infogroup sweet tooth data study

Confidential

Data Study: U.S. Sweet Tooth Sweets Spots

April 2016

2 Confidential. Infogroup ©

Americans have a soft spot for sweets. Whether it’s a treat to accompany their morning coffee, a sweet snack during the day, or dessert at the end of a meal, it’s undeniable that Americans have a sweet tooth.

In an ongoing series of insights, Infogroup, the leading provider of innovative marketing and data solutions, looked to find U.S. cities where people can satisfy their sweet tooth cravings utilizing Infogroup’s business and consumer data assets.

One might wonder how it is possible to measure or categorize the great world of sweets. For the purpose of this study, a “sweet tooth store” has been defined as a business that has one of the following primary industries:

Ice Cream ParlorsCandy & Confectionary RetailDoughnutsBakers – Retail

After all, who can resist a scoop of ice cream during the hot summer months, or scrumptious doughnut or cupcake with a hot drink on a rainy day- or any day for that matter? Not us.

Summary of U.S. Sweet Tooth Sweet Spots


The scope of this study has two parts. First, all 381 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) in the United States were ranked by their concentration of sweet tooth stores per 10,000 residents, both in overall sweet tooth businesses and in each of the 4 listed categories. To get a definition of an MSA, we turned to the U.S. Census Bureau, which defines a MSA as a Core Based Statistical Area associated with at least one urban cluster that has a population of at least 50,000. According to their website1, this Metropolitan Statistical Area comprises the Central County or counties containing the core, plus adjacent outlying counties having a high degree of social and economic integration with the urban core.

Secondly, after ranking all MSAs in the U.S., the study also sought to determine which type of sweet is most popular in each state, controlling for the number of business in each industry category nationwide.

Here are the top 10 Sweet Tooth cities in the U.S based on the overall concentration of sweet tooth stores per 10,000 residents:

1. Ocean City, NJ2. Barnstable, MA3. Salisbury, MD-DE4. Providence-Warwick, RI-MA5. Portland-South Portland, ME6. Norwich-New London, CT7. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH8. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT9. Manchester-Nashua, NH10. Scranton-Wilkes-Barre-Hazleton, PA

Summary of U.S. Sweet Tooth Sweet Spots – Continued


To find the metro areas with the highest concentration of sweet tooth stores, head north and east, as all of the top 10 are located in New England or the Mid-Atlantic states. Perhaps this should come as no surprise as all 4 sweet tooth industries, especially doughnuts, are heavily concentrated in the Northeast U.S. Some of the top 10 cities should also come as no surprise. The top two cities, Ocean City, NJ, and Barnstable, MA, are both summer tourist hotbeds and provide plenty of opportunities for visitors and residents alike to enjoy a sweet treat on a warm day. Boston, MA, the number 7 city on our list, is the home of Dunkin’ Donuts, and the number 5 city, Portland, ME, boasts numerous gourmet bakeries, ice cream shops, and candy stores.

It is interesting to note that the findings of this study also correlate to Infogroup’s study on Top Ten Foodie Cities released back in February of 2016, as three of the cities appear in both lists. Ocean City, NJ, taking the first spot in this list, is also considered the fifth best foodie city in the U.S. Barnstable, MA, coming in second place in our Sweet Tooth list, is fourth place for Top Ten Foodie Cities. Finally, the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT, MSA comes in eighth place for Sweet Tooth and second place as best foodie city. No doubt that where you find great food, you will also find great desserts.

The top 10 cities for sweet tooth business are listed in order in the next slides, along with their population, median household income and home value, overall concentration of sweet tooth stores per 10K residents, and concentration per 10K residents for each sweet tooth category. The rank for each category is in parentheses.

Summary of U.S. Sweet Tooth Sweet Spots – Continued

http://www.infogroup.com/in-search-of-the-cities-with-the-most-foodies


No. 1: Ocean City, NJ

Population: 95,344

Income: $65K

Median Home Value: $354K


No. 2: Barnstable, MA

Population: 214,914

Income: $63K



No. 3: Salisbury, MD-DE

Population: 214,914Income: $63K



No. 4: Providence-Warwick, RI-MA

Population: 214,914

Income: $63K



No. 5: Portland-South Portland, ME




No. 6: Norwich-New London, CT




No. 7: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH




No. 8: Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT




No. 9: Manchester-Nashua, NH




No. 10: Scranton-Wilkes-Barre-Hazleton, PA




11. Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ12. New Haven-Milford, CT13. Wenatchee, WA14. Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC-NC15. Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT16. Tyler, TX17. Lewiston-Auburn, ME18. Worcester, MA-CT19. Burlington-South Burlington, VT20. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA Metro Area

Honorable Mentions:


Map of Top 5 Sweet Tooth Cities by CategoryThe top five cities for each sweet tooth category are listed in the following slides, ranked by the number of businesses in each category per 10,000 residents. The counts per 10K residents are in parentheses.


