Seafood Business articles from January 2003

Seafood Business archives from January 2003

Industry forecast for 2003.(swordfish)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... To promote local, in-season swordfish from mid-October to mid-December, King's Fish House went all out. The Southern California casual restaurant chain played up the 2,000-year heritage of the fishery on its menu, and King's chefs created eight...

7-Eleven rolls out sushi in its Southern California stores. (Retail).(Company Profile)
January 1, 2003... Along with its giant Slurpee[R] drinks and microwaved sandwiches, the nation's largest convenience-store chain now offers sushi made and delivered daily to 692 locations in Southern California. The sushi comprises four assortments of cooked...

Darden tests healthful, seasonal menu. (Foodservice).(opening Seasons 52)
January 1, 2003... Darden Restaurants thinks mainstream Americans are ready for a healthful menu built around fresh, high-quality fish, meats and produce in season. Next month, the world's largest casual-dining restaurant company will open Seasons 52, a new...

Restaurant industry expects record sales in 2003. (Late News).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Restaurant sales are projected to hit a record $426.1 billion in 2003, up from $407.8 billion in 2002, according to the National Restaurant Association's 2003 Restaurant Industry Forecast. The foodservice industry accounts for around 70 percent...

Ocean Beauty, American Fish & Seafood call off merger. (Late News).(American Fish & Seafood Co)(Brief Article)(Company Profile)
January 1, 2003... Ocean Beauty Seafoods and Prospect Enterprises, doing business as American Fish & Seafood Co., jointly called off a merger that would have created a new seafood-distribution company with approximately $325 million in annual sales. ...

Sysco suspends Classic brand tiger shrimp product. (Late News).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Sysco customers were unable to order Sysco's Classic brand green headless tiger shrimp from late November into the Christmas holiday week as the nation's largest broadline distributor temporarily suspended sales of the product. Sysco, with...

Eco-guide targets seafood buyers. (Late News).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Environmental Defense released on Dec. 11 a "Business Guide to Sustainable Seafood," the first eco-seafood guide aimed at seafood buyers instead of consumers. Environmental Defense's goal is to steer buyers away from species it considers...

King's Seafood opens new steak/seafood concept: Lou & Mickey's offers bold flavors and big portions. (Foodservice).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... King's Seafood Co. in Long Beach, Calif., in early December opened Lou & Mickey's, a new 230-seat steak-and-seafood restaurant, in the Gaslamp Quarter of downtown San Diego. Lou and Mickey's, offering a menu comprising about 60 percent...

Private investment group takes control of WorldCatch; The Wave news service is sold to IntraFish Media. (Supply).
January 1, 2003... The majority interest of WorldCatch, a Seattle-based seafood supplier, is being sold to a group of private investors led by Mike Samsel, the company's senior vice president of sales and marketing. The transaction was scheduled for...

Louis Kemp promotes surimi seafood for the holidays; new Web site offers recipes, time-saving tips. (Marketing).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Louis Kemp Seafood Co. offered customers more than its surimi seafood products for the holidays. The company offered tips to help keep the holidays stress-free. Louis Kemp tapped the World Wide Web to reach time-pressed consumers shopping for...

Oregon Brand Seafood. (Biz Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Oregon Brand Seafood took over the former Ocean Beauty seafood-processing plant in Charleston, Ore., which will reopen early this year to process crab, shrimp, whiting and hagfish for export to South Korea. The new company is reportedly a joint...

American Mussel Harvesters. (Biz Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... American Mussel Harvesters moved last month from the Port of Galilee, its home for the past 16 years, to a new facility at 165 Tidal Drive, North Kingstown, RI 02852. AMH can now be reached by phone at (401) 294-8999.

Ducktrap River Fish Farm. (Biz Briefs).(food-safety rating 93.5)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Ducktrap River Fish Farm in Belfast, Maine, earned a food-safety rating of 93.5--"beyond practical improvement"--in an independent audit of the plant by inspection firm NSF-Cook & Thurber. The overall plant-audit score was 92.73.

Bowrain Corp., dba Aguas Claras. (Biz Briefs).(relocation)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Bowrain Corp., dba Aguas Claras, has relocated to 6033 West Century Blvd., Suite 210, in Los Angeles. The new phone number is (310) 410-2120.

