Distributor Seattle Fish Co. in Denver, Colo., is expanding its warehouse space to meet significantly increased demand for fresh seafood.
After three years of double-digit sales growth, Seattle Fish expects its sales to grow 23 percent in 2014.
“We see a lot of restaurants using seafood where they haven’t before and Kroger has been a great partner, continuing to promote seafood inside their stores and educate their employees on how to interact with guests,” Seattle Fish COO Derek Figueroa told SeafoodSource. The distributor’s business is split fairly evenly between retailers and foodservice, including hotels.
When the distributor built its warehouse in 1982, it was primarily devoted to freezer space. Now, 87 percent of its business is fresh. Its 12,000 square-foot freezer space will be renovated and expanded to process fresh fish.
“It doubles the amount of fresh production capacity that we have,” Figueroa said of the expansion that is expected to be completed by the end of June. Packing tables will be increased from six to 10. “It will dramatically increase the amount of product we can custom-fabricate. For example, we are cutting 4,000 pounds of Copper River salmon a day in the thick of the season,” Figueroa said. Flow and efficiency will also be improved throughout the warehouse.
Meanwhile, Seattle Fish is growing its specialty, traceable wild seafood selection via its new partnership with Open Ocean Trading, which connects distributors directly with day boat fishermen. “Since we are in a landlocked state, we want to make sure we have some credibility with our customers. We want to make sure we continue to add value through data and transparency … and making sure we are as close to the producers as possible,” Figueroa said.
To that end, Open Ocean is connecting Seattle Fish with supply from fishermen in the Sector 10 fishing area in New England. The pricing on Yellowtail Flounder, hake, mackerel, and other seafood that the distributor purchases through Open Ocean is stable.
“They offer these forward contracts with fishermen. They have done a lot of work on commodity maps, historical pricing, and supply and demand. It allows them to reach out to fishermen and offer them a price for their catch for the season,” Figueroa said.
