It has been just under one month since Marianne LaCroix stepped into the role of interim director of the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative after the previous director, Matt Jacobson, stepped down.
It’s a role she’s not unfamiliar with, as she served as the interim director of the collaborative before Jacobson’s selection in 2014. The MLMC is devoted to marketing the state’s primary seafood product, which topped USD 484 million (EUR 426.5 million) in earnings for the state in 2018.
The strategy the collaborative uses to increase the state’s lobster sales is also something LaCroix has had plenty of time to learn, and one she still backs, LaCroix told SeafoodSource during Seafood Expo North America 2019.
“We’ve had a strategy in place for the last five years, and we plan to continue that strategy,” she said.
The MLMC’s strategy has been to target the end users and trend-setters within the culinary industry, which means getting consumers to eat more lobster, and getting high-profile chefs to use lobster more in their cooking. Chefs have been and will continue to be a key focus of the MLMC in getting more lobster in front of more people, LaCroix said.
“That’s still a focus for us, we know that the majority of people that eat seafood are eating it in restaurants, and we know that chefs are very influential,” LaCroix said. “We want to make sure those influencers know all about Maine lobster, and continue to do so.”
That includes bringing prominent chefs into Maine so they can use the product within miles of where it is being caught each day. During the upcoming “ChefsFeed Indie Week 2019” – run by ChefsFeed, a platform devoted to providing dining and drinking guides, in addition to collaboration between chefs – Portland, Maine will be one of eight cities participating in a dinner series with all-star chefs from across the country.
“They’ll bring in 16 chefs, from around the country, and pair them up with local chefs, and these chefs will put on three dinners,” LaCroix said.
Built in to that schedule is a free day where they get to explore, and the MLMC is planning on taking them out on a lobster boat to give them a better idea of what Maine’s fishery is all about.
“We’ve found that the connection between chefs and lobstermen is very powerful,” LaCroix said. “The chefs are very interested in meeting food producers, they want to know where their food is coming from.”
Education will also be a part of the MLMC’s efforts, according to LaCroix. That includes teaching both consumers and chefs about the seasonality of the fishery, how to ship lobster, and what the chain-of-custody of the typical lobster product looks like.
Value-added products, as well, will be a part of the organization’s educational efforts.
“Not everyone is going to be able to use a live lobster,” LaCroix said. “So there’s probably a lobster product out there for everybody, we just want to make sure people know what’s available.”
The MLMC is actively in the selection process for a new director. LaCroix said she’s thrown her hat into the ring, but who the more-permanent director will end up being is up to the organization’s board.
In the meantime, LaCroix plans to continue the mission of informing people about the state of Maine’s primary seafood product, which has been pulled from the waters for over a century.
