Author Archives: Savanna Ronco

Exciting Changes Ahead for Seattle Fish Co. & Lombardi Brothers Meats

Dear Valued Customers,

We’re thrilled to share some exciting news about the future of Seattle Fish Company and Lombardi Brothers Meats. As part of our ongoing commitment to providing you with exceptional products and services, we have a major initiative underway: Lombardi Brothers Meats will be relocating its operations to our Seattle Fish warehouse at 6211 E 42nd Avenue.

This transition is targeted for completion by November 4th. By integrating our operations, we will be able to offer you a combined meat and seafood selection at lower costs with even faster response times, ensuring we continue to meet and exceed your expectations.

As part of the transition to our new location, Lombardi Brothers Meats will be temporarily shutting down operations from November 1st-3rd, with production resuming on November 4th. To ensure you have everything you need, we encourage you to place orders early for any non-stocked Lombardi items. This will help us fulfill your requests in advance and minimize any disruptions.

We’re excited to announce that we will also be moving our state-of-the-art dry aging room to Seattle Fish as part of this transition. At Lombardi Brothers Meats, we take pride in dry aging our meat in a specially designed, oak-beamed refrigerated room, which imparts a unique steakhouse flavor often described as “nutty.” As we move over our oak beams to the new location, you can expect the same exceptional quality and flavor in every cut, continuing our tradition of excellence in dry-aged meats.

Our goal is to maximize value for our customers, and this move allows us to do just that. If you have any questions, or need assistance in placing orders, please contact your sales representative or send us a message at info@seattlefish.com.

Thank you for your continued support and trust in Seattle Fish Company and Lombardi Brothers Meats as we evolve to serve you better.

Sincerely,
Brian Sucher
Director of Sales

Sea Pact 2023 Summary Report: A Year of Progress and Innovation

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Earlier this year, Sea Pact published its 2023 Summary Report, detailing the progress made in the 2023 Work Plan activities. Here are some key takeaways:

Data Collection on Tuna Fisheries

For the first time, Sea Pact members collected and aggregated source fishery data on fresh and frozen tuna. This effort aimed to identify collective improvement opportunities. Despite challenges in collecting some key data elements and the variety of fishery sources, the exercise yielded valuable outcomes.

Priority Identification: Long-line caught yellowfin tuna was identified as a top priority.
Revised Funding Guidelines: Sea Pact Project Funding Guidelines were revised to call for proposals focused on sustainability improvements in these fisheries.
Data Sharing: Members shared strategies for addressing data gap challenges, laying a strong foundation for future data collection efforts. In 2024, the focus will shift to snapper/grouper and mahi.

Project Funding Program

Sea Pact’s project funding program remains a core initiative. In 2023, members elected to fund several innovative projects:

Otoliths-Lada Canada: Assessing a novel technique for age determination in three North American crab species.
Ocean Strategies: Improving coordination and education between existing and future aquaculture industries and California’s commercial fishing community.

A new Sea Pact website was launched to provide a public platform for reporting outcomes and lessons learned from all funded projects.

Gender Equality Dialogues

Three Sea Pact members—Acme Smoked Fish, Fortune Fish and Gourmet, and Seattle Fish Company—participated in Seafood and Gender Equality’s inaugural Gender Equality Dialogues.

Membership Growth

Sea Pact welcomed two new members in 2023, Acme Smoked Fish and Blue Ocean Mariculture, furthering the organization’s mission and impact.

Looking Ahead

“Last year was a strong one for the organization,” said Sam Grimley, Sea Pact Executive Director. “We funded some really innovative projects that aligned with our sustainability priorities, saw our membership grow, and we are now excited to build off of the member activities, such as the source fishery data collection, as we embark on strategic planning and goal setting in 2024 that will support our members’ sustainability efforts.”

Be sure to check out the full report as well as the 2024 Work Plan here.

Seattle Fish Company Appoints Christian Maas as President; Derek Figueroa Announces Retirement

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DENVER, CO, (February 15, 2024) – Seattle Fish Co. and Lombardi Brothers Meats have named Christian Maas as the company’s new President, effective March 1, 2024. Maas will succeed Derek Figueroa, who has decided to retire from Seattle Fish Co. and Lombardi Brothers Meats after nearly 34 years of service, effective March 22, 2024.

Derek has fulfilled many roles at Seattle Fish Co. from operations roles in the early 90s to accounting roles in the mid-to-late-90s. In 1999, he became Chief Financial Officer, serving until 2007. In 2007, he became Chief Operating Officer, rising to President in 2017, and then President & CEO in 2021.

Within the seafood industry Derek is widely known as a principled leader and is recognized as a thought leader in seafood, and sustainable practices and initiatives in particular. He is also notable for being a co-founder of the non-profit organization, Sea Pact. He has played many leading roles in industry associations including having served as chair of the National Fisheries Institute and as a board member at the Colorado Restaurant Association, the Colorado Restaurant Foundation, the Seafood Industry Research Fund, Project Angel Heart and the American Culinary Federation. He has also been honored widely including by The Colorado Restaurant Association, The Marine Stewardship Council and Vistage in the last 15 years.

Christian Maas will succeed Derek Figueroa as President starting March 1, 2024. Christian has an early career background in IT and Operations and has been working in President roles since 2011, when he first worked with Richard Harris, who leads Seattle Fish Co. and Lombardi Brothers Meats’ parent company, Founders Group of Food Companies. Christian joined the Founders Group in 2016 where he is a Managing Director and has served as President of three different companies within the group.

