Pilchowo, Poland-based Nord Capital continues to grow its market share in its home market.
The owner of the Family Fish brand, the company’s products – including fish fingers, fish burgers, and ready-to-eat meals – are ubiquitous in Poland’s supermarkets.
Recently, the company has augmented its value-added offerings to include pasta with shrimp and other fish fillet and breaded products, according to Nord Capital Key Account Manager Justyna Jaroszewicz.
Jaroszewicz told SeafoodSource at the 2022 Seafood Expo Global in Barcelona, Spain, that while the company sells across Europe, its focus remains firmly on the domestic market in Poland.
“We feel like we know it better than anyone,” she said.
With that knowledge, Jaroszewicz said the company has perceived a recent shift in the market.
“The Polish market is very demanding – that we can observe for the last three years. Interest has increased in ready-meals. A lot of people have tried them and liked them, and now they want more, because people have no time and are always in a hurry these days. They want to spend more time in pleasure activities than cooking at home. Also we can see more interest in fish fingers, fillets, and breaded items,” she said.
Nord Capital was founded in 1996 and, in 2007, it built a production facility in Rekowo Górne, Poland. In 2010, it expanded the facility to include a breading line, skin-packing capabilities, and added cold-storage capacity. It has 100 employees – around 70 in production and 30 in its head office.
Nord Capital Buyer Joanna Piechowska told SeafoodSource current market trends – all-time high prices for many source products and limited availability – is making her job difficult.
“The general market situation is crazy right now. There’s so much global demand for seafood that it’s driving prices very high,” she said. “Because we maintain high standards for our products, it’s hard for us to find adequate supply. So far, we are finding that our suppliers still have the fish, but everyone is telling us a story about how their expenses are rising and so the price will keep going up.”
Polish seafood consumers are very price-conscious, Piechowska said, so Nord Capital is facing the difficult task of keeping prices down while maintaining standards such as having all its products be chemical-free fish and made with all-natural ingredients.
“We will have to replace some fish with cheaper fish,” she said. “We are now using minced meat for our fish fingers and burgers. It’s a solution in a difficult time.”
Nevertheless, Piechowska said Nord Capital is looking at the current surge in retail sales of seafood in Poland and across Europe that has accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity.
“We thought of making smaller production with prices like they are now, but the situation demands from us [that we] increase production so that we don’t miss out,” she said.
As a result, Piechowska said she was busy at Seafood Expo Global searching for potential new products.
“It’s a good time to find something new,” she said. “With Alaska pollock or cod getting hard to find, we now have to look for new solutions.”
Photo courtesy of Cliff White/SeafoodSource
