Seafood Business articles from August 2005

Seafood Business archives from August 2005

Red Lobster rights the ship.(Top STORY)
August 1, 2005... Two years ago, Red Lobster was riding a 22-quarter streak of same-restaurant sales growth, but the nation's largest casual-dining seafood chain was clearly foundering. The concept reported lower-than-expected total sales of $2.4 billion...

Rubio's is sued for selling langostino as lobster.(FOODSERVICE)
August 1, 2005... A class-action lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in late June accuses Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill of deceiving its diners by menuing langostino as lobster. The fast-casual chain, with more than 150 restaurants, primarily in the...

Bumble Bee furthers move beyond seafood.(RETAIL)
August 1, 2005... Bumble Bee Seafoods' June decision to change its name to Bumble Bee Foods was made for obvious reasons. Six months earlier, the San Diego canned-tuna giant had entered the shelf-stable beef, poultry and pork business by acquiring the...

H&N acquires a majority stake in Expack.(Late NEWS)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... H&N Foods International of San Francisco purchased a majority stake in Expack Seafood of Woodbridge, N.J., on July 8 from Export Packers Co. Ltd. of Brampton, Ontario. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. "There are a lot of synergies...

Group led by UniSea lands Royal Aleutian.(Late NEWS)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Alaska crab processor Royal Aleutian Seafoods was purchased in late July by a Seattle-based investment group led by UniSea of Redmond, Wash., for an undisclosed eight-figure sum. Royal Aleutian operates a processing facility in Dutch...

TV spot aims to ease consumer fears about red tide.(Late NEWS)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... A commercial began airing July 13 on cable TV in southeastern Massachusetts encouraging consumers and shellfish dealers to buy local oysters, clams and mussels in the wake of New England's largest red tide in decades. The ad will air 660 times...

Ocean Garden, NRDC agree to protect the vaquita.(Late NEWS)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Ocean Garden Products of San Diego, the nation's largest Mexican-shrimp importer, is working with the Natural Resources Defense Council to protect the California Gulf porpoise, or vaquita marina, in the upper Gulf of California while preserving...

FPI forms income trust for Ocean Cuisine: restructuring will fund global expansion for OCI.(PROCESSING)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Fishery Products International of St. John's, Newfoundland, restructured Ocean Cuisine International, its U.S. value-added division in Danvers, Mass., into an income trust in June. The move will allow OCI to expand further into the global...

Roy Rogers scores with crab-cake sandwich: made by Phillips Foods, the menu item is unique for QSR.(FOODSERVICE)
August 1, 2005... The Phillips Crab Cake Sandwich, in its fourth year as a limited-time offer, was again a hit with Roy Rogers diners. The quick-service chain's eight-week sandwich promotion ended Aug. 1. "It's a very popular item," says Jim Plamondon,...

Landry's eyes hotel-casino: the deal for the Golden Nugget is tied up in court.(FOODSERVICE)
August 1, 2005... The Golden Nugget hotel-casino in Laughlin, Nev., may end up in the hands of Landry's Restaurants if a deal between two Las Vegas gaming companies falls through. Barrick Gaming Corp. agreed to acquire the Golden Nugget Laughlin from Poster...

American Pride Seafoods teamed up with Zatarain's to create samples of New Orleans-style catfish and sea scallops.(Biz BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... American Pride Seafoods teamed up with Zatarain's to create samples of New Orleans-style catfish and sea scallops for sampling at the Southwest Expo and Texas Restaurant Association show in June.

Gorton's acquisition of King & Prince Seafood Corp. was finalized on July 1.(Biz BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Gorton's acquisition of King & Prince Seafood Corp. was finalized on July 1. Gorton's is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nippon Suisan USA (see One Man's Opinion, page 16).

Silliker.(Biz BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Silliker, an international network of accredited food-testing labs based in Illinois, opened a new 16,500-square-foot, state-of-the-art testing facility in Cypress, Calif.

Tasker Capital Corp.(Biz BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Tasker Capital Corp. received notice from the Food and Drug Administration that use of its proprietary pHarlo technology to control growth of pathogens in seafood is permitted under FDA GRAS (generally recognized as safe) and current...

Weathervane returns to its roots with Original Shack: casual-dining chain debuts fast-casual restaurant concept.(FOODSERVICE)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Weathervane Seafood Restaurants of Kittery, Maine, opened a new fast-casual concept called Weathervane's Original Shack next to the company's Kittery restaurant. Shack sales are 23 percent above projections, says Susan Paquette,...

Whole Foods launches 'School of Fish' program: nationwide campaign provides education on selecting and preparing seafood.(RETAIL)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Whole Foods Markets in June launched a "School of Fish" campaign to tout the seafood departments at its 170 stores nationwide. The natural-foods retailer aims to debunk the myth that seafood is difficult to prepare at home by teaching...

Surimi plant ordered closed: Pacific Surimi found in violation of Clean Water Act.(PROCESSING)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Pacific Surimi was ordered to halt operations in mid-June after a federal judge ruled that the surimi-processing plant illegally discharged fish waste into the Skipanon River. The Warrenton, Ore., facility is a subsidiary of Pacific Seafood...

Facts & figures.(News LINE)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
August 1, 2005... 1946 Year the Raytheon Corp. patented the microwave oven 750 Weight of the first microwave oven, in pounds 1967 Year Amana Refrigeration (a Raytheon subsidiary) introduced the first household,...

S.C. Alliance gets new look.(Line ITEMS)(South Carolina Seafood Alliance )(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... The South Carolina Seafood Alliance recently freshened its image with new logos, increased membership and an interactive Web site (www.scseafood.org). Visitors to the site will find an online store with logo'd apparel for sale, a photo gallery...

