Portland, Maine, U.S.A.-based supplier Bristol Seafood has seen the popularity of its My Fish Dish range take off during the COVID-19 pandemic, as more consumers cook at home.
According to a recent report from the Bangor Daily News, Bristol saw its foodservice business shrink in the face of limited restaurant access and closures due to the pandemic. The situation served as a catalyst for the company to shift its focus toward its successful retail line, which was launched in the summer of 2019 with 18 different packaged seafood items.
Bristol has seen My Fish Dish sales increase dramatically as of late, serving to help balance the losses experienced in the company’s foodservice division, it told the Daily News. Bristol Seafood Vice President of Marketing Irene Moon explained that the rise in the number of home cooks during the pandemic has created a boon demographic for the company’s retail offerings.
“Seventy percent of seafood was eaten in restaurants before the coronavirus,” Moon told the newspaper. “People are experimenting at home now, but many aren’t comfortable cooking fish.”
The My Fish Dish range for retail features high-quality seafood along with seasonings, sauces, compound butters, and marinades “to give the home cook a convenient way to achieve restaurant results,” according to the company. The line also provides succinct cooking instructions, inviting novice seafood cooks to incorporate such proteins into their repertoire.
“There aren’t really recipes for fish passed on through generations by families like a favorite chicken recipe,” Moon told the BDN, explaining how the My Fish Dish range can serve as a springboard for seafood.
Bristol has pushed hard to grow its retail offerings through the pandemic, expanding My Fish Dish brand offerings with its Grab & Go offering, “a slack-n-sell item, with third-party validated shelf life of 10 days from thaw, all with zero preservatives,” Bristol said. Bristol has also introduced wild-caught cold-water shrimp to the My Fish Dish line, as well as new flavors such as Lemon & Pesto Butter, Sweet Chili, and Garlic & Herb.
Bristol’s foodservice business typically generates half of the company’s total sales, but dropped more than 80 percent at its worst during the pandemic and is now down 60 percent as restaurants slowly reopen, Moon said to the newspaper.
The company plans on expanding the My Fish Dish range in the late fall of 2020, Moon said, adding unfrozen, ready-to-go packages of fish without spices, so home cooks can experiment with their preferred seasonings.
The pandemic, as it has done with many other businesses, has dealt setbacks to Bristol Seafood – in May, the company, which employs 70 people, voluntarily paused production at its Portland Fish Pier processing facility after several employees tested positive for COVID-19. Bristol’s processing facility was sanitized and the ill employees have recovered and returned to work, Moon said.
“It’s a testament to the company that everyone who could come back and tested negative did come back,” she told the BDN, noting that Bristol has had coronavirus precautions in place since early in the pandemic.
Bristol Seafood, which was founded in 1992, was named as one of 12 finalists in the 2020 Seafood Excellence Awards competition for its My Fish Dish Blackened & Smoked Butter Scallops. The company’s My Fish Dish range was also featured in SeafoodSource’s latest “Top 25: Seafood Product Innovation” list.
Photo courtesy of Bristol Seafood
