Mike Bush is one of the founders of Endeavor Seafood, an importer founded in 2001 and based in Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.A.
SeafoodSource: Why did you and your partners found Endeavor? What does your job entail?
Bush: First of all, my business partners, George Souza and Todd Clark, and I all have a genuine, longtime interest in fish and the marine environment. So you could say this deep-seated interest drew us to the industry. Secondly, seafood is a great wholesome product. It’s good for you, and, whether it’s wild-caught or farm-raised, it is one of the most sustainable sources of food in the world. So we feel good about this industry and the products we produce. The industry also deals with such a broad range of issues that it keeps things interesting. There’s biology, meteorology, incredible product diversity, international sourcing, competing global markets, foreign exchange, geopolitics, regulatory issues and a lot of really interesting people. The industry requires an ever-changing balance of risk taking and prudence. There’s never a dull moment and you need to be on your game.
In terms of what we do, you could call Endeavor an importer of frozen seafood. However, what we really do is work with our customers to assess their product and operational needs and then align these needs with the appropriate resource side capabilities. Once the product has been finalized, we manage the supply chain as efficiently as possible. We all wear many hats at Endeavor; I personally handle most of the financial responsibilities as well as some purchasing and sales.
SeafoodSource: How did you come to work in the seafood industry?
Bush: As a kid, I always wanted to be a marine biologist, but I ended up with a finance degree and a job in the banking industry in Boston. After a few years in banking, I found that I still had the fish bug. I decided to combine my finance and banking experience with my interest in fish and looked into the master’s degree program in fisheries economics at the University of Rhode Island. Before starting grad school, I decided to take the winter off and hopped on a 70-foot sloop heading to the West Indies. Two-and-a-half years later, I finally got off the boat and made it back to school. After finishing grad school, I spent a year working as a seafood industry analyst with well-known fisheries economist Jim Anderson. This led to a shrimp purchasing role at Long John Silver’s (LJS) in the early ‘90s and then a similar role with Darden Restaurants/Red Lobster. Todd and I actually met in graduate school, and then George, Todd, and I all worked together at Long John Silver’s in the early through mid-1990s, so we know each other quite well. In 2001, the timing was right for the three of us and we founded Endeavor Seafood.
SeafoodSource: How did your experience in finance and supply chain management prepared you for your current role?
Bush: Finance and efficient supply chain management are critical to our business. My finance and commercial lending background not only help in managing our financial requirements, but are also very helpful in analyzing purchasing and program opportunities. Given the relatively low margins in our industry, you can’t afford to make many mistakes. You need to fully understand the true costs of putting a particular program together. What are the risks? Is there a plan B? The same with the supply chain; Because so much of the U.S. seafood supply is imported, it is critical to understand lead times and the various points in the supply chain that are vulnerable to delay. You need to have enough safety stock to mitigate the risk of supply chain uncertainty while also closely managing carrying costs. Sometimes carrying inventory for an extra few months can be the difference between a small profit and a loss. It is a delicate balance that is challenging to get right, particularly when there is uncertainty from both the demand and supply side.
SeafoodSource: Are you focused on any particular species? Has this changed since your company began?
Bush: Given our backgrounds and our strong network of suppliers and customers, our core products continue to be whitefish – cod, haddock, pollock – and shrimp. We are always open to new products and will occasionally add a new line, but whitefish and shrimp remain at our core.
SeafoodSource: What do you see as the greatest challenge facing seafood importers these days and how are you addressing it?
Bush: Over the past 25 years or so, we’ve seen so many challenges and the industry has always risen to the occasion. Challenges surrounding food safety, fisheries management and sustainability, disease management and cost containment in aquaculture, and labor issues have all led to improvements in how our industry operates. Trade issues and tariffs have been around ever since this country was founded and they remain a big challenge today. I would say the uncertainty regarding our foreign trade policy is one of our biggest current challenges. Whether it is trade actions in a general sense (for example, the China tariff situation or potentially new tariffs against Europe) or more special interest-driven duties (such as shrimp or catfish), importers and their supply chain partners need to navigate these obstacles to help our customers meet the seafood needs of U.S. consumers. The unpredictability makes longer range planning very difficult.
In terms of addressing this challenge, we have a very active role in the National Fisheries Institute, our industry trade association. We also maintain good relationships with our Rhode Island congressional leaders, and the NFI helps coordinate these efforts nationwide. We also work closely with our customers to help ensure our lawmakers hear from the full range of businesses impacted by changing trade policies.
SeafoodSource: What are you doing to make your business better in 2019 and 2020?
Bush: We are always looking at new opportunities: New customers, new product lines, new efficiencies. In the face of ongoing trade policy concerns, [we're looking at] how can we diversify our sourcing to protect our customers who rely on us for continuity of supply and pricing stability. However, a big part of the business is continuous improvement in all the little things. How can we improve our existing products? How about packaging improvements? Are there ways to streamline the supply chain? We’ve always had very good supplier [and] partners and our quality controls and traceability are very good. However, SIMP requirements have pushed us to document our traceability even more thoroughly. Anything we can do to help make our customers' as well as our suppliers’ businesses better results in our business becoming better.
SeafoodSource: Where is the most interesting place your job has taken you?
Bush: There are so many interesting places, it’s hard to say. I was very fortunate to have worked for both LJS and Darden. Seafood was so strategically important to both companies that they valued having a deep understanding of the seafood resources they relied upon and the suppliers who provided these resources. Because of this philosophy, my colleagues and I all had the opportunity to travel quite a bit. So I’m lucky to have had the opportunity to visit most of the major shrimp-producing regions of the world. Recently I was in Chubut Province, the northernmost province of the Patagonia region of Argentina. This was interesting because the climate in this part of Patagonia is very arid and the terrain is pretty desolate. It’s like a rolling desert. However, the coastal waters have this tremendous biodiversity. For example, in Puerto Madryn, it’s quite common to see large numbers of southern right whales swimming just yards off the beach. It’s an interesting contrast between land and sea.
SeafoodSource: When you get together with others in the industry, what is the biggest topic of discussion?
Bush: Recently, the tariffs on Chinese imports have been a big topic of conversation. We have a lot of uncertainty in our industry already in terms of landings, fishing quotas (both current and future) and competing global markets. Given the size of the Chinese seafood processing sector, the length of the seafood supply chain and the uncertainty regarding the tariffs going forward, it is a real challenge to project how this will impact the global flow of raw material. In terms of speaking with customers, it’s all about understanding their needs and keeping them well-informed about what is going on from a resource and regulatory standpoint so we can help each other navigate what can be a lengthy and complex supply chain.
Photo courtesy of Mike Bush
