SeafoodSource talks with the VP of Marketing at Baltimore-based Phillips Foods, Honey Konicoff, about the launch of four new seafood products that will debut at the 2010 International Boston Seafood Show: SeaWings Krab Patty & Krab Patty Minis, Lobster Cakes, Seafood Cake Sliders and Bali Barramundi.
Grandin: What was the thinking behind creating these new products?
Konicoff: We created the Krab Patty and Krab Patty Mini to fill an opportunity in the marketplace for lower cost-high value seafood products. Often, there are not a lot of choices for seafood on menus for fast food/non-commercial/casual with a low price point. We felt that with our background, we could make an outstanding seafood cake to fill this niche.
Our Lobster Cakes are a line extension for our seafood cake line, and our new Seafood Cake Sliders are an innovation that takes the burger slider to a new place. We all have seen the explosion of sliders made with meat, but seafood is a new entry into the mini handheld arena. As the trend for sliders become more popular, we see operators looking for differentiation. We offer four varieties in this line: Salmon Sliders, Chef’s Choice Crab Cake Sliders, Crab and Shrimp Sliders and Lobster Sliders.
With our new Bali Barramundi, we know sustainability and fish farming is the future for seafood. This is our first product that comes from a Phillips-owned sustainable fish farm operation off the northwest coast of the island of Bali. We are operating and have started selling our first production from the farm. It is sustainably grown and of high quality, just like the other proteins we produce.
What markets are you targeting?
Other than the Krab Patty that was developed for the QSR/fast casual/non-commercial/casual market, the rest of the products fall in line with our overall Phillips brand segmentation. We develop value-added products that are geared to independent and mid-scale restaurants. The fish and crabmeat is priced for the mid to higher end retail market.
How/where do you source your seafood and is it certified as sustainable?
Phillips has been instrumental in the process of moving crabmeat toward sustainability. We actively worked to organize processor groups in Indonesia, the Philippines and in the United States [President and CEO] Steve Phillips has been working with government leaders, NGOs and the seafood industry to move the sustainability of the blue-swimming crab forward. This is a process and the groundwork is being laid now to have a sustainable industry in the future. Our new barramundi also comes from a sustainable farm that we manage and operate in Bali, Indonesia.
What are the goals for the launch of these new products in Boston and for after the show?
Exposure and interest is our goal at Boston on two levels — end users and distributors. Follow-up will be booking sales.
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