Fishpeople rolls out new seafood kits, expands distribution

Fishpeople Seafood is rolling out new several new seafood products aimed at making meals more flavorful and easier to prepare.

Portland, Oregon, U.S.A.-based Fishpeople produces seafood kits, seafood jerky, and soups. Its products are sold in more than 5,000 retail stores in the U.S., including Safeway, Albertsons, and Whole Foods. 

The company unveiled three new flavors of its Wildly Delicious Seafood Kits at Seafood Expo North America in Boston, Massachusetts, 17 to 19 March. The company won the 2017 SENA Retail Excellence Award for its three original kit flavors.

Each Seafood Kit includes two wild, sustainably-caught fish fillets, a chef-crafted topper, moisture-lock foil for easy prep, and step-by step cooking instructions. New flavors include: Sweet & Spicy Teriyaki Crunch topped Wild Alaskan Salmon, Shrimp Scampi Crunch topped Wild Alaska Pollock, and Crunchy Street Taco topped Wild Alaska Pollock. 

The kits are now available in Whole Foods nationwide, as well as natural and independent grocers across the U.S., according to Fishpeople CEO Ken Plasse.

The three new flavors “play off key seafood trends in the restaurant and food truck industries,” Plasse told SeafoodSource.

“We’re still making sustainable seafood something home cooks of all skill levels can easily whip up in around 10 minutes - now with even more delicious flavors,” he said.

Fishpeople is using Marine Stewardship Council-certified wild Alaskan pollock in two of its Seafood Kits for the first time.  

“With a suggested retail price of USD 7.99 [EUR 7.09], we’re encouraging more consumers to try and to appreciate this amazing species of fish,” Plasse said.

By sourcing fish from MSC-certified fisheries, Fishpeople’s supply chain is "sustainable, transparent and 100 percent North American, which means no mystery fish, guaranteed traceability back to the source, and more jobs in U.S. coastal communities,” Fishpeople said in a press release.

In addition to its expansion of its meal-kit line, Fishpeople has also gained distribution of its Ready, Set, Salmon! line of oven-roasted wild Alaskan salmon slices. The company markets the slices be used as an addition to salads, pastas, and other dishes. Flavors include Slow-Roasted Original, Rainbow Peppercorn, and Lemon Zest + Herb, and the salmon retails for a suggested 7.99 (EUR 7.09) per four-ounce pack.

Fishpeople is initially focusing distribution of its Ready, Set, Salmon! products on AmazonFresh and GoodEggs, along with Safeway stores in northern California, Plasse said.

The company has also found success with its Wild Alaskan Salmon Jerky. Both the jerky and the Ready, Set, Salmon! Lines were launched last fall. The Wild Alaskan Salmon Jerky, which retails for a suggested USD 6.99 (EUR 6.20) each, contains 24 grams of protein and 900 milligrams of omega-3s per 2.15-ounce bag. It also boasts no artificial colors, flavors, preservatives and antibiotics, and does not have the high sugar content typical of the leading jerky products, Plasse added.

Flavors include: Sweet and Smoky Original, Rainbow Peppercorn, Lemon Zest and Herb, Ancho Chili and Lime. The jerky is available for sale on the company’s website and on Amazon, and will be sold in Sprouts stores nationwide this year.

The benefits to consumers of both Ready, Set, Salmon! and Fishpeople’s new Wild Alaskan Salmon Jerky is that they are convenient and healthy, offering “fully-cooked wild salmon, serving up its naturally-occurring omega-3s at your fingertips,” Plasse said. 

“Fishpeople provides today’s time-starved consumer with sustainably-sourced, North-American-caught and processed, totally traceable seafood that is always wildly delicious,” he said.

When developing new products, the intent of Fishpeople’s founders, Duncan Berry and Kipp Baratoff, is to simplify the process of preparing fish for home cooks, so “more people can experience the benefits of seafood,” Berry, co-founder and vice president of innovation, said in a press release.

The company has been expanding after it received a USD 7 million (EUR 6.2 million) line of credit late last year from Stonegate Capital. It previously announced USD 12 million (EUR 10.7 million) in financing from the Advantage Capital Agribusiness Partners in June 2017 and the firm has additional financial backing backing from a number of other venture capital firms.

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