Tracy Blanchard, president of Big T Coastal Provisions and her husband, Tony, started their crab dip business in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2012 after a few other forays into the seafood industry. A staple in many southern supermarkets and specialty stores, the Blanchard’s recently hooked that biggest of retail fish, Wal-Mart.
SeafoodSource: You have a background in the seafood industry as a clam producer and wholesaler. What’s the story behind that and how did you get to the creation of Big T?
Blanchard: My husband, Tony, started working with Atlantic Little Neck Clam Farms right after college. He managed the Family Farmers Program, helping investors to purchase clam seed, grow them and to eventually sell to market. When Atlantic Little Neck Clam Farm closed, he managed his former family farmers for many years afterward with a successful program of his own. He then opened a wholesale seafood operation in Charleston, which was successful in providing fresh seafood to many restaurants and caterers in the area. Unfortunately, we opened the business right before the financial collapse in 2008, so it was unable to succeed. That was hard in many ways, but we learned a lot about the ins and outs of the seafood business that we apply to our business today. We knew we had the experience and heart for this business to try again.
As for our current business, for all the years I have known Tony, he has made his mother’s crab dip that she had been making for years on Sullivan’s Island. Many friends encouraged us to “sell this stuff.” We laughed about it for a while and then really researched and studied it for many more years before we jumped into the specialty food business. It’s been a fun ride—a hard one—but still fun.
SeafoodSource: What do you consider to be your biggest business challenge thus far, and what did you learn from the experience?
Blanchard: A lot of people have the notion that it has been easy for us to get our products into large retailers. It is most definitely was not an easy endeavor. It requires dogged determination and a tough skin. You have to learn to hear “no” and have the confidence and courage to keep going back. Trucking and shipping fresh seafood is always a challenge and is an issue that requires a lot of time and effort as well.
SeafoodSource: Recently you landed Wal-Mart as a customer. How did that change your business operations and short- and long-term strategies?
Blanchard: It’s a real game changer for our business. Obviously, the size of Wal-Mart and their needs require more of an investment of time and resources on our part. Short term, our needs were ramping up our raw materials to meet the volume—that’s an investment in and of itself. The long term is how do we keep improving our current line of products and produce new ones that appeal to our customers? There is a sea of products in these big stores and we have to stand out to succeed. We make products from our very own kitchen’s recipes. Those products are produced with wild seafood that we work hard to source. We want our customers to know the quality we put into our products on their very first bite.
SeafoodSource: If there were one thing you could change about the seafood industry as a whole, especially as it relates to your ability to run a successful business, what would it be?
Blanchard: There are a lot of great crab and shrimp purveyors out there (the main ingredients in our products), but you really have to do your homework to make sure you are getting a quality product and the best price. It can be a challenge to source just the right ingredients for our premium seafood dips. We want our customer’s expectations to be exceeded every time. So, a clearinghouse of sorts that would help us find the very best seafood and the very best price would be awesome.
SeafoodSource: What do you know about the crab industry now that you didn’t know before you started your business?
Blanchard: We have learned that the economies of crab-producing countries, weather, the world economy, problems in other fisheries—all of these issues affect the price of crab. There are a lot of variables that go into pricing crab and it’s not always a stable market.
SeafoodSource: We’re seeing lots of food entrepreneurs, including some in the seafood arena. What words of wisdom would you share with those looking to make seafood and/or seafood-based products their livelihood?
Blanchard: Do your homework. It really is not something you just walk into. It requires lots of research, understanding the requirements of various government agencies as well as retailer and customer expectations. Surround yourself with good people. We found a trusted co-packer, a fabulous design firm to brand us for years to come, as well as a terrific PR firm that helped us get the word out. Also, when you have a quality product, don’t settle for anything less than what you know is right for your product and company. Always keep trying to improve.
