SeaFood Business

DEC 2012

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.

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What's in Store Roche Bros. believes its customers prefer seafood from local waters. Acadian redfish, sole, monk- fish, oysters, scallops and oth- er species from day-boats. "Te local customer is hungry for fish harvested here. Most of Roche's com- petitors have gone to overseas supplies to keep costs steady," says Laura Foley Ramsden, owner of Foley Fish, the sole seafood supplier for Roche. (In November, Foley earned chain-of-custody certifica- tion from the Marine Stew- ardship Council.) While nearly half of Roche's Home grown Roche Bros. builds tight partnership with local purveyor BY CHRISTINE BLANK T he seafood trace- ability program that Roche Bros. launched this fall gives the 18-store retailer an important point of differentiation in the com- petitive New England gro- cery market. Te Wellesley Hills, Mass., company part- nered with Boston seafood processor Foley Fish on a fully traceable, local fish cam- paign. With Sea Trace, Roche shoppers can scan QR codes for selected species to see the fishing vessel and the loca- tion and method of harvest. Te new system drives home the point that buying local seafood is important to its shoppers. "Our competitors are fo- cused more on price versus quality and local, which has given us a nice little niche in the market," says Arthur Ack- les, director of deli and sea- food for Roche Bros., which typically gets haddock, cod, 30 SeaFood Business December 2012 fresh seafood offerings are lo- cal, area Whole Foods Market stores don't have many lo- cal seafood items, according to Foley Ramsden. "Whole Foods kicked a bunch of New England seafood out of their cases about a year ago because they went with a rating sys- tem," she says. In addition, the sustain- of New England ability seafood is not sufficiently promoted in the media, ac- cording to Foley Ramsden. "When you hear that cer- tain fisheries have been de- clared a disaster, that is not correct. Instead, we try to say that these fish are fished and harvested according to restric- tive catch levels so as to not 'overdraft the checking ac- count,'" says Foley Ramsden. Roche uses Sea Trace and other in-store communica- tions about local and sustain- able fish rather than third-par- ty certification. "Te Roche program focuses on com- municating the management measures in place for every U.S. fishery, which is mandat- ed by the Magnuson-Stevens Act," says Foley Ramsden. Te traceability program offers a further step than most sustainability certification schemes, according to Foley Ramsden. "When you have a Contributing Editor Christine Blank lives in Lake Mary, Fla. Visit us online at www.seafoodbusiness.com program with red, yellow and green ratings, it does nothing to talk about how that fish was landed. Tis confirms to the consumer how the seafood is being handled at sea, and that nothing is being added to this product," she says. So far, that tactic has worked well: Roche's empha- sis on local, quality seafood resulted in a 3 percent increase in fresh seafood department sales in 2012. "Tat's a nice "Our competitors are focused more on price versus quality and local, which has given us a nice little niche in the market." — Arthur Ackles, director of deli and seafood, Roche Bros. accomplishment, considering overall store sales are flat based on the economy," says Ackles. Foley Fish offers the Sea Trace program specifically for local New England-area seafood. "We really want to get the word out that these local fishermen are fishing with the strictest fisheries management rules in the state," says Foley Ramsden. Roche Bros. promotes Sea Trace in its stores with a sus- tainability video for seafood staff and a consumer brochure that shows how each species was caught and processed. Foley Fish provides a recipe of the week featuring differ- ent underutilized species on the "sustainability stand" in Roche's stores. "We try to push those items that people aren't familiar with, such as redfish and hake," says Ackles. Foley Ramsden demos local seafood at Roche store open- ings and at other events. "She is more knowledgeable about the seafood than anyone I know," says Ackles. Photo courtesy of Roche Bros.

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