Miami, Florida, U.S.A.-based St. James Smokehouse debuted multiple new products at the 2025 Seafood Expo North America (SENA) – which ran from 16 to 18 March – including a cold smoked steelhead trout and a future salmon product made using trimmings from its smoked royal fillet.
The company’s new Saint Pure Steelhead Trout features new packaging and trout sourced from Mar Andino, a company that farms its fish in the South American mountain range of the Andes.
“They are great partners; it’s such an amazing story. We met them, coincidentally, at a food show maybe two years ago. They wanted to partner with us, and of course their product is amazing, so we buy the raw material from them,” St. James Smokehouse CEO Alexandra Hill told SeafoodSource.
They developed the new smoked steelhead product via the partnership, using wood sourced near St. James’ headquarters in Miami. The new product’s packaging, featuring pink and light blue colors, are also intended to pay tribute to its roots in the city.
“The color scheme came from the Miami theme, and the pink worked well with the steelhead trout,” Hill said.
Hill said for now, the company is only selling the steelhead trout at retail, as the fillets are on the smaller side, which works better in a retail setting. Currently, the product is featured most prominently in Eataly.
“They’re like a perfect customer for us – the high-end retail market that we’re trying to aim toward,” Hill said.
In addition to the new steelhead project, Hill said St. James was also showing off a brand new salmon product that it secured the packaging for just a week before SENA.
The new product uses trimmings from its royal fillet, put into a smaller packaging.
“When we produce the royal fillet, there’s pieces of the rest of the fish that we can’t use. So, we slice it and put it into these smaller packs,” Hill said. “They are aiming more at the ready-to-eat market.”
The new product – which is currently named mini bites but hasn’t been fully branded yet – is intended for people [who want] grab-and-go protein ready to be put on salads or pasta or eaten on its own.
The product comes in an 8-ounce pack, with 48 grams of protein per pack.
“Prior to the new product, the company was mainly selling it to wholesale, at pretty much [the cost it took to produce it], because it was a waste item,” Hill said. “Now, we’ve turned it into a great little retail product that hopefully is going to keep the cost down for the shopper.”
