What’s in a name? Grouper

by Richard Stavis

One of the biggest strengths of Seafood is also its biggest weakness- the incredible variety of species available.  A well recognized Seafood “name” is very valuable.  It has the power to drive consumption and to maximize its value.  In days past fishmongers would give these fish the name of the fish that they most closely resembled OR the name of a similar fish that had a high market value.  Thankfully this practice is behind us for the most part, but there remains a patchwork quilt of products that resemble “famous name” fish as well as some fish that are able to claim those names even though they may not taste or look as you might expect them to.  Our goal with this recurring column is to help consumers make informed choices, as well as, to make lesser known species more accessible.

The FDA defines Grouper as a number of subspecies in the Epinephelus genus of fish.  It has a mild white fillet that is moist, dense, and a bit chewy.  It’s a high value fish and it’s highly prized, especially in the southeast.  Demand for it outstrips supply.  It’s also the poster child for name fraud, and it’s rare in that the fraud still goes on to this day.   Sometimes the importer is in on the scheme, sometimes it is being scammed from the processor.  As this issue has come to the forefront most responsible importers (Stavis Seafoods included) have started DNA testing all incoming shipments of frozen Grouper to ensure that what they are selling is truly Grouper.  This is less practical on fresh fish as it is often harvested and sold in smaller quantities.

What are some of the more common Grouper imposters?  Historically exporters from Indonesia and Thailand have sold Sweetlip, Emperor fish, and Bonefish as Grouper.   Swai/Basa/Pangassius (a future “What’s in a Name” subject) from Viet Nam took the U.S. by storm in the early 2000’s.  One importer was convicted this past May of selling more than 1 million pounds of the fish as grouper, and that was just the tip of the iceberg.

A myriad of fresh fish have also been passed off as Grouper.  Some of the wild species used have included Tripletail, Corvina, KingClip, Snook, and Snapper.   We’ve also seen some farmed fish including Tilapia and Catfish being passed off as Grouper.

It is possible to ensure that what you’re selling can be or what you’re buying is legally Grouper, but is this the whole story?  What comes to mind when you hear the name “Reef Cod”?  Guess what- it’s a Grouper!  This fish has now become very popular because of its name cachet, but is it the best option if you want to replicate the experience of Atlantic Grouper?  Probably not- I’d go for Corvina! I ask again, what’s in a name?

What's in a Name? best seafood, boston seafood, convenience, fresh, Fresh Fish, fresh seafood, frozen, frozen seafood, miami seafood, retail, seafood companies, seafood company, seafood expert, seafood experts, stavis

Branding             

One of the areas that I feel we have done a poor job of in the fresh seafood department is in developing brand loyalty.  No doubt there are plenty of branded products now hitting the case, as well as, a plethora of Private Label branded products.  But the question is - does the customer have any loyalty to these brands or are the products that they purchase driving their decision?  Is there a conventional retail store in this country that does not carry Oscar Meyer bacon, hot dogs and bologna?  Pepperidge Farm cookies?  Campbell’s Soup?  The list can go on at length of brand names that have become must-have products.  Are there any such products in the seafood case?  If a retailer changes from Chicken of the Sea brand shrimp to Contessa does the consumer really care?  Will anyone complain?  Will they even notice?

To make their brand relevant, companies need to define why it is important for the consumer to purchase - they need to develop a reason for the consumer to want to look for and purchase that brand.  As an industry we have spent a lot of time and energy convincing ourselves what the differences are between products - what we need to do is spend more of our resources conveying that message to the end consumer.   Through the power of branding we can convey to customers that the products that they are purchasing are safe, consistent and easy to use.   This, in turn, should lead to more confidence in their purchase and increase consumption.

News in Retail boston seafood, brand identity, branding, consumer, convenience, fresh, massachusetts seafood, quality, retail, seafood expert, seafood experts, stavis

 What’s my fish worth?

I remember a conversation I had with my Uncle Eddie back in the late 80’s when I was a relative greenhorn in the business.  I’d had 3 or 4 years of buying experience under my belt and thought that I had a pretty good idea what this business was about.  Ecuador was king when it came to Shrimp, and shell-on was the only way to go.  The import cost of 50/60 count shrimp had just plummeted from 3.20/lb down to the unheard of price of 2.80/lb!  I tried to make the argument with Ed to take whatever capital we had and buy as many 50/60’s as we could lay our hands on because the item had gotten so cheap that it was selling below the base intrinsic value for the Shrimp.  Ed was very quick to point out to me that there is NO intrinsic value in Seafood.  Your fish is only worth what your customer is willing to pay you for it.

