48 • September | October 2026 • abasto.com BY RON MARGULIS H ispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15 to October 15 and for food retailers it should be less a marketing calendar entry and more a mirror check on the produce department. Fresh fruits and vegetables sit at the center of the Hispanic shopping trip and this year the stakes around getting that department right are higher than the cele- bratory banners suggest. The numbers explain why. Hispanic households spend about $16 billion an- nually on produce and shop the category an average of 92 times a year, yet produce is actually losing ground with this consu- mer year over year, according to research presented at the West Coast Produce Expo. That is a warning sign wrapped inside a growth opportunity. A shopper who vi- sits the produce aisle nearly twice a week is not walking away because she stopped cooking. She is walking away because re- tailers have relied on her loyalty instead of earning it with the right items at the right price. The Plan to Improve Sales Affordability is the piece of the retail puzzle that grocers cannot skip this year. Inflation fatigue has not disappeared and Hispanic households, many of them multigenerational and cooking from scratch daily, feel every penny increase on staple items. The good news is that winning on price does not require discounting the whole department. Category experts point to a short list of high velocity items, cucum- bers, avocados, onions and Roma tomato- es among them, that drive a disproportio- nate share of Hispanic produce sales. Nail the quality and price on those five to fifteen core items and the rest of the basket follows. This is where smart retailers should consider putting their Hispanic Heritage Month promotional dollars, not just on themed end caps but on sharp, defendable pricing for the items shoppers buy every week regard- less of the calendar. A Produce Playbook for Hispanic Heritage Month 2026 Price, Product and Pride • Continues on page 50 • FOOD INDUSTRY