Mintel states in the new report, Today’s Specialty Food Consumer 2014, that the 145 million people who say they’ve bought specialty foods this year truly represent an 8% advance over 2013 – even though this new 59% portion of U.S. consumers seems at first glance to be lower than last year’s 74%.

The most likely buyers of specialty foods continue to be Millennials (70% of people between 18 and 34 years old), affluent (70% of households earnings $75,000 or more per year) and Hispanic (71%).

So a potential source of new customers is the country’s fast-growing Hispanic population. The Census Bureau found that people of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 16.9% of the US population in 2012, up from 12% in 2000. They represent both the largest minority group and immigrant group.

Further, Geoscape reports that over 993,000 Hispanics within the United States will turn age 18 in 2015. Hispanics will account for nearly 23 percent of all persons turning 18 within the United States.

Hispanic population tends to be more youthful than the population as a whole. According to the Pew Research Hispanic Trends Project, published in June 2012, the median age for Hispanics is 27, compared to 37 for the general population. “The younger the person, the more likely they are to be Hispanic,” says Cesar Melgoza, founder and CEO of Geoscape. Consider this in how you present your business in marketing materials and at your stores, offices or other physical locations.

Cater to uniqueness

Don’t use a one-size-fits-all approach in marketing and promoting your bakery products to Hispanics. Someone who, for instance, recently immigrated from Mexico and lives in Texas may respond to specific marketing messages differently than someone of Chilean origin who was born in the US and grew up in Chicago. It is important to identify your target customers and tailor your marketing campaigns to speak directly to them.

You may also want to focus your marketing on geographic regions where your target customers tend to live and work, to get more out of the dollars you invest. According to the Pew report, for instance, nearly half of people of Cuban origin in the US live in the Miami-Dade County area.

Every business owner can benefit by looking for opportunities to reach a more multicultural population. “The bulk of the growth in the US, both in population and consumer spending, is coming from new mainstream consumers,” Melgoza points out.