20 years later Ed’s words hold up better than ever.  Those 50/60’s that I would have felt safe selling at 2.95/lb are now worth 2.60/lb or less, and that size is one of the least affected by the deflation in the value of Shrimp.  Most sizes of Black Tiger Shrimp are at prices in the low end of the 10 year trading range.  Domestic Shrimp has taken a bigger hit, as it is now considered to be less valuable in the market than tigers, a total reversal in attitude!  Domestic Shrimp are selling at prices lower than they were in 1985, and that’s not taking into account the erosion in the value of a dollar.  In real terms the shrimp is selling for less than half what it did back then!

Let’s not limit our discussion to the value of Shrimp.  You can find similar examples with other species including Snow Crab, Warm and Cold water Lobster tails and meat, fresh Swordfish, and dozens of other products, all of which are trading at or below the prices that they’ve sold at any time during the last 20 years.  At the same point we have other items where prices are zooming.  Farmed Salmon fillets were worth 4.10/lb on average in September 2007.  They’re selling for 5.50-5.75/lb now.  Scallops are selling at or slightly ahead of the prices that they were at last year.  Frozen Swordfish prices have jumped about 20% in the last 2-3 months.  The general trend at the moment is deflationary, but there are items that are bucking the trend.

What’s the answer to the question up top?  Your fish is worth what your customer will pay for it AT THE MOMENT WHEN IT IS NEEDED.  If you’re a speculator in stocks or precious metals you may want to speculate in seafood as well.  This is perfectly fine as long as you follow basic rules.  Don’t invest before you research the market.  Be careful buying commodities that are not openly traded, where it is more difficult to establish a current market price.  Be realistic about whether you can sell your purchase when it comes time to liquidate- don’t buy more than you can move in a reasonable timeframe.  Don’t gamble what you can’t afford to lose. Finally, don’t forget- fish is not gold or even wine- it doesn’t get better with age!

General State of Seafood Add new tag, best seafood, boston, boston seafood, convenience, fresh, Fresh Fish, fresh seafood, frozen, frozen seafood, massachusetts seafood, quality, seafood companies, seafood company, seafood expert, seafood experts, seafood products, stavis, value

Shrimp Recipe

Shrimp has become one of the most popular seafood items consumed by Americans today. There are many reasons why this is happening. One of them being that shrimp comes in a variety of packs and count sizes, therefore you buy the pack and size you need - so there’s no waste. It is also very affordable, versatile and easy to cook.  In minutes, you can have a delicious, healthy, home-cooked meal. There are many wonderful shrimp recipes around, here’s one of my favorites:

Shrimp Scampi

Ingredients

• 1 bag of BOS’N Black Tiger Shrimp
• 1 raw onion (diced)
• 1 green pepper (diced)
• 1 bunch of scallions (diced)
• 1 box of linguini
• 1 16oz. can of tomato sauce (optional)
• A dash of: seasoned salt, garlic salt, accent and pepper
• 1/2 stick of butter

Instructions

• Boil the pasta until al dente
• Saute shrimp with butter
• Combine with diced onions, green peppers, and scallions
• Let this mixture simmer for 5 minutes
• Add tomato sauce (optional)
• Let it cool for 3 minutes
• Drain the pasta and mix it all together in a large bowl, serve with salad and garlic bread

Shrimp Add new tag, boston seafood, convenience, Domestic Shrimp, frozen, frozen seafood, retail, seafood companies, seafood company, seafood expert, stavis, value, wholesale seafood

Warm Water lobster tails from the Pacific Ocean - Central American fishery

The Panulirus Gracilis lobster specie is found off of the Pacific coast of Central America. It is a small lobster; 90% of the lobster tails produced are in the 3-5oz range. These warm water lobsters have a spiny bright green shell and are caught by artisanal divers using surface supplied air or breath holding. Their fishing boats are either a small skiff or a canoe.  When the water is clear, a diver can find 10-30 lobsters in one day.   

The main sources of production are Panama and Nicaragua. I am familiar with the fishery in Nicaragua and it is sustainable and well managed. I believe this hand-caught fishing method is a big reason for the health of the fishery. The lobster tail freezing facilities are located in Managua, Nicaragua, which is a city located on the Pacific coast. The lobster tails arrive to the processing plants fresh throughout the day. They are immediately processed and are once frozen. I mention this because some fisheries freeze their lobster tails at sea, thaw them out at the processing plant for cleaning etc., then, refreeze them (twice frozen).

Central American production is relatively small compared to the Caribbean. Most of the shipments are flown by air to the USA, not sent by ship container; therefore, production figures are hard to track.

