Chris Brown is category manager for East Coast Seafood, based in Topsfield, Massachusetts, and is the former general manager at Garbo Lobster, a subsidiary of East Coast. He is also a member of the 2018 class of the National Fisheries Institute’s Future Leaders Program.
SeafoodSource: What was has been your path through the seafood industry to your current job?
Brown: I grew up in seafood as the son of a commercial fisherman, fishing out of Point Judith, Rhode Island. I worked as a deckhand during the summers and school holidays, picking fish, shoveling ice, even did some lumping. My family and I started a small seafood company during grad school, selling traceable seafood to local restaurants and wholesalers to help pay some bills. Once school was complete, we decided to halt operations, decommission the company and go about our own careers. I was fortunate enough to land an opportunity with Sea Fresh USA, and have been working my way up since.
SeafoodSource: When you get together with others in the seafood industry, what is the main topic under discussion these days?
Brown: I am very curious about others operations, motivations, and experience within seafood. We talk about current challenges, market news, and if there are any opportunities to work together. If it is a new connection, I am always curious on how someone enters into the industry. I believe that fresh eyes and unique experiences are a great way to bring innovation to seafood.
SeafoodSource: What are the most challenging aspects of being in the lobster industry?
Brown: Live lobster is incredibly challenging. I would argue that it is one of the most challenging environments to work in, in all of seafood. Simply because it is a 24/7 operation; it doesn’t take weekends or holidays off. In fact, that is when we are most busy. Because of that finding any sort of balance in your life is incredibly difficult.
SeafoodSource: Your LinkedIn bio describes you as someone "viewing seafood in a different light." What do you mean by that?
Brown: Far too often the supply chain is filled with games. Whether it’s mislabeling product, short weight, cutting bills, racing to the bottom on price, I just feel that the future of seafood involves much more transparency, honesty, and value for all. Through collaborative efforts, we can achieve better utilization of the resource as a whole, allowing for a more sustainable product at prices that the general population can afford, ultimately increasing the per capita use of seafood on a yearly basis.
SeafoodSource: What key changes do you believe your generation will make to help shape the seafood industry?
Brown: The biggest key is an open mind. Far too often I hear, “This is how we always did it,” so conversations are spent convincing rather than innovating or optimizing. I enjoy working with like-minded people who are willing to look outside the box and come up with new ideas to make an existing process, relationship or product better.
SeafoodSource: When you aren't working, what do you enjoy doing?
Brown: When I am not working, I enjoy spending time with my wife and son, working out, golfing or simply relaxing. Seafood can be such a chaotic industry that I thoroughly enjoy my downtime.
SeafoodSource: Where is the most interesting place your job has taken you?
Brown: That is a tough question. I have been blessed in my experiences so far being able to trip the bag of freshly-caught fish and work my way through the pile, to the corporate offices of some of the major hotel chains in the world, to lobbying on [Capitol] Hill down in Washington D.C. Every year I find myself experiencing something new, so I look forward to the next interesting experience.
Photo courtesy of Chris Brown/East Coast Seafood
