Stephen Oswald is the chief executive officer of Bidfresh Ltd., based in London, England. Bidfresh supplies fresh fish, produce, meat, and dairy products to chefs throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. In 2017, he received his master of studies in Sustainability Leadership from the University of Cambridge as part of the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.
SeafoodSource: How significant is Bidfresh's seafood business, Direct Seafoods, to seafood is to your overall business?
Oswald: In the past five years, Bidfresh has grown from GBP 80 million (USD 113 million, EUR 91.3 million) to GBP 280 million (USD 395 million, EUR 319.4 million) in turnover. During this time, the seafood business doubled and now accounts for just over half of the business. It has been exciting times! As a business, the seafood trade teaches us a lot about sustainability within the supply chain and how to manage the expectations of customers when it comes to sourcing products. We are beginning to transfer these learnings across to our produce and meat businesses, as many of the issues stretch across product boundaries.
SeafoodSource: What motivated you to get your master's degree in sustainability leadership?
Oswald: I was new to the position of CEO and felt uncomfortable when discussions shifted to sustainability. The course I chose gave me the background to be able to engage in sustainability discussions and the tools needed to drive sustainability forward in my organization. The guys at Cambridge continue to support me and ensure that I have access to information to keep abreast of the new developments in the sustainability field.
SeafoodSource: Your dissertation was on wild halibut. Why did you choose that topic and what were your key findings?
Oswald: At the outset, I wanted to understand why there continued to be a demand for wild halibut when it had been declared endangered in the 1990s. The more I delved into the drivers of peoples’ food choices, the more complex and opaque the reasons became. I narrowed the dissertation to food choice and, in particular, looked at choice editing and choice architecture as mechanisms for influencing food choice.
I concluded that to eliminate the consumption of wild halibut, it had to be removed from the supply chain. This can be achieved through a ban, which has jurisdiction issues and can be ineffective on a global stage. It can be achieved by the supply chain refusing to supply wild halibut – choice editing, which requires consensus across the supply chain and can be difficult to achieve. Or through the adoption of choice architecture techniques, which is slower but ultimately more effective. What I did learn was how little I knew and how much I still have to learn.
SeafoodSource: How will this knowledge about wild halibut and your master’s degree impact your business?
Oswald: We have started to adopt both choice-editing and choice architecture in our sourcing and sales decision-making. This will lead to a more coordinated and sustainable approach to our supply chain.
SeafoodSource: You've appointed a sustainability director for your produce business. Do you have one for seafood as well?
Oswald: We have had a seafood director of sustainability in seafood for many years – Laky Zervudachi.
SeafoodSource: How optimistic are you about sustainability efforts within the seafood industry currently? What areas would you like the industry to focus on now and into the future?
Oswald: I think the big looming issue will be clarity. Consumers need to be able to rely on the supply chain to deliver sustainable seafood. There are two techniques being used to ensure this, certification (such as Marine Stewardship Council certification) and lists (such as the one put together by the Marine Conservation Society).
The certification route examines not just the biomass of a fishery, but also the management of that fishery. The black list draws together all the available information and produces a recommendation of which species to eat and which to avoid. The problem occurs when fisheries are MSC-approved but the product is blacklisted because, in the wider catchment area, the species is struggling. This layer of complexity leads to confusion and in some cases rejection by the consumer.
How can this be fixed? I don’t know yet. I like the specificity of certification and I like the clarity of black lists. There is more work to be done!
