SeaFood Business is the global trusted authority for seafood buyers and sellers. We are the seafood industry's leading trade magazine with more than 30 years of experience. Our coverage is based on the "business" of buying and selling seafood.
Issue link: https://seafoodbusiness.epubxp.com/i/72022
Top Story Ahold USA's Taylor chairs the FMI Sustainable Seafood Committee. Tracy Taylor — Ahold USA N ame-brand recognition is not something mon- ey can necessarily buy. You can put a price on advertising and marketing, but customer loyalty, one true measure of success, is earned over years of dedicated service and an unwavering commitment to quality. T at's how you build a brand. In New England, there are a handful of businesses that merit such allegiance, where the name alone conveys a message of dependability or value. Dunkin' Donuts and L.L. Bean come to mind. So does Stop & Shop (which also has stores in New York and New Jersey). T e supermarket has tre- She & Him The Buyer's Turn: A combination of consciousness, competitiveness earn Tracy Taylor, Jim Ulcickas amazing results BY JAMES WRIGHT T he Buyer's Turn is back. SeaFood Business' annual feature that shines a light on outstanding retail and restaurant seafood buyers — our core readership — turns to two industry veterans who again, on the surface, couldn't be any more different from one another. But Tracy Taylor of Ahold USA and Jim Ulcickas of Bluewater Grill have a lot more in common than you might believe at fi rst glance. They're both savvy buyers and big thinkers with years of experience and they're both sponges for knowledge who are more than willing to share their expertise at industry events. The way they go about their business, along with their practical and intelligent approaches to sustainability, is what makes them worthy of celebration. 20 SeaFood Business July 2012 mendous market share in the region for both value and virtue. Stop & Shop's parent company, Ahold USA (based in Carlisle, Pa., and Quincy, Mass.), was one of the very fi rst food companies to part- ner with an environmen- tal NGO — Boston's New England Aquarium — to ensure that its seafood was being sourced from respon- sibly managed and sustain- able sources. T at commit- ment began in 2000 and the partnership remains strong. Ahold USA leans on the aquarium's consultants as it strives to meet its lofty goal of sourcing all of its seafood from certifi ed-sustainable (Marine Stewardship Coun- cil or Aquaculture Steward- ship Council) sources by the year 2015. T e company also depends on Tracy Taylor, seafood pro- curement manager, to source product for approximately 780 stores under the Stop & Shop, Giant Food, Giant Food Stores, Martin's Food Markets and Peapod brands. Ahold USA is one of the 10 largest U.S. food with $25 billion in annual sales (the company does not disclose department-specifi c sales fi gures). Taylor, 38, has been with the company for 16 years, the past 10 in retail seafood, working out of the Pennsyl- vania offi ce. She's in charge of all frozen seafood pro- curement and on top of her buying duties has been the corporation's point person on seafood sustainability since 2005. With a company this size, it's no small chore. "Our customers expect us to be responsible stewards to the environment and social issues," says Taylor. "It's our responsibility." Taylor's work and dedica- tion have certainly not gone unnoticed. She's a regular panelist on retail seafood sustainability issues at the In- ternational Boston Seafood Show and is the chair of the Food Marketing Institute's (FMI) Sustainable Seafood Committee. "Tracy has led and actu- ally was instrumental in the creation of the committee — a group of 22 retail seafood executives whose mission is to identify and prioritize the key issues," says Jeanne von Zastrow, FMI's senior director of sustainability and industry relations. "Tracy is a well-loved and respected leader and without her tire- less dedication and wonder- ful style and sense of humor we would not have accom- plished all we have in the past six years." T e FMI group consists of "some of the most passion- ate people in the industry," says Taylor, and over the past three years it has become a full standing committee, not just a working group, which refl ects on the importance of Visit us online at www.seafoodbusiness.com retailers Photos on pages 20 and 21 courtesy of Ahold USA