On his decision to retire, Derek Figueroa commented: “I’ve been truly fortunate to have found my calling and passion with Seattle Fish Company. The decision to leave is bittersweet as I truly love the company, the people, our positive impact on the industry and our communities, and have enjoyed the support of Founders and the Iacino family prior. While my passion and affinity for our business has not waned, I’ve had a dream to start my own business and, while there is no perfect time, this is the right time for me to transition. I have enormous respect for Christian Maas, and he will be an impactful leader as Seattle Fish and Lombardi continue to engage our markets and serve as the preeminent distributor in the Rocky Mountain West. I will cherish my time at Seattle Fish over the past thirty-four years, the many relationships forged, and I will forever be a champion for Seattle Fish, Lombardi, and Founders”.

On succeeding Derek Figueroa as President, Christian Maas commented: “You must admire Mose Iacino’s passion and determination to bring the freshest highest quality seafood to the Rocky Mountains and build out a multigenerational family business. A large part of that success has been due to the leadership of Derek Figueroa where his expertise and experience has made Seattle Fish one of the largest seafood distributors in the Western United States. With Founders’ most recent acquisition of Lombardi Brothers Meats in 2022, I look forward to working together in creating the foundation for success in the decades to come.”

There are no planned changes in customers’ primary contacts with respect to their business with Seattle Fish Co. or Lombardi Brothers Meats.

Please join us in thanking Derek for all he has done for Seattle Fish Co. over the past 34 years and for his partnership in passing the baton to Christian Maas. He will remain a friend and supporter of Seattle Fish Co., Lombardi Brothers Meats and Founders into the future.

Meet Brian Sucher – Director of Sales

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Seattle Fish Company & Lombardi Brothers Meats are excited to announce that Brian Sucher has been hired in the role of Director of Sales. In this role, Brian will join the executive team and be responsible for leading our sales team (including foodservice, retail and sales support) by supporting and empowering them to achieve strong sales targets.

Prior to joining the SFC & LBM family, Brian built his entire career around food and the people who enjoy it. He was a butcher for 11 years and part-owner of butcher shop in Ogden, Utah. He spent the last 17 years in food distribution in various sales and leadership roles and is excited to join our team.

In his new role as Director of Sales, Brian hopes to bring a customer-focused perspective to the senior leadership team. He will assist them in prioritizing needs, developing sales plans, and upholding the Seattle Fish Company & Lombardi Brothers Meats brand promise.

In his first month in this role, Brian has been realigning sales support and the sales team. He has worked on continued integration of Lombardi Brothers Meats. In the near future, he plans to implement a new sales strategy with strong business goals.

Brian was born and raised in Brigham City, Utah. He lived in various places growing up but ultimately landed in Ogden, Utah where he met his wife of 15 years. Together, they have enjoyed moving around the US and have lived in Texas, Missouri, and are finally happy to have found their forever home in Denver. Brian has 4 children, all boys, and an awesome Goldendoodle named Rizzo.

Getting to know Brian Sucher better by reading his Q&A below:

What were you most excited about joining our team?

The opportunity to take on a newly created position within the company to positively impact change and contribute to an already great culture. After visiting and getting to know the team and the people that I would be working with, it just fit.

What are your favorite ways to unwind outside of work?

Spending time with my family and watching my two young boys play sports. They are both avid baseball and soccer players and you can usually find us warming the stands on most weekends. We enjoy many outdoor activities such as camping, hiking, floating, fishing, and running (though, running…not so much lately). I enjoy seeing live music with my wife and our music loving friends.

What is your favorite seafood? How do you like to prepare it?

Hands down, SCALLOPS. I like them lightly seared with a little butter and garlic.

Meet Joseph Dezzutti – Purchasing Manager

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Seattle Fish Company is excited to announce that Joseph Dezzutti has been hired in the role of Purchasing Manager. In this role, Joseph will be responsible for leading the procurement team at Seattle Fish Company to ensure that we are fulfilling our customers’ requests and providing transparency throughout the sourcing process.

Before joining Seattle Fish Co., Joseph spent many years working in the hospitality industry as a chef, working in various settings that range from international hotel chains to smaller family-run restaurants. He was even a previous Seattle Fish Co. customer while working as a chef locally! Joseph attended CU Boulder for undergraduate and recently completed an MBA program at University of Wisconsin with a focus on supply chain management.

“As a longtime customer of Seattle Fish, I have always appreciated their quality commitment and great customer service,” said Joseph, when asked why he wanted to join the SFC team. “When I had a chance to meet the entire team in person, I knew this is where I wanted to be. The ownership and care that this team puts into their work every day is infectious and I am excited to be a catalyst to help ensure this work culture continues.”

As purchasing manager, Joseph looks forward to ensuring that the purchasing team fosters and builds upon vendor relationships. He also recognizes the importance of ensuring quality, traceability, availability and cost consciousness as we source products for our customers.

In this new role, Joseph is particularly excited to work within the overall seafood industry through SFC’s participation in organizations such as the National Fisheries Institute, Sea Pact, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Council. “Seattle Fish has always been at the forefront of the sustainable seafood movement and I am very excited to work with these organizations to strengthen Seattle Fish’s sourcing program,” said Joseph.

Get to know Joseph Dezzutti better by reading his Q&A below!  

What’s your favorite seafood or meat dish to enjoy? Why?

I love Alaskan Halibut! Its buttery flavor and texture cannot be beat in my eyes. As a chef I was always partial to eating the seafood that I enjoyed preparing and halibut lends itself particularly well to many different preparations while still being absolutely delicious on its own.

What are your favorite ways to unwind outside of work?

As a father of 2 young boys, I love to foster their curiosity, so I love spending time exploring things that pique their interest, which currently includes anything from sports to astronomy. Also, now that I am no long a chef I can count cooking as a hobby, as well as golf, hiking and soccer.