Foodservice & Retail

A Hokkaido-based “kaiten” or conveyor-belt sushi shop chain has received the highest rating in the Oricon Japanese Customer Satisfaction Ranking (Rotary Sushi Division), beating out larger and more famous chains, such as Sushiro and Hama Sushi.

The Toriton (a Japanese pronunciation of the sea god “Triton”) chain is a subsidiary of Kitaichi Shokuhin K.K., headquartered in Kitami, Hokkaido. In the survey, restaurants were gr… Read More

More than 40 Joe’s Crab Shack restaurants reportedly closed their doors after owner Ignite Restaurant Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June.

Consumerist published the list of closures on its web site. They include several sites in Alabama, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia.

Landry’s recently won the bankruptcy court action for Ignite… Read More

One of Beijing’s leading luxury hotels is cashing in on demand among wealthy consumers for crustaceans with a promotion featuring crabs costing over USD 50 (EUR 42) each. 

The hotel’s Zi Jin Ge (Purple Gold Pavilion) restaurant is serving steamed Yancheng crabs at CNY 288/250g (USD 43/250g, EUR 36/250g). Crabs from Yangcheng Lake in Jiangsu province are regarded as premium product in China, generating great fuss each summer as ma… Read More

The Coalition of Legal Toothfish Operators Inc. (COLTO) said it is doing what it can to work with Amazon to have an online petition removed calling for the retail giant to stop selling Chilean seabass (toothfish).

In a statement, Richard Ball, chair of COLTO, said the petition, which claims that the fish and endangered seabirds are at risk from fishing, was “inaccurate, misleading and untruthful.” He said that the association had writ… Read More

Even though chilled seafood volumes at United Kingdom supermarkets dropped over the last quarter, value-added seafood dishes are still shining bright.

Meat, fish and poultry sales are all suffering, due to a combination of inflation and fewer promotions, according to Kantar Worldpanel’s “Meat, Fish & Poultry Market Update” for the 12 weeks ending on 16 July.

“Chilled fish is one of the categories seeing highest inflati… Read More

Captain D’s, which already operates 521 fast casual seafood restaurants in the United States, plans to add additional eateries in Florida.

The chain recently announced aggressive expansion plans for Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida.

Now, Captain D’s said it signed a franchise development agreement with industry veterans Richard Reeves and Larry Lavigne to bring nine new restaurants to the Tampa-St.-Petersburg-Sarasota-Bradenton … Read More

For this weekend only, a pop-up upscale restaurant in New York is featuring a Shake Shack lobster burger, dubbed the Lobster Shack.

EMP Summer House, the pop-up restaurant in East Hampton, New York, is operated by Eleven Madison Mark in New York, which is undergoing a major renovation.

Shake Shack, the burger chain of more than 130 restaurants throughout the U.S. and several International cities, was actually born out of the kitchen of Eleven Mad… Read More

Modern, California-based fast casual seafood restaurant chain Slapfish has renewed its partnership with sustainable seafood provider Sea to Table to bring more responsibly-sourced, high-quality dishes to its hungry clientele. Reflecting some of the ideals celebrated within its continued collaboration with Sea to Table, Slapfish is introducing three new, wild, domestic species to its menu, all of which can be fully traced to the point of landing.&… Read More

A Beijing based entrepreneur is cashing in on Chinese demand for crustaceans with a home delivery service for crayfish, lobster and shrimp cooked in local styles.

Qing Ha (the name translates as “Pretty Shrimp”) delivers from a base in downtown Beijing, with dishes including cooked “Boston lobster” for CNY 159 (USD 23.54, EUR 20.23) and crayfish at CNY 329 (USD 48.71, EUR 41.87) for 40 pieces cooked in spicy flavors.

The f… Read More

An Oregon, U.S.A.-based seafood and sushi restaurant group has started an initiative to calculate and publish the carbon emissions caused by its products – and has committed to buying carbon offsets to compensate for those emissions, the company announced last week.

The Sustainable Restaurant Group’s carbon calculator appears to be the first in the industry to focus on seafood sustainability. Other efforts have calculated a restaurant… Read More