Celebrating seafood and produce that is in season is one of the best ways to engage fine-dining customers, according to Tiffany Derry, executive chef of Go Fish Ocean Club in Dallas. The single-unit seafood and sushi restaurant recently began celebrating its five-year anniversary with a 50 percent off lunch sale through 31 August. The promotion — along with salmon and softshell crab — has boosted the eatery’s summer sales.
Blank: How is Go Fish’s lunch sale helping your business?
Derry: Well, summer is typically the slower time, so it is keeping us very busy. We are still kind of new to this area, and are not right on the freeway. We are one street off where there are a lot of office buildings, so this is getting the word out that we are here. While it has not increased lunch sales, it has increased traffic 25 percent, and the promotion is spilling over into our dinner business.
Which seafood entrées are your biggest sellers?
Sea Bass is one of our biggest sellers, but right now scallops are selling ridiculously. I like to pair seasonal vegetables with seasonal fish, so right now our Scallops with Fresh Texas Corn and Lobster is outselling Sea Bass. We train our servers to let guests know that the items are in season. Our dinner portion sells for USD 28, and our smaller portion for lunch is USD 14.
How is the Alaska’s Copper River salmon run helping your summer sales?
Right now, my biggest thing is salmon. The other day I had four different kinds of salmon. We were able to get Copper River salmon and ivory [white] salmon. The ivory salmon is priced a little higher because it is a specialty item. A lot of my fish guys in Dallas are scared of it, because you don’t see ivory salmon in restaurants in Dallas. The Ivory King Salmon entrée is USD 12.95 for lunch and USD 27.95 to 28.95 for dinner.
What other menu items differentiate you from your competitors?
We do a whole, grilled Jamaican jerk fish, for whatever fish I can bring in for that day. I make a Jamaican jerk rub with fresh habanero pepper and soy sauce. We cook the whole fish and serve it right at the table. It has show.