Seafood.com. (Biz Briefs).(separates from iTradeNetwork)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Seafood.com re-established itself as an independent company, no longer operated by iTradeNetwork. All business services provided by Seafood.com prior to its acquisition by iTradeNetwork reverted back to Seafood.com. The new company will...

Newfoundland `ranched' cod catches on at Chicago's trendiest restaurants: the province's fishermen combine marketing efforts. (Marketing).(Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association)
January 1, 2003... "Ranched" cod is popping up on the menus of Chicago's trendiest restaurants, thanks to a cooperative marketing program launched by the Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association last year. Previously, ranched cod--which is trapped in...

Two heart-disease studies split on danger posed by mercury in fish: both agree health benefits of seafood outweigh risk. (Health).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Two simultaneously released studies draw contradictory conclusions about the role mercury-laden fish may play in heart attacks in men. However, researchers, Food and Drug Administration officials and other experts agree that more study is...

Benihana buys Arizona sushi chain. (Line Items).(Benihana of Tokyo Inc. buys RA Sushi Bar Restaurant)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... The Benihana Asian restaurant chain bought the RA Sushi Bar Restaurant, a privately owned Arizona chain with four stores in Phoenix, for $11 million, plus debt assumption of $1.9. million. RA Sushi's four founders will continue to manage the...

It's seafood month all year. (Line Items).
January 1, 2003... Now available from the Virginia Marine Products Board is Virginia's 2003 Seafood Calendar, a month-by-month photo essay depicting the lives of Chesapeake Bay-area fishermen. The informative, spiralbound annual also contains recipes, moon...

Chi-Chi's introduces lobster enchilada: mailing offers consumers substantial discounts. (Foodservice).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Chi-Chi's, a Mexican casual dining concept, on Dec. 5 introduced lobster enchiladas as a new entree at its 128 restaurants in the Midwest and eastern United States. "During these uncertain economic times, it appears that consumers are...

Industry report scoffs at protectionism. (Off the Shelf).(seafood)
January 1, 2003... Does U.S. policy support free trade, with the exception of seafood? The perils of seafood protectionism are a key element in the recently released 10th edition of the 2002 Annual Report on the United States Seafood Industry. Published by...

In my kitchen. (News Line).(Andre Halston of Champps)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Restaurant concept: 41-unit casual chain Signature items: Lemon Pepper Shrimp, Crab Bread, Slow Grilled Salmon with Pecan Butter Background: Apprenticed in European hotel kitchens and then worked for Ritz-Carlton before taking the job...

Market conditions favor buyers as 2003 gets under way: increased supplies of Chinese product keep prices of Latin American and domestic white shrimp depressed. (Shrimp).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Unseasonably sluggish demand on the spot market through mid-December left shrimp buyers confident supplies would be more than adequate this month, even though Super Bowl XXXVII on Jan. 26 and the Chinese New Year beginning Feb. 1 should boost...

Alaska pollock stocks remain abundant: meanwhile, Europe's whitefish fisheries face steep cutbacks. (Groundfish).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... The frozen-whitefish market is an active one in January; as buyers stock up for Lent. Happily, domestic pollock will be plentiful again this year. The 2003 Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands pollock quota is set at 1.49 million metric tons,...

Dungeness fishery off to a shaky start: Bering Sea snow crab fishery couldn't come soon enough. (Shellfish).
January 1, 2003... The 2002-03 Dungeness crab fishery in Washington and Oregon got off to a shaky start last month. A price dispute between fishermen and processors, coupled with inclement weather, kept a majority of the fleet in Washington and Oregon, north of...

Tilapia imports surge: China may bump Taiwan as top supplier. (Focus).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Expect US. tilapia imports to increase again this year, as China continues to ramp up its production. China will likely surpass Taiwan in 2003 as the leading supplier of frozen tilapia to the U.S. market. U.S. imports of frozen fillets and...

Expect a quiet market until Valentine's Day: buying interest unseasonably lackluster two weeks before Christmas. (Salmon).
January 1, 2003... Expect prices of Atlantic salmon to dip slightly this month. Demand for the farmed finfish usually subsides after New Year's. But prices should rise moderately in late January or early February when the spot market picks up for Valentine's Day,...

7-Eleven good for seafood. (Editor's Note).(sushi and slurpees)
January 1, 2003... Seafood buyers take note: 7-Eleven, the largest convenience-store chain in the United States, is now selling sushi (7-Eleven rolls out sushi in its Southern California stores). My initial reaction was, "This can't be good for seafood...

