosing a restaurant are cleanliness, taste and value. However, Hispanics consider certain attributes more important than the general market consumer, including child-friendliness (24% versus 8%, respectively), variety (28% versus 18%), good service (39% versus 32%) and low prices (20% versus 14%).

“These qualities relate to Hispanic consumers’ preferences for choosing a restaurant where the entire family can eat,” observes Mulvey. “Restaurants should consider putting issues like family-friendliness front-and-center in order to draw the attention and dining dollar of the Hispanic marketplace. That means offering more affordable and broad menus that appeal to multiple family members-while enhancing service to meet this audience’s expectations.”

QSRs, Delivery, Take-Out Popular-While Casual Dining Chains Have Opportunity

The study shows that Hispanics visit quick-serve restaurants more than other types of restaurants, reporting an average of 2.2 meals eaten at or taken from these establishments in the week prior to the survey. In comparison they report an average of 1.5 meals eaten at casual dining restaurants and less than one meal per week at a pizza restaurant.

In addition, Hispanic consumers report an overall higher usage of delivery and take-out than general market consumers (53% vs. 44%, respectively).

When it comes to their choice of casual dining restaurants, the study shows that Hispanics tend to frequent local, independent establishments rather than national chains. This is in contrast with the general marketplace, which tends to favor national chains.

“This difference may be because national and large regional casual dining chains tend to be less accessible to Hispanics,” says Mulvey. “Locating new casual dining restaurants in neighborhoods where these consumers can more easily access them could represent an opportunity for casual dining chains.”

Coupons Drive Purchase

According to the survey, coupons resonate with Hispanics, who responded-by a 2-to-1 ratio-that the receipt of coupons for a particular restaurant drove their most recent restaurant choice. The paradox, however, is that by a nearly 4-to-1 margin, Hispanics report receiving fewer coupons than general market consumers.

Of the coupons Hispanics did receive and use, more than a third of them were received via direct mail, which far outpaced other forms of media as the most effective vehicle for reaching this group.

“This data means that there’s a significant portion of this demographic group that could be enticed to choose a restaurant because of a coupon, yet is being missed in the promotional sense by restaurant marketers,” says Mulvey. “Competition is fierce in the restaurant industry, so restaurant owners should strongly consider reaching out more aggressively to Hispanic consumers with coupons and promotional offers. Furthermore, it appears from the study that direct mail is a more efficient way to make sure these offers make it into their hands.”

Bilingual, Culturally Relevant Approach is Best

Effectively appealing to the Hispanic marketplace also means communicating to them through marketing vehicles that are both bilingual and culturally relevant.

“The study shows that language preference-English or Spanish-is fairly evenly split among all Hispanics-even among those who are more acculturated, which suggests that a bilingual approach to marketing may be the most effective way to promote restaurants to this population segment,” notes Mulvey. “The data also points out that culturally relevant marketing materials make a strong impression with Hispanic consumers, meaning that appealing to them is more than a matter of just translating current marketing materials into Spanish. Reaching out to Hispanics in a way that speaks to their unique traditions and lifestyle is also important.”

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