Lobster best seafood, boston seafood, convenience, fresh, fresh seafood, frozen, frozen seafood, Lobster, lobster tails, market, massachusetts seafood, quality, seafood companies, seafood company, seafood expert, seafood products, stavis, value, warm water, warm water lobster tail

Great Seafood Sells - More than you might think

As the economy has gotten tougher and customers have looked to increase their buying power, seafood has become challenged to compete with other lower priced proteins in stores. Consequently, seafood has seen smaller increases in sales than any other proteins over the last 12 months. Consumers have transferred their food dollars from restaurants to the grocery store. In response to this and the need to work on tighter margins, retailers have been reviewing the viability of maintaining fresh seafood departments in every store. In some cases, based on the ROI per square foot, retailers have decided not to keep a service department and convert solely to a self-serve case. But, purely looking at ROI does not tell the whole story.  It does not provide the complete impact that a fresh seafood case can have on sales dollars and profits that a store generates.

One chain in particular discovered that the fresh seafood service case has a broad reaching impact on every department in the store. After removing a number of service cases, they found that store sales were suffering in most of the other departments. They noticed that a number of higher ticket items were showing softness in sales and that the average order size per customer was declining. Upon further inspection, it was determined that the withdrawal of the service seafood case drove customers to purchase their groceries elsewhere. These same customers tended to create more culinary experiences and drove the sales of many of the higher priced and potentially higher margin vegetable, dairy, grocery and meat items. Where the average consumer might have spent $75.00 per visit, the average service seafood case consumer would spend $125 per visit. Although the seafood department may represent only 2-3% of total sales in retail - the truth is that it has a greater impact on the success of the store. The results would lead one to believe that by effective merchandising of fresh seafood, highlighting its health and convenience benefits, and the cross merchandising of products, the percentage of customers who frequent the seafood case increases. This also generates a new contingent of customers who are interested in creating a culinary experience, not just a meal.

News in Retail best seafood, boston seafood, convenience, fresh, frozen, market, quality, retail, seafood companies, seafood company, seafood distributors, seafood expert, seafood experts, seafood products, stavis, value, wholesale seafood

The Luxury Backlash

This economic disaster has created widespread commodity deflation. With the exception of Farmed Salmon, which is suffering from a major crop failure in Chile, we have seen prices drop. Sometimes these price drops can be good for a product. Lower prices, historically, have lead to increased consumption, and we’ve seen this on a number of items this year. There are a category of items however that have experienced a disproportionate drop in value and seen consumption drop to boot. I’m talking about luxury seafood items. 

What is a luxury seafood item? You’d think that it would be defined by price, but that is only part of the story. Perception is the other part of the equation. How many people are buying Hummers right now? Not a lot. It’s not solely based on the cost.  According to Carprice.com the base price of a Hummer is $32,345. The base price of a Toyota Avalon is $32,145, virtually identical. The Hummer is actually cheaper on the lot. People aren’t buying Hummers because of the message of “in your face” luxury and crass commercialism. Three years ago it was a status symbol. Now, it’s an embarrassment. This same thing is happening in Seafood.

What have been the biggest losers this past year in seafood? Jumbo Lump Pasteurized Crabmeat, Jumbo Shrimp and Lobster tails. These items dropped in value precipitously when the economy softened. The worst part was that consumption dropped more quickly than the prices, and no amount of discounting could bring that customer base back into the fold. We’re almost a year into the new economic reality and what do we see with these items? The pricing is still at or near historic lows and demand is still relatively low. What’s to be done?

We have to reposition these seafood items and make them accessible to a wider range of customers. We have to take the smaller sizes of lobster tails and sell them at retail as an affordable luxury. We need to get large shrimp on the menus of midrange restaurants in preparations that are not too “snotty” and at prices that are reasonable. We need to change customers’ perceptions of the position of these items in the marketplace.

It wasn’t just our 401k values that changed when the economy went south. We also have experienced a major shift in culture, away from flash and pretention and towards modesty and value. No one is sure how long the economy will be bad. Similarly we don’t know when or whether we will see a shift in cultural values. We need to live in the present and build our business based on current realities. If we do this, we’ll create a stronger and more stable base of demand for all products.

General State of Seafood Add new tag, convenience, fresh, frozen, market, massachusetts seafood, miami seafood, quality, retail, seafood companies, seafood company, seafood distributors, seafood expert, seafood experts, seafood products, stavis, value

Welcome!

