I manage our seafood section as well as meat. We do quite well in seafood sales. Our margin goal is 30% we generally do 32%+ quarterly. Seafood brings in about 33% of overall meat and seafood sales. It's a very important part what I do. I rarely display the case but I do work the counter most everyday. I and my staff can give cooking advice on seafood just as well as with any meat product. It really helps in generating sales with the customer. Unless it's catfish, bluegill, carp or walleye, a lot of customers in my area are apprehensive about seafood. But we do sell a TON of salmon. I am lucky because our main seafood clerk was raised in Oregon with her father being a professional fisherman. She knows a lot about fish.
In these parts, it's pretty much fresh haddock and maybe salmon and chowderfish-most stores have lobster tanks
I grew up in a fishing family, father is a lobsterman, my brother and I grew up with his big foot up our ass- working out on the boat, digging clams, picking mussels- we worked all the time, but learned the value of a dollar- we use to cook seafood up everyday out on the boat-whatever strange things that would go into lobster traps, and we would eat lobsters everyday-loved them
I push fish to many of the stores, but sometimes, it's a tough sell- I tell the seafood managers to get creative, with the display, and with cooking instructions again, you gotta be different- shrimp and scallop kabobs sell pretty well, and have great eye appeal- we've come up with many unique seafood items
Anyone here vacuum seal fresh seafood and get over 10 day shelf life?
Seafood is a separate dept, but we're all behind the same counter and I sell a lot of fish. I don't work the case or cut it. I HATE fish. I like to eat it, but I hate to touch or sell the stuff. If a fish person is sick, I may fill in for him/her. That's OK. One day now and then is a nice change. There's always a chance I could be transferred to fish against my will and there's nothing I could do about it. One manager got mad at me and threatened to do that. That would just about kill me. I think fish is part of the business and I should be willing to work it sometimes. But to do only fish for the rest of my career? I'd be depressed and ashamed. It would pay the bills, but I'd have a brand new attitude and it wouldn't be a good one.
I guess that I am lucky to live in Oregon. My family used to vacation for 2 weeks on a boat in the San Juans every summer. My brother and I would fish, set out crab pots, clam and pick up oysters. But we don't have lobster my favorite. Anyhow, nothing turns me off more than to go into a store and have even the slightest smell of fish. We have a Japanese market here that if you blindfolded someone and took them into there seafood section they would say that they are in a grocery store and that's it!
