Phillips Foods
Frozen food aisles have seen an influx in traffic in 2020 and 2021, a trend that hasn’t been ignored by Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.-based seafood supplier Phillips Foods.
“Retail consumers have clearly been flocking to the frozen food aisles during 2020 and 2021, and we haven’t seen it slow down yet,” the company recently told SeafoodSource.
Home-dining during the COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged consumers to be bolder in their meal selections and preparations, a newfound courage that the seafood industry is benefitting from – Phillips added.
“While they’ve been dining more at home, consumers have branched out and added more seafood to their tables, to help give a little variety to their weekly menu planning,” the firm said. “Our seafood appetizers have been performing really strongly, as our customers have been using them for simple work-at-home snacks, quick in-office lunches, and grazing dinners for the family.”
In October 2020, Phillips Vice President of Retail Sales and Marketing John Baxter noted that the company experienced a 65 percent surge in retail sales of its appetizers for the 52 weeks ending on 27 June, 2020. Its crab cake sales also increased, climbing 23 percent during the same time period, Baxter said, as did its crabmeat sales, which spiked 30 percent, and soup sales, jumping 15 percent.
“Our appetizers have exploded. People are eating at home more and are looking for something quick and easy to throw in toaster oven for lunch,” Baxter told SeafoodSource last year.
Thirteen new products across Phillips’ retail brands were launched in the timeframe spanning the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021. Among them was a new line of frozen Sea Burgers, comprised of a Tuna Burger – an “on-trend alternative to traditional beef burgers, made with responsibly sourced, 100 percent ground yellowfin tuna and combined with select seasonings to create a ‘just off the grill’ flavor,” according to Phillips – and a Thai-Style Seafood Burger made with ground shrimp, squid, octopus, and pollock, and “accented by authentic Thai seasonings including ginger, coriander, and garlic.”
Several frozen soup products from Phillips were also on the docket to be introduced in Q1 2021, including: Seafood Cioppino with shrimp, clams, octopus, squid, and crab; Red Curry Seafood Soup with shrimp, clams, octopus, squid, and crab; and Manhattan Clam Chowder, featuring sea clams, russet potatoes, and other ingredients.
The company is working on developing single-serve meal solutions at retail, as well as expanding its soup line and developing new flatbreads moving forward, it said.
As foodservice operators grapple with labor issues on the footpath to recovery, the sector has been inquiring after value-added items from suppliers like Phillips, the company noted.
“On the foodservice side, demand for value-added products has gone sky-high as operators look for prep-free products while they’re struggling with labor shortages. Our line of crab cakes and our seafood soups and appetizers are great solutions to this problem,” Phillips said.
Phillips is particularly enthused about its new line of foodservice seafood dips set to come in a variety of flavors and application possibilities.
“Operators can serve them as is, or they can be used to create unique entrées by using them as a flatbread topping, stuffing for chicken or fish, topping for a burger or nachos, or filling for wonton cups and mushrooms,” the firm said.
The supplier shared more about its latest foodservice and retail offerings, as well as its plans for next year, in this SeafoodSource Q&A.
Photo courtesy of Phillips Foods