 This is your place to learn about a wide variety of fresh and frozen seafood.  Posts will cover a variety of topics.  Expect to see focus features on individual species of fish such as Cod or Pollock.  You’ll also see articles comparing different species of Shrimp, Crab, or Lobster.  Some posts will have pictures of fish and will teach you how to handle and prepare them.  Other posts will focus on the seafood commodity markets, helping you to anticipate rises and falls.  We’ll explain the different species of wild Salmon, the different countries of origin for farmed Salmon, and how to choose which to use.  Additionally we will have a recipe section with our favorite seafood recipes and a glossary of fish terms that may stump you.  The seafood experts who will be contributing to this website have an average of 20 years of experience.  In general, our focus is on posting and publishing articles, as such we will be moderated and are not likely to post many responses.  We will review your responses however, and will do our best to reply to you off-line.  Feel free to email us with suggestions for future posts as well.  Again, this website is for you.  Thank you for your attention, and welcome to seafoodexperts.net!

General State of Seafood best seafood, boston, boston seafood, cephalopod, convenience, fish, florida seafood, fresh, Fresh Fish, fresh seafood, frozen, frozen seafood, market, massachusetts seafood, miami, miami seafood, quality, retail, seafood companies, seafood company, seafood distributors, seafood expert, seafood experts, seafood products, stavis, value, wholesale seafood

Cephalopodssquid-rings-300×88.jpg” alt=”squid-rings” width=”300″ height=”88″ />

Cephalopods are an amazing seafood category.  Part of the mollusk family, these animals form a category unto themselves.  The three main types of Cephalopods are:  Squid, Octopus and Cuttlefish also known as Calamari, Pulpo and Sepia.  There are a wide variety of products available in the market from many different countries of origin.  All cephalopods are wild caught.  However, the most amazing cephalopod story occurs with Squid.

Squid is a cephalopod that in less than 20 years has become a mainstream seafood item.  Originally an ethnic specialty, Squid was introduced to mainstream USA in the mid 1980s in its cleaned form as “Cleaned Calamari.”  Now you find Calamari, (bypassing the common name of squid) featured on most restaurant menus and is a consumer favorite despite being “SQUID” or bait.  It has transcended from squid to Calamari and the fact that Calamari is squid has become a distant memory for most consumers.  Calamari is sold primarily in cleaned form:  Tubes and Tentacles, Tubes Only, Rings and Tentacles, Rings Only or even as Steaks.  Cleaned Calamari is 100% useable, with no waste.  Cooking applications range from fried and grilled, to stuffed and sautéed.  Price point, cooking ease and the U.S. love of fried food makes calamari a natural winner.

There are many different types of squid with their own particular characteristics that we will explore in future discussions.  However, regardless of the type, Calamari or Squid is one of the best seafood values out there!

Cephalopods boston seafood, calamari, cephalopod, convenience, fresh, frozen, market, octopus, quality, retail, seafood companies, seafood distributors, seafood expert, seafood experts, seafood products, Squid, stavis, value

Looking For Value

The food landscape - always a fluid environment, has seen some dramatic shifts over the past 12 months. With consumers reducing their dining out dollars and increasing the number of meals consumed in the home, competition has become most intense in the past few months to provide value to retail consumers trying to stretch their purchasing power. This is great news from a retailer’s perspective as it drives more consumers into the store and many retailers are seeing comp sales increases as high as 5% over last year. But what are they going to buy? Convenience-as the economy has slid into recession, people are working harder. Taking on more responsibility and working more hours as they are asked to do more with less. They have little or no time to plan much less execute on a meal. So they are looking for products that they know how to cook or products that they feel they cook quickly and successfully. Quality-for those consumers that are trading in their frequent diner card for a frequent shopper card, they are coming into the store looking for products that will replace that restaurant experience. That means that they are looking for quality products in terms of freshness, taste and appearance. Value- Consumers are watching their expenditures. Savings rates have increased for the first time in decades and everyone is trying to do more with less. Does this mean that they are looking for the cheapest product on the shelf? Not necessarily. What they are looking for is a solid value. Products that are aggressively priced and meet their need for quality and convenience at the same time.

Unfortunately, seafood has not fared as well as we all would like in this competition. In the last three quarters of 08′, seafood was the only perishables department that did not see an increase in sales and tonnage. As customers have defined their purchasing decisions they have found that other proteins, in particular poultry, which saw a 6.7% increase in sales in 2008, have met their needs more effectively. It does not have to be this way. There are a large number of products that can be offered at a great value.  Products like Capensis, Swai and Ponga, to name a few, all offer wholesale price points in the mid $2.00 range which would allow a retailer to market these products for as little as $3.99 per pound on sale. Although it may take some innovative marketing to introduce consumers to these species, given the competitive environment I think it will be well worth the effort.

News in Retail boston, boston seafood, convenience, fresh, frozen, market, massachusetts seafood, miami, quality, retail, seafood, stavis, value, wholesale seafood