Specialty Food: Africa, The New Frontier in Specialty Foods

This article was contributed by Conor Godfrey (SAIBL Associate), and Daniel Wolf (SAIBL Trade Analyst).

Where did renowned chef Anita Lo go this April in search of new flavors for the reopening of her New York restaurant, Annisa?  South Africa and Egypt, of course. (The New York Times).

This follows on the heels of several prominent articles in the New York Times and elsewhere asking city dwellers to spend a weekend African restaurant hopping at places such as Madiba’s Restaurant in Brooklyn, Le Grand Dakar in Clinton Hill, Braai in Hell’s Kitchen, or experimenting with African spices at home. Clearly African foods are beginning to enchant and captivate the imagination of American consumers.

For years African specialty foods have been creeping onto U.S. supermarket shelves, slowly carving out niches inside the 40 billion dollar U.S. specialty foods market. The budding success of African items comes despite the American consumer’s relative ignorance of ethnic food from the continent. Food columnist Rachel Phillips Shapiro addressed this unfamiliarity in her piece entitled, “In Epicurean New York, the Challenge of Africa”.

Some say the trickle started with South African wines, and then fruit juices, and eventually fish, and sea salt, and now everything from artisan sugars, to jams and jellies, to chili peppers and vanilla paste from Africa might grace your plate at a restaurant or take center stage at a foodie festival like the NASFT’s Fancy Food Show. (ICTSD).

With the help of companies like Something South African, LBB Imports, and Talier Trading Group as well as iconic brands such as Nando’s, Ceres Fruit Juices, Peppadew, Rooibos, and Mrs. Ball’s Chutney, African specialty foods and beverages are no longer mere curiosities. In 2007, Jim Thaller of the Talier Trading Group pioneered the Africa Set, a group of 280 African products from 24 different companies. The set was first picked up by the Food Emporium, an upscale grocery chain in New York City, and now is available in more than 7,000 grocery stores nationwide.

In September 2008, the Food Emporium hosted a "Taste of Africa" event in their flagship store. This event capped a two-week celebration of African specialty food products in all of Food Emporium’s18 locations. During the final celebration a 200 ft. stand was dedicated to African products allowing American specialty food consumers to flirt with new African products at tasting stations throughout the pavilion.

This ‘set’ meets a growing demand for African specialty foods in the United States that now includes items as diverse as chocolate, organic juices and lobsters. Thaller expects sales in 2010 for the Africa Set to exceed $5 million. So far, $2.2 million in sales have been placed among Southern African companies, which represent approximately 40 percent of the products (and thus expected revenues) including some new brands from South Africa such as Elephant Pepper, Mama Africa, So!Go, So South African and Verlaque Fine Foods. The list is expected to grow as the set gains momentum. (SA Trade Hub).

In contrast to the bleak 2009 economic landscape in most sectors of the U.S. economy, specialty food and beverage sales grew by 2.7 percent. (Fancy Food). Specialty and ethnic food sales reached a record $2.2 billion in 2009, and will likely advance another 20 percent between 2010 and 2014, according to Mintel.

Mexican/Hispanic, Asian, and Indian foods are still the category’s growth-drivers, but rapid growth in the specialty food consumption bodes well for African specialty food producers.  Those brave enough to navigate the U.S. regulatory gauntlet just might secure a niche in this exploding sector.