Saving Seafood

One reason you’re shelling out more for lobster? China

August 6, 2015 — CHINA — Prices for lobster meat have hit record highs in the U.S. this year thanks to surging demand from China and environmental factors such as the unseasonably cold winter. This comes two years after prices for the tasty shellfish hit a 20-year low because of a supply glut.

In recent years, China, which consumes 35 percent of the world’s seafood, has taken an increasingly larger bite out of the lobster market, where it is considered both a delicacy and symbol of good luck because of its red color. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, shellfish exports rose 8 percent in fiscal year 2014 and 20 percent of them went to China.

“China is a huge factor,” said John Sackton, editor and publisher of the trade news site SeafoodNews.com, in an email to CBS MoneyWatch. “They have become a year-round consumer of live and frozen lobster. They are a permanent factor in the market now.”

According to market research firm Urner Barry, wholesale prices for lobster meat, which is mainly sold to food service customers, are about $22.50 per pound, up more than 30 percent from a year earlier. According the company, prices haven’t been this high in decades and are at unprecedented levels.

Read the full story at CBS News 

 

European Food Chain Yo! Sushi Plans US Expansion

July 7, 2015 — London-based Yo! Sushi is hoping to make it big in the U.S.

Yo! Sushi, which has 87 units, mostly in the United Kingdom, is in the early stages of its U.S. expansion, with locations in New Jersey and Florida, another three in the works, and plans to take its fast-casual restaurants up and down the East Coast.

“I think if Brits are ready for sushi, Americans are definitely ready,” said Alison Vickers, Yo! Sushi director of development.

 But growth won’t be easy. The U.S. restaurant market is tough and littered with international concepts that have tried and failed to make it big.

Yo! Sushi is aware of those challenges. But it also noted chains have found success recently, such as South African concept Nando’s Peri-Peri, and fellow British chain Pret A Manger.

“But it is the best restaurant market in the world,” Vickers said of the U.S. “We’ve had luck with the first locations. We’ve done a lot of research.”

Research has focused on the market for sushi, an increasingly popular item in the U.S., particularly with younger consumers. Sushi is now ubiquitous, available everywhere from grocery store kiosks to upscale restaurants. But Yo! Sushi aims to fill what it sees as a hole in the U.S. market.

Read the full story at Nation’s Restaurant News