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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Foodservice Survey surveyed foodservice buy- ers in 2010, 48 percent of respondents said their menu prices were increasing, but this year that number rose to by 50 to 75 cents for the first time in two years. Fish ta- cos, for example, went from $8.99 to $9.49, "but it didn't make a difference in terms "It's hard to make money in our market here. Some fish are $20 per pound, and it's hard to menu that product. Instead, we'll look for special catches of the day or species that aren't as popular, and try to educate customers about them." — Domenic Fana, president, Rose Villa Restaurant of how many of those items were sold," Bayne says. Rose Villa Restaurant also 67 percent, with the major- ity citing increased wholesale prices as the reason. "It's hard to make money in our market here," says Fana. "Some fish are $20 per pound, and it's hard to menu that product. Instead, we'll look for special catches of the day or species that aren't as popular, and try to educate customers about them. For example, instead of using a sea bass, we'll use a different fish at a cheaper price with a similar flavor profile." Bayne agrees that just being able to provide af- fordable, fresh seafood for diners at Fish City Grill is challenging. "Availability is there but the prices are rising. Sometimes we take those price increases on the chin a bit and sometimes we raise prices on other things, like desserts and drinks, to compensate," he says. In July 2011 Fish City Grill increased prices of certain items on the menu 42 SeaFood Business December 2012 Visit us online at www.seafoodbusiness.com raised its menu prices in the past three months to keep its margins. Some items, including beef and seafood dishes and some desserts, went up by 10 to 12 percent, as compared to usual price increases that tend to be in the 3 to 4 percent range. "But we've also limited the size of our menu and put more features on special," says Fana. "Tat way we can offer a market price and ad- just the price faster on items whose prices tend to fluctu- ate than by having to print a new menu." Evanusa recently raised his menu prices too, the first time in 18 months, but it was something he had to do because of operating costs. "Electricity prices have sky- rocketed and between that and insurance costs, we had to increase our menu prices by about 10 percent," he says. "Te challenge of operat- ing is deciding, can you raise prices to the point where a consumer can still afford to purchase them? Our water- men need a certain amount of money to harvest the product because of fuel and insurances, so they need to sell to us at a certain price. And we can only afford to raise our price to a certain degree before our customer says 'no.'" One thing customers ap- pear to be saying yes to is an increasing variety of seafood species on restaurant menus. Up to 34 percent of survey respondents said they were menuing more seafood this year than last year. Fish City Grill is one of them, offer- ing more and varied farmed and wild species today than in years past. It's also among many restaurants that are introducing more seafood- topped pastas and salads on their menus. "We add items like these to our chalkboards as spe- cials of the day," says Bayne. "It's what our customers want, and dishes like these generate a higher margin per serving than other sea- food items." For someone like Da- vid Cortes, assistant Menu Trends Customer focus What are the most common customer concerns for seafood? 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% Freshness/quality Price Taste Preparation Nutrition/health Sustainability Food safety Other Photo by Laura Lee Dobson

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