Top Five Ice Cream Cities1. Ocean City, NJ (4.51)2. Barnstable, MA (2.187)3. Salisbury, MD-DE (1.898)4. Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC-NC (1.628)5. Portland-South Portland, ME (1.413)

List of Sweet Tooth Cities by Category


Top Five Candy Cities1. Ocean City, NJ (2.937)2. Salisbury, MD-DE (1.077)3. Barnstable, MA (0.884)4. San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles-Arroyo Grande, CA (0.824)5. Wenatchee, WA (0.787)



Top Five Doughnuts Cities1. Barnstable, MA (2.42)2. Providence-Warwick, RI-MA (2.324)3. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH (1.938)4. Worcester, MA-CT (1.934)5. Norwich-New London, CT (1.827)



Top Five Bakery Cities1. Ocean City, NJ (3.356)2. Grand Island, NE (1.77)3. Jackson, TN (1.689)4. Billings, MT (1.678)5. Barnstable, MA (1.675)



After discovering which U.S. cities have the highest concentration of sweet tooth stores, Infogroup also sought to find which sweet treat (Ice Cream, Candy, Bakers, or Doughnuts) is most popular in each state. To determine this, we compared the percent of businesses in each of the sweet tooth categories within each state to the percent of businesses in each sweet tooth category nationwide.

Most Popular Sweet Tooth Category in each State


As you can see from the map provided in the last slide depicting the most popular sweet tooth category for each state, the top sweets tend to be regional. States that prefer bakeries are largely located in the Northwest and Deep South. States that prefer doughnuts are in New England – most notably Massachusetts, the home of Dunkin’ Donuts – and also in the South Central U.S.

States that prefer candy are a little scattered, such as California and Illinois, where major candy manufacturers are in abundance, including Tootsie Roll Industries and Jelly Belly Candy Company, to name just a few. Finally, states that prefer ice cream share the same scattered characteristic as states that prefer candy, with 3 of the top 10 best-selling ice-cream brands in the world2 located in Pennsylvania and Arizona, namely Cold Stone Creamery, Hershey Creamery Company and Turkey Hill.

It is important to note that these selections are mutually exclusive; i.e., every state will have one top category. For example, just because doughnuts are the top sweet in Texas does not necessarily imply that Texas is a top state for doughnuts.So next time you are visiting a Sweet Tooth State, take a look around and see what types of businesses you see the most!

Most Popular Sweet Tooth Category in each State – Continued


Bakeries Candy Doughnuts Ice CreamAlaska Oregon Texas ArizonaHawaii California Oklahoma New Mexico

Washington Nevada Arkansas KansasIdaho Utah New Jersey South Dakota

Montana Colorado Connecticut MinnesotaWyoming North Dakota Rhode Island IowaNebraska Missouri Massachusetts IndianaKentucky Illinois New Hampshire Ohio

Tennessee Wisconsin Maine PennsylvaniaLouisiana Michigan Maryland

Mississippi New York DelawareAlabama Vermont West VirginiaGeorgia Virginia

Washington, DC North CarolinaSouth Carolina

Florida

List of Most Popular Sweet Tooth Category in each State


Previous Data Studies and References

Previous Data Studies:Top 10 U.S. Foodie Cities

In Search of the Top Small-Town Vacation Hotspot

Coffee and Brown Go Together: A Study on Coffee Shops and Green Cities

References1https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/fedreg_2010/06282010_metro_standards-Complete.pdf2top10for.com/top-10-best-selling-ice-cream-brands-in-the-world-in-2015

See the Top Ten U.S. Sweet Tooth Spots Infographic

http://www.infogroup.com/in-search-of-the-cities-with-the-most-foodies

http://www.infogroup.com/in-search-of-the-top-small-town-vacation-hotspot

http://www.infogroup.com/brown-and-green-go-together-a-study-of-coffee-shops-and-green-cities

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/fedreg_2010/06282010_metro_standards-Complete.pdf




http://top10for.com/top-10-best-selling-ice-cream-brands-in-the-world-in-2015/

http://www.infogroup.com/top-10-us-sweet-tooth-cities-infographic

http://www.infogroup.com/top-10-us-sweet-tooth-cities-infographic

Thank youInfogroup Corporate [email protected](402) 836-5575

infogroup sweet tooth data study

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