Phillips menu goes back to basics.(Line ITEMS)(Phillips Harborplace)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Phillips Harborplace restaurant in Baltimore is reverting to its Eastern Shore origins while upscaling table presentations. A new menu features traditional Eastern Shore foods like Chesapeake Rum Trade Mahi Fillet, Pan-Roasted Rockfish, Crab...

Sonething fishy.(News LINE)
August 1, 2005... I'M STARVIN'... CAN YOU HOLD MY SIGN WHILE I GO ORDER A CAPTAIN'S PLATE? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Mother Nature hasn't been kind to struggling Gulf shrimpers: European Union may reduce tariffs against Thai shrimp Aug. 1 after all.(SHRIMP)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... The U.S. Gulf of Mexico shrimp fishery has had a rough go of it over the past three months, no thanks to Mother Nature. At press time in mid-July, Hurricane Emily was barreling toward South Texas, forcing shrimpers to tie up only a few days...

Prices are up in Bristol Bay, Southeast Alaska: demand for farmed Atlantic salmon is outstripping supply.(SALMON)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... The Bristol Bay sockeye fishery--the world's largest sockeye fishery--is winding down from yet another stellar season. Through July 17, fishermen had landed 23.4 million sockeye, only 2.2 million fish shy of the preseason projection, with a...

Iceland cuts cod quota, raises haddock: strong European demand tightens U.S. pollock inventories.(FINFISH)
August 1, 2005... Cod from Iceland may be harder to get hold of in the coming months. Early last month, Iceland's ministry of fisheries cut its cod quota from 212,000 metric tons in 2004-05 to 205,000 metric tons in 2005-06. The fishing year begins Sept. 1. ...

Redfish resource stable: but U.S. imports are down in 2005.(PREVIEW)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Atlantic ocean perch, or redfish, has been readily available in recent years, and that's not about to change. Iceland in July set its 2005-06 redfish quota at 57,000 metric tons, the same as 2004-05. The country's fishing year begins Sept....

New England's red tide slowly abates hurricane Dennis pounds Apalachicola oyster industry; Emily nears Mexico, Texas.(SHELLFISH)
August 1, 2005... The red tide that forced state officials to halt the bivalve harvest from Martha's Vineyard to the U.S.-Canadian border is gradually receding. In Massachusetts, about half of the 1.2 million acres of beds closed at the outbreak's peak had...

A bivalve brawl is brewing.(Editor's NOTE; oysters)
August 1, 2005... Seafood buyers, by nature, are not political animals. You'd be hard pressed to find any buyer wearing a tie, owning a briefcase or flying to Washington, D.C., to conduct business. But if you buy or sell Eastern oysters, the species that...

Nippon Suisan gambles on breading shrimp.(One Man's OPINION)
August 1, 2005... More than a few people in the fish business were left scratching their heads this summer when Nippon Suisan, Japan's second-largest seafood company, forked over a reported $148 million for King & Prince, a Georgia-based seafood company with one...

Quit hiding behind tariffs and embrace globalization.(Trade FORUM; seafood industry)
August 1, 2005... Let's see if there are any lessons to be learned from the string of seafood-antidumping cases that have roiled the industry in recent years. If there is one notion that links all of the litigation, it would be a sense of perceived...

Trans fats are next big health concern: seafood manufacturers meet consumer demand for trans-fat-free products.(Seafood FAQ)
August 1, 2005... The January 2006 deadline looms for seafood processors to list trans-fatty acid content on the Nutrition Facts panel on product labels. As a result, more seafood manufacturers are reformulating ingredients to eliminate the fat from their...

Seafood brings a touch of sophistication to bar menus: but to succeed, offerings must be tailored to the clientele.(Trend WATCH)
August 1, 2005... An adage among chefs specializing in bar food goes, "if you fry it, they will buy it." And, until fairly recently, it spoke truthfully of the typical bar menu, which featured familiar items like chicken wings, burgers, French fries and other...

Asian flavors marry natural bounty in Oregon: fivespice chef Jon Beeaker created a menu that gives Westerners a taste of other cultures.(on the MENU)
August 1, 2005... Launching a sophisticated pan-Asian menu at fivespice in Portland, Ore., has been an education--for the customers, the staff and even the owners. Executive Chef/partner Jon Beeaker was eager to introduce diners to the exotic and authentic...

From packaging to storage, safety always comes first: educate customers to ensure their seafood makes it home in good shape and stays that way.(Seafood UNIVERSITY)
August 1, 2005... As a retailer, your goal is to carry and sell the best seafood possible. But your reputation remains on the line after you send a product home with the customer. Seafood can suffer many abuses once it leaves your store; fish can get left...

Wild salmon: marketing programs push the cache of all five Pacific species, offering options for every budget.(Species FOCUS)
August 1, 2005... Bob Drobatz, the meat, seafood and poultry buyer for Mollie Stone's Markets in the San Francisco area, likens the chain's full-service seafood cases to a game of Monopoly. And occupying Boardwalk--one of the highest-value properties--is wild...

Rock shrimp: this crustacean's hard shell presents a challenge, but the result is worth the effort.(Product SPOTLIGHT)
August 1, 2005... The rock shrimp (Sicyonia brevirostris), a deepwater cousin of the pink, brown and white Gulf shrimp species (Penaeus spp.), was was considered throwaway bycatch until the 1980s, when a machine was developed to split the tough exoskeleton and...

Ray Riutta Executive director, Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.(One ON ONE)(Interview)
August 1, 2005... Ray Riutta Executive Director Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute Juneau, Alaska "First of all, we want to make sure the Alaska seafood brand is the best known and most respected in the world." For Ray Riutta, being at the helm of...