Pacific Seafood
With foodservice operations shuttered practically overnight as of late-March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Clackamas, Oregon, U.S.A.-based Pacific Seafood had to alter its approach to meet the channel’s new needs.
“After in-person dining shuttered almost overnight, we found products designed for take-out boxes and meal kits were in demand by our foodservice customers as they pivoted their offerings,” the company recently told SeafoodSource.
The return of dining in 2021 has meant another shift for the company, as focus falls on “products that reduce food waste like pre-portioned fish,” it said. Interest in profitable meal solutions, such as Pacific’s Tidal Tots, “an easy-to-prepare appetizer,” has also been picking up steam.
Moreover, Pacific said “many operators are still seeing success with meal-kits and take-out options for consumers who still hesitate to return to indoor dining.”
Regarding retail, demand for value-added products, ready-to-eat offerings, and elevated meal solutions has been building, according to the supplier.
“On the retail side, consumers were hungry for new ready-to-cook/eat products and looking for more premium experiences in the absence of restaurant dining. In response, we expanded our value-added production capabilities and launched new, more approachable products like our Honey Miso Salmon, Coconut Curry Salmon, Shrimp Skewers, and our Chef’s Signature Crab Cakes that are pre-portioned and ready to pop in the oven,” it said.
Traci Chidester, the assistant general manager for Pacific Seafood Clackamas – one of Pacific Seafood Group’s seven distribution centers – said in January 2021 that “a trend in recent years toward ready-to-eat [and] ready-to-cook products that make seafood more approachable and easy to prepare at home” was accelerated by COVID. The faster format migration helped inform the creation of Pacific’s aforementioned value-added tray pack retail line.
In May 2021, Pacific Seafood announced that it was working on launching unique value-added seafood items with partners such as Amazon and Pac-12 university football and basketball. The company is joining forces with the e-commerce giant to create around 20 value-added seafood items quarterly for Amazon Go stores.
“We are doing some of that private label for them as well as branded Pacific Seafood items,” Pacific Vice President of Marketing and Development Bill Hueffner told SeafoodSource in May regarding the Amazon arrangement. Pacific’s status as a longtime supplier to Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market may have played a part in the firm landing the lucrative contract, Hueffner speculated.
“Their company is learning from Whole Foods and others about the retail grocery business, and coming up with different types of models for consumers. It is interesting to be in on cutting-edge conversations with them and create products with them,” Heuffner said.
Meanwhile, as part of its Pac-12 Conference partnership, Pacific is helping to develop seafood sausages and breakfast sausages for promotion this fall.
“We are looking to come out with a ‘tailgate-ready series’ around the football season, designed for grilling outdoors and tailgating, with burgers, sausages, and other products. This will be great for some of those promotions with our retail partners,” Heuffner said in May.
In this SeafoodSource Q&A, Pacific shares its on-trend methodology when it comes to the formation of products like the forthcoming seafood sausages, as well as the key features that set its offering apart in the market.
Photo courtesy of Pacific Seafood
