Chris Flocchini, president and CEO of Sierra Meat & Seafood and Flocchini Family Provisions, is the third generation heading his family’s business. The company traces its roots to San Francisco, California-based Durham Meat Co., which was founded in 1890 and bought by his grandfather in 1934. Seafood is a fairly recent addition for the company, now based in Reno, Nevada, but it represents about 15 percent of total revenue and 35 percent of the company’s local business. SeafoodSource spoke with Flocchini and John Goforth, the company’s vice president of purchasing, who joined Sierra Meat & Seafood about 10 years ago, about the decision to enter the seafood sector and what that has meant for Sierra.
SeafoodSource: Why did you get into seafood?
Flocchini: We saw the light. We were in the meat business when I entered the family business in 2000. When we moved the headquarters to Reno in 2001, I saw that there were some local seafood suppliers and we had competition from a Bay Area company that did meat and seafood. While doing research and going out with our sales reps, I saw that half of what was on our customers’ menus, we weren’t offering, because seafood was an expertise we didn’t have. If we were going to get into it, we needed a real professional seafood staff, both to educate us on seafood and to provide credibility to our customers. I made friends with people in the seafood business, bought the assets of a company that went out of business and even hired their fish-cutter.
Goforth: People recommended me to come over (from American Fish and Seafood) as a buyer. Now there are three people on the team with a lot of knowledge and experience. I spend a lot of time working logistics – it can be challenging sometimes to get fish over the [Sierra Nevada] mountains in a snowstorm.
SeafoodSource: What are some of the challenges with adding seafood to a meat company?
Flocchini: When we first started, the challenge was just getting people to see us as a meat AND seafood company. We had to have a compelling argument for people to try us versus their existing supplier. We made sure not to overpromise or under-deliver, but to have reasonable expectations. We’ve always had a good reputation as a company that is transparent, encouraging customers to come by and check us out. We made a point to be fair on pricing, to create a different value proposition. We were also committed to getting fresh product to build our business. Internally, we had to find the people to run the fish room. My management style is to find good people, empower them and get out of the way.
Goforth: Another challenge is that seafood is getting harder to source because of quotas and overfishing. We used to be able to just call and get what we need. Now there’s not as much fresh fish around, so you have to grab it. And you can be affected by things beyond your control: a poor year for salmon or a closing impacting Dungeness crab. But we have long-term relationships with suppliers, which helps.
SeafoodSource: What are your customers asking for these days?
Goforth: Among customers, sustainability is a big part of the equation. Wild fish is desirable, but not always available. Farmed fish that is raised properly is an option. With all fish, people want to know where it’s caught, how it was handled.
Flocchini: There is more social awareness, not just by our customers – casinos, hotels, restaurants and some hospitals and supermarkets – but also by our customers’ customer, who is looking for sustainable seafood. One of the biggest challenges as a distributor of protein – seafood or meat – is the disconnect between what people say they want and what they’ll pay for it. That education piece is a big challenge and one everyone faces. Because of the demand, what this can lead to is a restaurant saying they are doing one thing, but really doing something else (when it comes to offering sustainably raised seafood). Everyone needs to come together and be truthful on what things are and what the cost is.
If there are suppliers who don’t have ethical business practices, that makes it challenging. You have to understand that some fish aren’t available year-round. Or you need to support aquaculture and the cost of keeping it up to standards.
Goforth: Think about salmon. Everyone loves wild-caught, but some years are just better than others. But farmed can take its place. You can’t always rely on wild fish.
SeafoodSource: What about the challenges you mentioned about your location?
Goforth: Our biggest challenge is Interstate 80. Last year we had some tough weather. But it’s just one of the challenges we have to deal with. Roads can be closed. We always think about our trucks and plan better, be more proactive, think ahead.
Flocchini: We pay a company to be on the dock four days a week in San Francisco and we have truck that goes almost every day to San Francisco. We also have pick up in Los Angeles and do air freight and Fed Ex. We’d bring it on a mule if we had to. When we had the San Francisco-based meat company, we could easily cover ourselves if there was a shortfall, but that’s harder in Reno.
