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Sp pecial Feature This creamy shrimp and pancetta soup from Blount is new for foodservice. fl avors and new products to expand soup beyond its role as a winter comfort food to be used in meal preparation or as a whole meal. "T e good news is that people are eating more soup. It's becoming a meal solu- tion," says Bob Sewall, exec- utive VP-sales and market- ing for Blount Fine Foods in Fall River, Mass. Blount, which off ers sea- food soups for foodservice Soups and chowders Bold fl avors, high-quality offerings stand out BY MELISSA WOOD A fter win- ning for straight three years, chef Eric Jung- klaus wasn't allowed to compete in the Great Chowder Cookoff this June. But although his popu- lar Tony's World Famous Chowder has been retired to the Newport, R.I., contest's hall of fame, it will soon be available to an even wider au- dience when it is introduced as a new brand for foodser- vice and eventually retail. Jungklaus, chef at the 54- seat Tony's Seafood Restau- rant in Cedar Key, Fla., had the idea to develop a chow- der recipe after living in the Boston area seven years ago. 40 SeaFood Business July 2012 "I tried a lot of chowders all around New England and one of the things I noticed was that a lot of them didn't have much fl avor," he says. In becoming a brand, To- ny's World Famous Chow- der has come full circle. Jungklaus came up with a speed-scratch recipe using Sea Watch International's clam chowder as a base with fresh ingredients. Offi cially a secret, additions include spic- es, garlic, butter, bacon and "a pepper element that most people just fall in love with," he says. "It has a fl avor pro- fi le unlike any other chowder that you've ever tried." Now, he is working with Sea Watch to develop To- ny's World Famous, which will soon be available for foodservice distribution in Florida and New England. "His is a big, bold, spicy clam chowder," says Guy Simmons, VP of marketing and product development for Sea Watch in Easton, Md. Simmons is seeing a trend in bold fl avors for seafood soups and chowders in foodservice. "I would say that the ma- jority of our customers who buy our clam chowder are defi nitely using it as a base. I think they're opening up the can, they're adding three or four ingredients and serving it in a much higher fashion," says Simmons. He says soup is also playing a role in the growing trend of ethnic foods. Clear-broth sea- food soups like hot pots from the Pacifi c Rim or Zuppa di Vongole, a Mediterranean soup made with tomatoes, onions, olives with clams and clam juice, are healthy as well. On the retail side, sales for the $6.4 billion U.S. soup industry were fl at from 2010 to 2011, according to Mintel, a London-based market re- search company. Mintel's U.S. industry report surmised that, despite challenges, manufac- turers are investing in trendy and retail, introduced a fresh, refrigerated 16-ounce retail version of its Legal Sea Foods brand a year ago. Flavors in- clude lobster bisque, New England clam chowder and shrimp and corn chowder. "Certainly Legal's qual- ity at the restaurant level is such that people understand the quality of their brand," says Sewall. For its foodservice cus- tomers, Blount's newest sea- food soup is shrimp and pan- cetta, which Sewall describes as creamy and decadent. Another new product is the Ultimate 3 Clam Chow- der introduced by Fortun Foods in Kirkland, Wash., at the International Boston Seafood Show in March. According to Mary Shepa- rd, director of retail and food- service sales, the "ultimate" means using three types of clams — cockle, sea and ocean — and fresh ingredi- ents cooked in small batches. T e chowder is available for foodservice, and Shepard expects retail packaging this summer. She says responses have been positive with some seafood restaurants putting it on their menus alongside their traditional clam chowders but pricing it 50 cents to $1 more. Email Assistant Editor Melissa Wood at mwood@divcom.com Visit us online at www.seafoodbusiness.com Photo courtesy of Blount Fine Foods