SEAFOOD.COM NEWS by John Sackton — Dec 5, 2013 (news analysis) — Both foodservice and retail seafood demand got slammed when the global economy was upended in 2008, but retail was much quicker to recover.
Retailers were able to maintain sales by shifting customers to lower priced seafood items, and they also benefited from a retreat from eating out in favor of more meals at home.
As a result, retail buyers have been driving the seafood industry’s bus for the last few years and the choices they have made on promotions- when to sell shrimp, when to sell crab, or when to sell lobster or salmon – have reverberated back through the supply chain impacting price and availability.
But there are signs that this balance may be changing, and once again foodservice and the restaurant industry may become more of a key factor in deciding which seafood items are sold, promoted, and popularized.
One sign of this trend is a counterintuitive restaurant push for more scallop items, even as scallop prices go through the roof. It seems that the value is breaking through, and it is not a matter of commodity pricing. In an accompanying article, Nation’s Restaurant News reports that scallops are one of the fastest growing menu items. According to Datassential, scallops are now on 41% more menus than two years ago.
This is occurring even as many casual dining chains don’t have scallops on their menus. But if they follow this trend, they will be adding them in ways that feature a presentation they can afford.
Datassentials reports that over 80 seafood items are seeing growth in menu penetration. Some of the biggest gainers over the past year (with penetration on at least five percent of all restaurant menus) are:
Source: Datassential via Nation's Restaurant News
The second sign of this is the results of the NRA’s annual ‘Hot or Not’ survey of chefs. The survey which gathered responses from 1300 chefs around the country, ranks various culinary trends by chef interest.
First, the number one menu trend identified for 2014 is promotion of locally sourced meats and seafood.
In the Center of the Plate category, 4 of the top five trends are about seafood:
(1) Locally sourced meat and seafood
(2) Sustainable seafood
(4) Non-traditional fish
and also relevant (5) half portions or smaller size portions
Seafood is asserting itself again as a powerful foodservice draw, and chefs are interested in promoting it. They also are experimenting with making the changes in portion size or presentation so they can use an expensive item like scallops or shrimp or lobster.
Rising seafood commodity prices is only one side of the restaurant story. The other is the powerful draw of high quality seafood that makes both chefs and their customers seek out more seafood alternatives – and pay the prices necessary to get them.
In a certain sense it is as if the advantages conferred on retailers a few years ago are turned on their heads. As seafood gets more expensive, it is now chefs and restaurant operators who have the flexibility to provide value and a variety of seafood plate experiences that can bring in customers in a way that a typical supermarket promotion cannot do.
As the total volume of seafood sold in the US (on a per capita basis) shrinks – as it will do again in 2013 and possibly beyond, selling into these higher value markets is key to the long term health of the industry. So it is extremely positive to see the strong demand for high quality seafood reemerging from the restaurant sector.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.