Oyster craze

Whether and wherever they’re called oysters or “ersters,” sales of the briny bivalves are booming in North America. Happy suppliers say demand is outstripping supply and that price escalation has yet to stall diner desire for the homely mollusks. “Buck a shuck” happy hour prices can be found in cities near supply sources, though some oyster bars are charging USD 2.50 (EUR 1.85) to USD 5 (EUR 3.69) in San Francisco.

Part of the boom can be credited to restaurant sales. New menu research from Technomic of 5,000 independents and 2,000 chains shows a 7.5 percent increase of oyster items year over year between Q1 2013 and Q1 2014. The Chicago-based research firm said oyster bars are popping up all over the United States.

“A lot of oysters on the half shell are being showcased in bars,” said Darren Tristano, executive VP at Technomic. An oyster bar “has become a great way to increase sales pretty inexpensively. Operators can make some decent money by opening it just a few days a week.”

Bob Rheault, executive director at the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association in Toms River, N.J., said even in his humble hometown of Port Edith, R.I., there are three new shellfish-centered restaurants. He estimates farmed oyster production has doubled in the last five years and says new farms are opening up regularly on the Eastern Seaboard. No farmer he’s spoken with recently is meeting customer demand.

“On the East Coast, I have 400 niche marketing name-brand oysters, mostly mom and pops, and these guys are just kicking ass,” said Rheault. “They know that if you run out of product in July, you’re leaving money on the table because you should have raised your prices.”

Pressures are similarly high on West Coast oyster suppliers, according to Margaret Barrette, executive director of the Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association in Olympia, Wash. She says new oysters bars are turning up all over major restaurant cities like Portland, Ore., and chefs want to menu as many as six types of oysters.

Click here to read the full story that ran in the June issue of SeaFood Business >