What could be more sexy than seafood? Recognizing that many Americans prepared meals for their loved ones at home this weekend, many USA supermarkets and fish markets heavily promoted seafood meal options, both for Valentine’s Day and the upcoming Mardi Gras celebration.
For example, at Monahan’s Seafood Market in Ann Arbor, Mich., the market offered its Salmon Papillote with Bernie’s Lobster Love Sauce throughout the weekend. The salmon and creamy lobster sauce comes in a parchment paper packet — with or without sides — that its shoppers can easily bake for 15 minutes. “A lot of guys make dinners for their wives, but they don’t want to spend a lot of time cooking. That’s why we do the papillote dinners,” Owner Mike Monahan told SeafoodSource.
Monahan also recognized that it is a great time to promote “fancier” fishes and oysters. “Oysters are always romantic. We are doing lots of oysters, from Puget Sound and Buzzards Bay,” Monahan said. Its shoppers can dine in on oysters at Monahan’s café or they can take them home, shucked, for USD 2.25 (EUR 1.98) to 2.95 (EUR 2.59) each.
Shoppers are also looking for other high-end fish to prepare at home, so Monahan stocked up on wild striped bass, black cod, whole red snapper, hamachi and Yellowfin tuna. “A lot of people do sushi for the holiday, so we sell a lot of sashimi-grade salmon and tuna,” Monahan said. Caviar and salmon roe are also very popular with the store’s shoppers.
Meanwhile, Lakeland, Fla.-based Publix Super Markets took a more traditional route with its Valentine’s week promotions, featuring “surf and turf” specials on steak and lobster tails for USD 4.99 (EUR 4.38) each for 3 ounces. To help out those preparing meals at home, Publix’s weekly circular included a recipe for “Lobster Surf and Turf with Lemon Butter and Bearnaise.” Through 19 February, the grocery chain is also promoting crab cakes, 6-count shrimp cocktail cups and Lobster Mac-n-Cheese in its 1,097 stores.
“We want to provide our customers with the high quality ingredients to prepare the meals together or for someone special in the comfort of their own homes without the wait or hustle and bustle of the holiday,” Maria Brous, spokesperson for Publix, told SeafoodSource.
However, Publix’s seafood promotions don’t just focus on Valentine’s Day. With the start of Mardi Gras on 17 February, the supermarket is featuring whole crawfish for USD 3.99 (EUR 3.50) a pound, shrimp for USD 7.99 (EUR 7.01) per pound for 41/50 count, Bourbon Marinated Salmon Fillets for USD 5.99 (EUR 5.26) a pound and catfish fillets for USD 6.99 (EUR 6.13) a pound.
