Business at up-and-coming U.S. seafood distributor Rastelli Foods Group is booming.
With some big changes made recently at the company, including the adoption of a multi-pronged growth strategy aimed at improving sales both at brick-and-mortar outlets and online, Rastelli is scoring big wins across the board.
The food processor and distributor, founded in 1976, sells an expansive array of meats along with fresh and frozen seafood products, such as parmesan-encrusted cod, Faroe Islands salmon fillets, salmon burgers, along with the Absolutely Lobster and Wicked Tuna lines. It also supplies fresh seafood, including haddock and cod.
In an interview with SeafoodSource, Rastelli Foods Group President Ray Rastelli said his company had scored a broad variety of big contracts recently, including deals with Costco and Giant Eagle, as well as meal-kit makers Hello Fresh and Blue Apron. The company also saw soaring online sales thanks to a partnership with QVC.
In addition, last year, the New Jersey-based company launched several new products, opened lucrative new distribution channels and expanded its headquarters to accommodate all of its seafood production, Rastelli said.
Its biggest move was a physical one: it expanded its headquarters in Swedesboro, New Jersey from a 50,000-square-foot facility into a 100,000-square-foot space able to warehouse all of its products, including those requiring refrigeration and freezing. As a result of the expansion, the company added 50 to 60 employees to handle meat and seafood, but the added cost was more well worth the benefits gained by the move, Rastelli said.
“When we doubled the size [and moved to the corporate headquarters], it really gave the organization much more synergy,” Rastelli said. “There is more interest in seafood from our customers and we were able to increase our efficiency so much when we brought seafood under the same roof – and we can control the quality more.”
The smoother flow of its products through its distribution channels has allowed the company to achieve big growth in both its foodservice and retail distribution, allowing it to significantly expand its seafood sales via American supermarket chains and restaurants, Rastelli said.
As a result of the supplier’s new distribution channels, fresh and frozen seafood now makes up around 25 percent of the company’s overall business.
A budding relationship with QVC, the home shopping network that also has a large online sales presence, has been another recent win for the company, he said. E-commerce, which was only around two percent of the company’s business a few years ago is now 20 percent “and growing,” Rastelli said.
“Our biggest area of growth is the e-commerce side,” he said, noting that its seafood products are sold on its own web site as well as major retailers’ sites, such as Jet.com, BJs.com and Costco.com.
“The e-commerce platform is growing because that customer is starved for knowledge. They can read about a product and understand it,” Rastelli said.
Rastelli also has “major brand exposure” on QVC, Rastelli said. He and Brittany Rastelli, director of culinary for Rastelli Market Fresh, serve as the on-air personalities to sell both meat and seafood products, including the Egg Harbor, Wicked Tuna and Absolutely Lobster brands.
“Our brand has been growing dramatically through the help of QVC,” Rastelli said.
After moving its storage in-house, Rastelli also expanded distribution of frozen packaged seafood lines to retailers such as Costco and Giant Eagle and supplies meat and seafood to the burgeoning meal-kit business, including Hello Fresh and Blue Apron.
“We also do private label for one large retailer and are pursuing others for sustainable seafood items,” Rastelli said.
Selling fresh and frozen seafood to foodservice accounts through its own channels and through distributors is also a growing business.
“We are adding distributors on a monthly basis, and we are nationwide with US Foods,” Rastelli said.
Whether selling to a restaurant chef or home cook, Rastelli Foods has realized a growing demand for local and sustainable seafood, such as its Faroe Islands salmon.
“It is important for them [customers] to know the source and where it comes from,” Rastelli said. “That’s what creates trust.”
