When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in early 2020 and restaurants began to close, Biloxi Freezing and Processing, a Gulf of Mexico shrimp wholesaler and processor operating out of Biloxi, Mississippi, U.S.A., was suddenly stuck with a warehouse full of shrimp and no one to sell it to.
Prior to the pandemic, Biloxi Freezing and Processing ran one of the largest wholesaling operations of Gulf shrimp, supplying private-label and branded products to major national and regional retailers and restaurant chains.
But facing a crisis, the company’s president, Mark Mavar, and vice president, Jonathan McLendon, knew they needed to get creative if they were going to move their product. Adding to the pressure, the Gulf of Mexico shrimp season was set to start in May 2020, and they would need to make space for the upcoming harvest.
Their solution was to post on Facebook.
“Just bring a cooler and pull up to the Biloxi warehouse; we’ll fill it up and charge by the pound,” their post read.
Word of mouth spread quickly, and soon, cars loaded with ice chests formed lines that wrapped around nearby Biloxi streets.
“To say we were surprised is an understatement,” McLendon said in a press release. “One guy flew in on a private plane from Tennessee and filled five large ice chests. He flew back out with a plane full of shrimp.”
As word spread about the “restaurant-quality” shrimp with close to wholesale pricing, Mavar and McLendon recognized they could transform this part of their business into an e-commerce operation.
“We figured it was now or never,” Mavar said. “We sat down with our marketing firm and told them if we were going to do this, we wanted to go big [and] be widely known – like the Omaha Steaks of shrimp.”
Three years later, the duo is still riding the wave of success that their direct-to-consumer e-commerce operation has garnered.
Shortly after setting up their e-commerce brand, Biloxi Shrimp Co., Mavar and McLendon were inundated with operational issues to solve.
“There was a significant investment coming in front of that,” McLendon told SeafoodSource. “We spent a lot of time initially growing the subscriber database and the email database, and then we had to find suitable packaging and find out how you ship shrimp in the warm summer months [so] they still arrive frozen.”
Customer service also “requires a lot of attention,” McLendon said.
“It’s tough to get the whole package, but we have worked on improving our process,” he said.
Since Biloxi Shrimp Co.’s inception, its biggest challenges have been a packaging shortage, an increase in packaging costs, and a hike in shipping costs, McLendon said. The company uses multiple shipping services and shipping points to alleviate these problems, including a third-party fulfillment company in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A.
Biloxi Shrimp Co.’s sales have risen around 40 percent each year it has remained in business. Despite high inflation over the past year and global economic headwinds, McLendon said the business has seen continually strong demand.
The company offers frequent incentives to spur sales, such as free overnight shipping when a customer orders at least 10 pounds of frozen shrimp, and USD 25 (EUR 23) off 10 pounds of any size shrimp.
“We have always done our best to keep costs down and to regulate prices,” McLendon said. “If the price of shrimp rises or falls, we handle that through promotions rather than price increases. We want people in America to be able to afford American shrimp, so we really try to keep prices in line.”
Each order also comes with a gold-sealed welcome envelope including a letter from McLendon and Mavar, a thank-you card, a recipe card, and a postcard with a photo of an early 1900s Biloxi lugger sailing vessel from the Mavar family collection.
“There are wonderful stories centered around our shrimp; that’s why we are so intent on keeping this service around in light of all the challenges we face,” McLendon said. “Customers would say that they ordered shrimp because they are asking someone to marry them, or they moved away from the [Gulf] Coast and are having a shrimp boil.”
Even though Biloxi Freezing and Processing’s wholesale business continues to generate the majority of its profits, McLendon said the company is committed to keeping its e-commerce arm going.
“We'll be here shipping Gulf shrimp as long as U.S. consumers continue to appreciate the flavor and quality of wild-caught Gulf shrimp," Mavar said. "We don’t see that changing any time soon.”
Photo courtesy of Biloxi Freezing & Processing/M&M Shrimp
