When Sweetbay Supermarket wanted to promote Alaska seafood a couple of summers ago, the Delhaize Group-owned chain in Tampa, Fla., did it in a big way. Instead of the typical sampling event, Sweetbay held a special “Seafaring Celebration,” featuring Andy Hillstrand, a crab boat captain on “The Deadliest Catch,” along with cooking demonstrations of Alaska king crab and other Alaska seafood.
Sweetbay shoppers were invited to learn about the many ways to prepare king crab from Hillstrand and celebrity chef Rick Tarantino from The Home Shopping Network. Tarantino and one of his companies, Demonstration Marketing Services (DMS) served a variety of king crab dishes including appetizers and hot and cold entrées. As part of the successful demos, DMS partnered with a local bread vendor, a mayonnaise provider, McCormick and Land O’Lakes, which shared the costs of the event. Tarantino developed around six different Alaska king crab recipes for shoppers to take home with them. “It was absolutely phenomenal,” he says.
Once shoppers heard about Hillstrand’s appearance and smelled the crab cooking, the store was overflowing.
“We didn’t anticipate that many people showing up to the store, so we ran out of samples at one point,” says Susan Zaso, operations manager for Cherry Hill, N.J.-based DMS.
Click here to read the full story from the May issue of SeaFood Business >
