Saving Seafood

Labor shortage leaves restaurants, distributors in the lurch

April 20, 2021 — There appears to be significant pent-up demand for Americans wanting to dine out, but restaurants and foodservice distributors face a weighty new dilemma: how to find enough employees to service returning customers. Food and seafood distributors are also facing a myriad of transportation and supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Warmer weather, stepped-up vaccinations, economic stimulus payments, and people just wanting to get out of the house after quarantine are pushing up traffic to restaurants, Technomic Managing Principal Joe Pawlak said during the Food Institute webinar, “State of the Industry – 2021 Supply Disruption” this week.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Report: Diners shell out more when menu says the lobster’s from Maine

May 4, 2016 — Serving up Maine lobster is paying off big for restaurants that tout the state’s iconic offering on their menus.

Restaurants selling lobster are charging $6.22 more, on average, when it comes from Maine and its provenance is identified by name on the menu, according to a new report issued Tuesday by the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative. The Portland-based nonprofit, which was founded in 2013 and is funded by industry license surcharges, based its finding on a 2015 menu survey of about 7,000 American restaurants conducted by Technomic Inc., a food consulting and research firm based in Chicago, said Executive Director Matt Jacobson.

“There’s lobster, and then there’s Maine lobster,” Jacobson said. “People are willing to pay for that difference. Not just pennies more, but $6 more a plate, plus. Chefs are drawn to the taste, the story and sustainability of Maine lobster. When chefs like to cook it, customers are willing to pay for it. That’s good for everybody, including the lobstermen.”

The Technomic data contained in the collaborative’s first quarterly report proves what many in the industry have long suspected, but couldn’t prove because of a lack of consumer research, especially in the domestic market, Jacobson said. It will serve as another tool in the collaborative’s arsenal when it begins its summer-long campaign to convince chefs to add Maine lobster to their menus. Only a quarter of all restaurants identify the origin of their lobster dishes, he said, but most of those who do are selling Maine lobster.

Last summer, when the cooperative began its Maine lobster education campaign, the organization arranged a series of “collisions” between what Jacobson calls rock-star chefs, who tend to set the culinary tone in local foodie markets, and Maine lobstermen. Sometimes the collaborative brought chefs out on a Maine lobster boat, but usually, the collaborative brought one of Maine’s lobster harvesters into the kitchens of some of the best restaurants in the country for cooking demonstrations, recipe sharing and story telling.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald