Like so many companies in the seafood industry, Canada-based Tradex Foods Inc. had its business model put to the test roughly a year ago when the pandemic slashed foodservice industry sales by around 70 percent.
Tradex President and CEO Ron Reierson founded the company in 1991, and has since built it into a company that moves around 40 million pounds of frozen seafood annually. Reierson told SeafoodSource that a large part of that business has traditionally been importing seafood for the foodservice market in the U.S.
“Typically we’re an importer from Asia. Probably 40 or 50 percent of our business is trading, or was, and the balance of it is importing from Vietnam and China, mostly servicing our food service contracts in the United States, which is our biggest market,” Reierson said.
But when the pandemic hit, Reierson said a good chunk of his old business model went straight out the window. It became quickly apparent that Tradex would have to diversify on the fly, and that would involve more activity in the retail sector. The result was twofold – Reierson saw that the raw material supply for processors who provided seafood for retail was growing, so he put more energy into that, and he also expanded Tradex’s retail brand SINBAD with a new line.
“It only took us about eight months. We created a new business model quite rapidly which included retail and a lot more raw material in the supply chain for the people who process for the retailers,” Reierson said.
The idea for the new SINBAD line – an all-American line labeled SINBAD Platinum ULTRA –had been percolating for a few years, according to Reierson, and the pandemic was the final catalyst.
“We saw an avenue for ourselves to fit into a niche and come up with our own brand, which is 100 percent sustainable, 100 percent caught in America, 100 percent processed in America, and we only sell in America,” Reierson said.
Reierson said he had long been attracted to the idea of an all-American line, and he leveraged contacts from his three decades of work in Alaska to make it a reality. Buying directly from Alaska and processing and packaging in America means Tradex can reduce the number of secondary sources that drive up prices for the retailer, allowing them to turn out a premium, wild-caught product at a reasonable price.
“We cut out some of those steps by being the person who was buying it from the boat, processing it, and distributing it direct to the retailer,” Reierson said.
For now, the SINBAD Platinum ULTRA line includes sockeye, cod, pollock, and sole from Alaska waters – as well as Atlantic salmon and sole – all of which come in 14-ounce trays either plain or with a choice of flavored butter pucks. The line will grow quickly, according to Reierson.
“We’ve set up quite an aggressive agenda for new products once we have established distribution networks,” Reierson said.
To develop the new line, Tradex worked with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute and the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association.
Tradex is certified by the Marine Stewardship Council and is an Ocean Wise Recommended Partner, having achieved a 100 percent sustainability rating score from Ocean Wise for 2020.