Slurry-ice myths debunked. (Letters To The Editor).(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... Dexter Van Zile's recent informative article "Ice Machines" (SFB October 2002) unfortunately also perpetuated certain myths regarding slurry ice. Many of these myths are often born out of a lack of knowledge, while others are started by worried...

NFI calls for continued cooperation, commitment. (Issues & Answers).(National Fisheries Institute )
January 1, 2003... National Fisheries Institute enjoyed many successes in 2002, made possible only because individuals and companies worked together as an industry. Three areas really stand out for me when I look back on the year: advocacy, partnerships and...

Create a business plan to build sales in 2003. (Marketing Forum).
January 1, 2003... It's January of a new year, and now, more than ever, you need a business plan. Without written goals and objectives, a year from now you will wonder where the time went and how you've ended up where you are. In the past year, just getting...

Rising prices, trade issues challenge buyers in `03: it's going to take more work to grow sales this year. .(Industry Overview)(Cover Story)
January 1, 2003... Joe Bundrant notes that 2002 was not a great year for Trident Seafoods in Seattle. But, says the company's VP of sales and marketing, it wasn't a great year for anyone. Nonetheless, Bundrant is optimistic about the year ahead. He expects to see...

John Halliday preserves his tribe's culture along with its salmon: Muckleshoot Indian tribe's economic director creates new markets for quality-controlled salmon. (Seafood Star).
January 1, 2003... With construction of a smoked-salmon operation launching in January and a new quality-control program in place for the salmon it sends to market, the Muckleshoot tribe in Washington's Puget Sound region has revitalized its once-endangered...

Seafood a `natural' selection for non-traditional supermarkets: it may not be organic, but seafood benefits from the quality and service standards of natural-food retailers. (Trend Watch).
January 1, 2003... Consumer demand for natural and organic foods is driving an $11 billion market in the United States. Since the early 1990's the move toward natural and organic foods by mainstream consumers has resulted in annual sales increases of up to 24...

Striped Bass no flash in the pan: distinctive seafood-cooking techniques help keep this Philadelphia restaurant on the cutting edge. (on the Menu).
January 1, 2003... Striped Bass has been creating a sensation since the day it first opened, and Terence Feury means to keep it that way. Together with owner Neil Stein, Executive Chef Feury is on a mission to keep Philadelphia's premiere seafood restaurant at...

An overview of the seafood department: understanding the basics is where successful selling begins. (SeaFood University).
January 1, 2003... The retail associate's training program here at SeaFood University will provide you with one course in each issue of SeaFood Business over the coming year. You will learn the basics of operating a successful seafood department, from receiving...

Squid: a shortage of this increasingly popular mollusk may be sending prices higher, but suppliers say it's still a deal. (Species Focus).
January 1, 2003... While bantering in the bar of Qingdao's Shangri La Hotel at the seafood show in China last October, Mike Byrne was happily tossing out offers of his California squid for about $680 a ton. Byrne, owner of Lund's Fisheries, was eager to start...

Dover sole: the price of this prized flatfish is on the way up, but don't expect demand to wane anytime soon. (Product Spotlight).
January 1, 2003... True Dover sole's reputation as Europe's most elegant and prestigious fish will continue to drive demand even though the price keeps rising. Chefs at the whitest of white-tablecloth restaurants have no problem shelling out between $9 and...

Rubio's clarifies its evolution. (Letters To The Editor).(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... Thanks for capturing the spirit of all of the exciting, "evolutionary" changes taking place at Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill (see Late News, Nov. `01 SFB) Per your article, Rubio's has introduced a new prototype restaurant design that...

Cold chain: moving seafood through the supply chain means more than just keeping it cold. (Equipment Focus).
January 1, 2003... To the uneducated eye, the 20,000-square-foot loading bay of Preferred Freezer's public cold storage facility in Sharon, Mass., looks like a warehouse complete in itself. It's spacious, well lit and has the forklift traffic you'd expect in a...

Wally Stevens: President, American Seafood Distributors Association. (One On One).(Interview)
January 1, 2003... If you think the seafood industry is at war with itself over the growing number of trade tussles, you're not alone. This fall, a group of U.S. companies got together and incorporated a trade group to focus specifically on seafood trade issues....