Roger O’Brien is the CEO of Santa Monica Seafood, a processor and distributor that sources more than 27 million pounds of fresh and frozen seafood annually, selling to foodservice and retail grocery accounts.
SeafoodSource: What would you consider your biggest business challenge thus far, how did you manage it and what did you learn from that experience?
O’Brien: I would say the assimilation of acquired companies including those that used to do business as Fish Warehouse, Long Beach Seafood, Central Coast Seafood, Ocean West Foodservice, American Fish, Chesapeake Fish and L.A. Fish. The first deal was tough; each deal got easier as we learned from our mistakes. We also acquired some outstanding talent with these companies, and their experience and strength have helped make other acquisitions easier.
SeafoodSource: Looking at your company's products, how do they reflect consumers’ changing needs and desires when it comes to seafood consumption?
O’Brien: Where I see innovation is in product packaging and the technology being used to ensure better quality products with longer shelf-life. Value-added products for our retail grocery accounts have had the greatest impact on us, such as grab-‘n-go, ready-to-cook-and-eat, precooked items, single serve and family packs. We recently built a new, larger production kitchen and added MAP packaging and skin-pack machines to help extend shelf-life.
SeafoodSource: What are the top issues facing the industry as it pertains to your business, and what are some of the solutions you would offer to address those issues?
O’Brien: For 2016, a major issue is the price and supply of farmed salmon. The stagnating supply and potentially negative supply of farmed Atlantic salmon is a major concern, along with the volatile pricing we’re seeing. The strong U.S. dollar and the plunging Canadian dollar are only exacerbating this situation.
Chile was the leading source of imported fresh and frozen salmon into the U.S. in 2015. The fact that most, if not all, Chilean salmon suppliers lost money last year will result in increased prices coming out of Chile, while at the same time the supply of Chilean salmon is projected to decrease. While we can’t control foreign supply markets or prices, we can increase the number of suppliers we deal with and attempt to lock in pricing, especially for our retail grocery accounts with their large volume orders.
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?
O’Brien: Finding people who want to work in a cold, wet, smelly, super-fast paced processing and distribution environment is anything but easy … and, when we do find some, many quickly find such life unacceptable and quit. I’ve found that well-educated, experienced managers and executives prefer the comfort of a high-rise office tower to our industrial warehouse environment. We spend too much time and money recruiting high-quality talent and skilled workers; I wish the available pool of talent was larger.
SeafoodSource: Among your peers in the industry, who do you turn to for advice, mentorship, to share ideas or to talk about issues you have in common?
O’Brien: I just formed a board of advisors for our company where we have 8 seafood company owners. That’s a lot of industry and management experience in one room, and ex-owners are not hesitant to provide advice and ideas. I also look forward to dinner meetings with fellow industry peers during the NFI annual conference where we can “compare notes.” For mentorship over the past 11 years, I’ve turned to someone on our board of directors who has a wealth of general business knowledge.
SeafoodSource: Given the opportunity to address a room filled with seafood industry leaders such as yourself, what is the one nugget of wisdom you would offer them as your closing remark?
O’Brien: We all have to support aquaculture, especially in the United States. The world’s supply of seafood continues to dwindle and population growth and immigration into the U.S. continues to grow. We must be more self-dependent as a country, and supporting local aquaculture efforts appears to be the only way to get there.
SeafoodSource: What kind of legacy do you want to leave when you step down?
O’Brien: Santa Monica Seafood is a 77-year-old company and I want it to exist for another 100 years, minimum. I want my legacy to be that I helped improve the company such that it can weather any future economic storm and continue growing as an industry leader that champions improvements throughout the industry.
