How to adapt the Hispanic assortment to Florida stores
Winn-Dixie is expanding its Hispanic assortment in more than 30 stores in Florida and southern Georgia. The number is not what matters. The method is.
According to The Shelby Report (September 17, 2026), the chain tailors each store's assortment to the Hispanic community it serves and rolls it out in stages, based on local tastes and traditions, instead of imposing a uniform planogram.
Winn-Dixie operates about 130 conventional stores in Florida and southern Georgia. More than 30 stores is roughly one in four (our calculation).
The size of the opportunity, with data
The U.S. Census puts the Hispanic population at 70.1 million residents, 21% of the total, as of July 2025 (figure cited by Abasto).
In addition, a June 2026 PDG Insights survey found that 58% of general-population consumers had recently bought Mexican-flavored products, up from 51% a year earlier.
Winn-Dixie's announcement does not publish sales figures. What it does show is the direction: whoever buys the assortment decides category by category and store by store.
What can be copied and what cannot
According to the same report, during Hispanic Heritage Month (through October 15, 2026) the chain is adding dedicated displays and savings on selected products.
This is our reading: the seasonal promotion is easy to replicate. An assortment tailored by community, with suppliers and execution that sustain it all year, is not.
Nor is it an isolated phenomenon. According to Abasto, Hispanic brands are already entering national chains: Jarritos Mandarin Zero reached about 4,500 stores, including Walmart and Kroger.
The Hispanic assortment in Florida is not a single category
The examples in the announcement make the point: Cuban and Puerto Rican breads, plantains, fresh cilantro, ropa vieja, picanha, whole snapper. There is no single Hispanic shopper. There are communities with different baskets.
For a Latin American manufacturer, that changes the question. It is no longer "will the chain accept my brand?".
It is "what role does my brand play in each store's category, and for which community?".
Three questions before your next meeting with the buyer
1. What role does my brand play in the category? Destination, routine, convenience or profitability. A buyer who tailors assortment by store needs that answer, not a product list.
2. What store-level sell-out data can I bring? Without shared data, the negotiation goes back to price and space.
We analyze this in why the relationship between manufacturers and retail chains weakens: measuring sell-out, not just sell-in, is one of the levers to institutionalize the relationship.
3. Who guarantees execution? An assortment tailored to the community only sells if it is available, well displayed and clearly priced.
If your entry into the chains depends on a broker today, it is worth checking whether that model provides the category management capability this kind of conversation requires. We give you criteria in when to stop depending on a retail broker and build your own commercial capability in the United States.
What it means for a retail chain
For the buyer, an assortment by community requires better data: what sells in each store, what is out of stock on the shelf and which supplier can sustain supply.
That information is rarely organized. Without it, each supplier proposes its own products and the category is built as a sum of offers, not on an overall rationale.
What must change in the joint plan with the chain
A Joint Business Plan that works for this scenario has to define four things in writing:
Which communities each group of stores serves, and with which assortment.
Who provides which data, and how often.
Which execution standard is agreed: availability, display and price.
How results are reviewed and what is adjusted each quarter.
This is Category Management and Joint Business Planning work. It applies equally to manufacturers entering the market and to retail chains that want an assortment more relevant to their community.
How we work on it at TMC
Florida is a key expansion market for us. The four-week assessment shows where your category's growth is stalling; then we build the plan with the chain and implement it until the results are visible.
As a reference for the method: in the Sigma Alimentos case in Mexico, the category work achieved +45% in strategic segments and +70% in the relevance of the recommended assortment. It is a specific case, not a promise for your category.
Let's talk about your Florida strategy
If your brand competes for space in Florida chains, or your chain wants an assortment more relevant to each community, the useful question is a concrete one: where is your category's growth stalling today?
We can help you answer it in a 30-minute strategic conversation. Book your consultation here or write to us from the contact page.
Do the shopping mission and the local community justify the same planogram?
Compare sales, affinity and availability by area and format. Design tests by store group and evaluate the full category; a portfolio that works in one community does not automatically carry over to another.
Data to bring to a commercial review
Prepare sales by SKU and store, margins, available transaction data, inventory, space and supplier agreements. The scope should respond to the decision and the evidence available. TMC integrates assessment, design and implementation, with a pilot, owners and follow-up according to the project.
Related analysis
Book a meeting with TMC
Book an initial 30-minute meeting with TMC to discuss your company's commercial challenge. We will review your category, channels, current operation and available information to assess where a consulting and implementation project can add value.
