When David Tallichet founded Specialty Restaurants Corp. (SRC) in 1958, the World War II veteran purchased seafood for his restaurant group much like any other restaurateur at the time — by engaging in bidding wars to get the best price. “There was a lot of pressure back then, and if you weren’t bidding your product out, you probably weren’t getting the best price,” reflects his son, John Tallichet, who became president of the 22-restaurant company in 2002.
Those days are gone, and seafood procurement for the Anaheim, Calif.-based group, which has restaurants in six states including Brady’s Landing in Houston, Templeton Landing in Buffalo, N.Y., Rusty Pelican in Miami and Tampa, Fla., and Guaymas Restaurant in Tiburon, Calif., began changing in 1998.
“Today we rely on our relationship with Santa Monica Seafood and other vendors in each of our markets who understand our specs and the quality we’re looking for,” Tallichet says. “We work together in a partnership and they educate us constantly.”
The reason for the transition to a relationship-based seafood procurement strategy has to do more with knowledge gained from a trusted source, rather than with price, says Andrea Delao, VP of purchasing.
“Our seafood vendors are a tremendous resource for us in terms of finding out which items are sustainable, which are local and what’s in season. They’re out there looking and sourcing it for us, rather than bringing in a haul and giving us whatever they happen to catch that day,” says Delao.
Click here to read the full story, which ran in the March issue of SeaFood Business magazine >
