Several food purveyors of color see the aisle as a necessary evil — a way to introduce their products to shoppers who may be unfamiliar with, say, Indian food — though a barrier to bigger success.
Since its inception following World War II, the ethnic aisle has become a fixture of American grocery stores. Chitra Agrawal, the founder of Brooklyn Delhi, has spent many hours thinking about where in the grocery store her Indian condiments might sell the best.
Today, the section can seem like an anachronism — a cramming of countless cultures into a single small enclave, in a country where an estimated 40% of the population identifies as nonwhite, according to the Census Bureau, and where H Mart, a Korean American supermarket chain, has become one of the fastest-growing retailers by specializing in foods from around the world. Even the word “ethnic,” emblazoned on signs over many of these corridors, feels meaningless, as everyone has an ethnicity.
In some ways, the ethnic aisle sums up the predicament of its suppliers, many of whom approach store buyers without the money often needed to get their products on the shelf. Corporations like Pepsi and Nestle can afford to pay stores handsomely to ensure their products get prime placement on shelves and a presence in promotions. Some companies break out of the ethnic aisle only when they’re acquired by larger companies.
Errol Schweizer, who was the vice president of grocery at Whole Foods Market from 2009 to 2016, said the ethnic aisle is part of “a legacy of white supremacy and colonialism” built into the framework of the grocery business — starting with the low wages paid to hourly workers, who are often people of color, and the lack of diversity among store buyers.
As an adviser and board member for retailers and consumer packaged goods companies, Schweizer believes industrywide change will be slow. “There is more to it than what you see on the shelf — there is how the money works, how the distributors are set up, and how the retailers themselves think people are shopping.”
In cities with large immigrant populations like New York, some local chains have reconfigured the conventional grocery-store layout to cater to their neighborhoods. On a recent Friday at the Trade Fair branch in Astoria, Queens, chicken feet and plantains greeted customers at the entrance. In the Food Bazaar store in Woodside, Queens, an expansive frozen section is dedicated to dumplings.
Adnan Durrani, the founder of Saffron Road, said his premade sauces like Thai red curry and tikka masala sell significantly better when incorporated with all the other sauces. It helps, he added, that he has Americanized the names of some dishes: Aloo matar became Delhi potatoes. Dal makhani became Bombay lentils.
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