Canned food: the American consumer demands more quality

Our time has finally come. The American market is beginning to demand Spanish gourmet preserves and is not satisfied with “what there is.” In Made in Spain Gourmet, we know that it is one of the most important categories to grow in the North American country.

One of the things that I noticed a couple of years ago was the quality of the Spanish preserves that you could find in the US. It was the first thing we commented on. Christian Müller, our Food & Beverage director of Made in Spain Gourmet in that country and me. The most representative brands were Ortíz or Espinaler, which, while being good references for Spanish products, were not the most representative of gourmet preserves. There we saw our moment to introduce products of the highest quality, despite having weak points such as a lack of Branding galloping.

Preservation has been transformed in recent years in a surprising way, it is no longer that “resource” for not cooking and suffering for not having cooked with “whatever there is” in some preserved food lost in the cupboard of forgotten foods in cases of true gastronomic crisis. Now you have authentic wonders that, thank goodness, are preserved because otherwise they would have been lost forever or you will discover them for the first time thanks to preserves.

You can no longer conceive a salad, for example, without quality tuna, bonito, mackerel or melva, and that this also constitutes an entire gourmet salad. Eating “from a can” has become that luxury that more or less people can afford, and without being accused of being in trouble with the kitchen. On the contrary! Now choosing a quality preserve is an exercise in culinary wisdom.

However, how difficult it is to find unity in the strategies of canned brands as a country brand!! And that makes us lose a lot of time… and positioning in emerging markets.

I am a person who values ​​traditions, I am classic, not classist, and I still love some natural clams or some traditional pickled cockles. But the disruption has also reached canned food. And now, finding in the market a canned tuna belly with pesto o curry, Such as the curious, are common in the markets and the best thing, are bestsellers in markets like the North American one. “They go crazy in New York with them, and in trendy restaurants they serve them from the same cans because their design is cool”. She shared us Christopher Fernandez, CEO & Founder of Conservas La Curiosa de Nigrán, Pontevedra. But it doesn't end there, innovation and creation come to power. When you try some Galician oysters with an Alvariño vinaigrette, you understand that canning 2.0 has already been consecrated. Another visionary genius, Dimas Noval, CEO of The Sea of ​​Bowls, Gijón, Asturias.

And why are Spanish preserves becoming so fashionable in the US? good gourmet food? Mainly thanks to a sum of parameters that result in the perfect storm. Increase year after year in the arrival of tourists to our country, whether for leisure or business. Gastronomy is a subject that no one wants to fail when they come to our old country, and even more so if we do not stop accumulating first-rate gastronomic recognitions (ratings of restaurants or our chefs, who are among the best in the world (the country of world that has the most among the top 100), North Americans residing in our country who “only” know how to do something that is priceless: promote our gastronomy with passion and also in a professional manner, as Marti buckley, a wonderful person who “caught” by the magic of San Sebastián, where he resides, is doing an enormous job of disseminating Basque and Spanish cuisine in general. By the way, now with her new book, pintxos, you will surely achieve success in your country, the USA as soon as you present it. The Internet has also helped to transmit Spanish gastronomic experiences more quickly, globally, to the other side of the Atlantic, increasing the demand for products that can be seen on Instagram, Tik Tok or YouTube...

The increase of Spaniards on North American soil has also contributed to the emerging desire to quality Spanish products good gourmet food. And that is making consumers Yankees Ask your usual shopping places to bring these products, which many of them tried in Spain and their memory has not forgotten, and they want to continue enjoying them, in their country, all year round.

We find ourselves with the paradox that there is a growing demand for Spanish gourmet preserves, but their smart communication, which explains their differentiation, their specificity, why they are unique, does not correspond to that demand. But who should make that disclosure? Ahh what a question. You don't think it will be done by distributors or worse, importers, right?

That function the brand should do itYes, the brand itself. Otherwise, how will they believe that we are serious without demonstrating that there is nothing that can compare to them worldwide? Speak in the first person, with your soul, but with a well-prepared script, from the point of view of the North American “star system”, in addition to being emotional, you have to win and convince.

There, a lot of work will have to be done on the “mud”, relationship marketing, and of course the networking. If you don't think like an American, it won't be easy to be understood. So it's time to pack your bags and conquer them on their territory... But they are not a difficult audience, if you know how to convince them with arguments that ours is simply The best. Let us remind them that there is no one in Europe who overshadows us, not in anchovies, not in cockles, not in bluefin tuna, not in bonito, mackerel, razor clams... shall I continue?

To the new generations, those of us who must focus our branding efforts, we must share our best value: quality. Based on many parameters, quality seals that guarantee its origin, Denominations of Origin, PGI's (Protected Geographical Indication), traceability QR codes... what more do they want!!, but I repeat, without order, without common plans of the sector, the guerrillas They only waste our time.

We are not smarter or more intelligent than other people who arrived earlier in the US. But we do have certain advantages of being experts in the behavior of international consumers with high purchasing power. For more than 10 years we have built our own international community residing in Spain, and we have known how to unite Americans with Chinese, Russians with Ukrainians and so on with more than 25 nationalities, we have also learned how to transmit what is ours from the soul, but also from the advice of a close, trusted person.

Now we are doing it in a country with more than 300 million potential clients, and our recipe is the same: creating our community to not do things wrong, only making it where our values ​​such as sharing, honesty, transparency and search for excellence with professionalism, allows us to create that wonderful market of Spanish Gourmet products, only the Best.

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