I'd like to hear from apcowboy, coalcracker,fdarn, and others on their take on full service seafood displays stocked mostly with previously frozen fish fillets. I've dealt with Inland and Monterrey seafood distributors and they deliver about 25% of our daily fish inventory. The rest is delivered through our frozen distribution. I remember back in the day when that was probably the other way around. Of course, shrimp can't really be considered in this particular discussion as it's pretty much always frozen at sea. My company keeps prices under control and eye appeal is easier to maintain, but it just doesn't "feel" right after doing this business for 45 years. How do you guys feel that work with fresh fish counters everyday?
I have seen this before. We even used to take packages of frozen salmon from the freezer display and open them to display the fillets in the fresh seafood case. However, we only did this when we were out of fresh salmon and made it clear that this was not fresh and we sold it for less than the fresh. As long as your store isn't trying to pass the previously frozen seafood off as fresh seafood it will be okay. I would hope they are adjusting the price though as if its lesser quality.
Personally if it was my full service seafood case, I would want it stocked with FRESH seafood as often as possible as that is the preference of seafood consumers. If they catch on that your seafood is not fresh, they will likely cease to purchase it from you. If seafood is in high demand in your area, there should be no reason to not find a way to keep it stocked with fresh only. If it is not in high demand, I can understand management wanting to downgrade to previously frozen to reduce costs.
A lot of stores are actually going the route of eliminating their seafood departments due to lack of business. Is your seafood department strong or weak? As long as you aren't trying to pass the seafood off as fresh with the same price as fresh would have, I can give it a pass.
With "COOL" requirements, you can't fudge anything. All products are labeled legit fresh or previously frozen. We do okay business, but I can remember working for Publix in the 90's, with 4 huge ice tables and we did about 20k per week. Those days are long gone. I remember doing 12k on one New Years eve. Good times.
There is no doubt that shoppers are buying more seafood and fresh fish especially since the price of beef (as a protein source) got so high. Personally I feel that supermarket sales of fresh fish and seafood is sort of stagnated. Or should I say possibly reached its peak. There is so much competition in the seafood category from companies like Costco, plus other warehouse type formats that have taken seafood business away from the traditional supermarkets. The seafood per capita numbers are around 17 lbs. per person annually give or take a pound or so. There are lots and lots of aggressive supermarkets going after that 17 pounds.
Companies that are aggressive merchandisers of seafood are companies that offer other amenities to help get more of the consumers dollars. Their approach is to create a gourmet-food atmosphere where seafood is apart of it. They may hold cooking classes, lots of point-of-sale material, gourmet-food take-out, fresh seafood demo's, knowledgeable employees that draw attention to the seafood departments, educating shoppers concerning, fresh caught vs. farm raised, previously frozen vs. fresh, and of course maintaining high quality standards and cleanliness. I believe this is how you have a successful seafood business.
There shouldn't be any concerns as far as selling previously frozen fish if you educate the consumers. Let them know why you do it. If they can understand it, it will make no matter if they are a dedicated shopper. You need to tell them only because believe it or not most fresh fish that is bought is often frozen before it is consumed and you don't want your customer to refreeze the product. Remember that the fish that you bought was frozen under regulated supervision but a shopper is going to go home and put the fish in her fridge until she remembers to freeze it and then she is going to toss it in her freezer. And in order for her fish to freeze solid again it is going to take much more time than a blast freezer does thus reducing the quality again.
Now she doesn't know that her freezer is a holding freezer and your fish was blast frozen. BIG DIFFERENCE--HUGE DIFFERENCE.
The seafood industry couldn't exist without blast freezers. Blast freezers are designed to push very cold air at high velocity across a food product to freeze it quickly. The quicker seafood is frozen the better it is to preserve the original quality of the fresh product. So therefore in your case where the seafood was thawed for display you are actually selling a product that is now inferior to the original fresh product. If the consumer refreezes the fish and then thaws it out again you could get complaints about your product not being of the quality you advertise!
Coalcracker, your right. I always thought our cod fillets were fresh, until I found out t they had been frozen refreshed, whatever that means. Our Sockeye is beautiful, once it breaks down a little. Tuna, Sword and Mahi are also beautiful when slacked out. We just started a more aggressive fresh whole fish program displayed on ice, but I have my doubts about it's success. Thank you guys for the response.
If you have Hispanic shoppers try whole Tilapia, its ugly but they love them. As far as fresh vs. thawed we put "previously frozen" labels on the product, being in Nebraska most of our fish comes in frozen. Customers around here have no issues buying it. Its more a convenience than a outright quality reason to buy.
