Seattle Fish Company & Lombardi Brothers Meats are excited to announce that Phil Newton has been promoted to the role of Center of the Plate Specialist. In this role, Phil will work directly with our sales team and our customers to share more information on the growing number of “center-of-the-plate” proteins we offer.
Phil started his career at Seattle Fish Co. in April 2016 and has worked in almost every operations position, which makes him uniquely qualified for this new role as COP specialist. Most recently, he was a member of our retail merchandising team, helping to educate seafood managers at the King Soopers/City Market stores in Colorado. He’s also been an avid fisherman and wild game hunter for most of his life.
After Seattle Fish Co.’s acquisition of Lombardi Brothers Meats, it became important to have someone on the team who is dedicated to learning and sharing everything there is to know about the many proteins we offer, including angus beef, chicken, pork, lamb, wild game, and, of course, seafood! Phil’s responsibilities will include sampling, expanding product knowledge and placements, building on existing relationships with customers, menu ideation, and much more.
In his time at SFC, Phil says his time developing a seafood training program for Kroger was his most memorable project. “We developed a 6-hour training course from scratch for Kroger to train all of their seafood employees on selling, cutting and handling fresh & frozen seafood,” says Phil. “It also taught them the biology and life cycles of all the seafood they handle. Many of these folks start behind the seafood counter but don’t have a base knowledge of the products they are selling, and we wanted to ensure they had the proper training to interact with the consumers who buy their seafood from Kroger.”
“I’ve watched Phil grow and expand into every role he has had at SFC,” says Brandi Mata, Lead Gourmet/Certified Angus Beef Specialist. “His experience across the company gives him a dynamic perspective for problem solving and implementing new processes. He uses every opportunity he can to gain knowledge and lift up everyone around him. You can’t walk through this building without running into someone that would say ‘Oh Phil! I love that guy!'”
If you are interested in meeting with Phil to discuss any of our products, email him at pnewton@seattlefish.com or ask your sales rep for more information!
Get to know Phil Newton better by reading his Q&A below!
What are you the most excited about experiencing in your new role at SFC?
Working with all of the amazing chefs we have here in Colorado!
What are your favorite ways to unwind outside of work?
I like gardening, cooking, snowboarding, going to the shooting range, spending time with family and friends, and most importantly eating!
What’s your favorite seafood? How do you like to prepare it?
Being from Cleveland, any preparation of walleye hits the spot. I spent many years fishing for walleye with my grandfather, so it holds a special place in my heart.
Boyer’s 30+ year seafood career and industry expertise brings a fresh perspective to the organization
DENVER CO, June 30 2023 –– The Western Association of Food & Drug Officials (WAFDO) changes bylaws to appoint Seattle Fish Co.’s Ken Boyer as 2023 President. As the first ever industry member to hold an officer position, Boyer draws on 30+ years of seafood industry experience to bring a fresh perspective to the organization that is tasked with keeping the Western region’s food supply safe.
“When I first joined WAFDO nine years ago, I noticed a lack of food industry experts in leadership positions,” shares Boyer. “I’m honored to not only represent the seafood sector, but to invest time in this community to provide a perspective from industry experts. During my presidency this year, I intend to continue WAFDO’s incredible work and to seek to foster increased collaboration from industry experts within the organization and on the leadership board.”
For Boyer, what started as an entry-level job turned into a 30+ year lifelong career dedicated to sustainable seafood with Denver-based Seattle Fish Co. He spent nearly a decade with WAFDO as an associate, and quickly rose through the ranks as not only one of the only industry voices, but the only voice from the seafood sector. He remains on the Seattle Fish Co. team where he trains and mentors other industry members as one of the only AFDO certified instructors in Colorado. He teaches seafood HACCP certified courses to industry and regulatory partners around the country.
“Effective and proactive food safety systems are a cornerstone in building consumer trust in our food supply and Ken is an inspirational leader in this area,” shares Seattle Fish Co. President & CEO, Derek Figueroa. “We’re incredibly proud to have a Seattle Fish Co. employee advocate for our industry in such an impactful way. He’s already making waves by becoming their first industry President, so we can’t wait to see how his passion and dedication reverberates through WAFDO for years to come.”
About WAFDO The Western Association of Food and Drug Officials (WAFDO) is a non-profit association organized for the purpose of improving communication and cooperation with the respective local, state, and federal programs, and for promoting the development and enforcement of uniform food, drug, and consumer protection laws.
About Seattle Fish Co. For more than 100 years, Seattle Fish Co. has been dedicated to serving those who serve others. Recognized for playing a major role in making fresh seafood available in the Rocky Mountain region, Seattle Fish Company sources and distributes sustainable seafood and gourmet provisions daily from around the world, providing products of the highest quality to over 1,400 restaurants and retailers. Seattle Fish Co. is dedicated to fostering sustainable fishing practices, including supporting local aquaculture farms, as well as fishery improvement projects around the world, ensuring that seafood as a healthful protein is available for all, for generations to come. For more information, please visit Seattle Fish Company’s website at www.seattlefish.com
Seattle Fish Company & Gourmet Provisions is excited to announce that Sara Salyer has been promoted to Inventory Control Manager, joining the company’s leadership team.
Sara started her career at Seattle Fish in June of 2017 and has worked in a variety of roles, most recently as the Supervisor of Freight and Inventory. In this new Inventory Control Manager position, Sara leads all Inventory and Receiving activities and teams, while also working closely with the Freight and Quality Teams.
The top priority of this position will be to improve inventory accuracy through careful receiving procedures, robust processes that reflect the inventory activity in our warehouse, and reconciling variances to drive improvement. Additionally, Sara will supervise our receiving, inventory, and freight supervisors in this position.
In her new role, Sara has most enjoyed getting to work on transforming our employee experience and increasing our employee engagement. “I enjoy working as a part of a team and am passionate about leading others down the path to finding their true potential,” said Sara.
“From the moment I started working with Sara, I was impressed by her highly engaging leadership style and ability to influence change,” said Chris Franklin, Director of Operations. “She’s been instrumental in implementing process improvement across multiple departments. Sara has a bright future and I’m excited to see her continue to expand her influence across the entire organization.”
Get to know Sara Salyer better by reading her Q&A below!
What are your favorite ways to unwind outside of work?
My favorite things to do outside of work are spending time with my big, silly family in the mountains, hiking, biking, and camping. I also love live music and I will take any opportunity to be outside dancing at Red Rocks to my favorite bands!
What’s your favorite seafood? How do you like to prepare it?
I can’t pick one favorite! I honestly love them all and am always excited to taste something new and then challenge myself to prepare it at home and introduce it to my family.
This month our Fun Fish is Sheepshead! Sheepshead are caught year-round off the east and west coasts of Florida and are harvested in a variety of ways, including cast net, speared or hook and line. Their diet consists mainly of barnacles, baby crabs, and oysters. The mouth (sometimes called “human teeth”) is designed to crack the hard shell of the barnacles or oysters it eats!
Sheepshead is sweet and delicious with a slight shellfish flavor. Its meat is firm, moist and a bit oily. This oil & moisture content contributes to its sweet, firm and flaky feel on the mouth. There are several ways to prepare this fish, from boiling, grilling, baking, frying or roasting the whole fish.
This month we are featuring a recipe from Chili Pepper Madness of Blackened Sheepshead with Basil-Lime Cream Sauce. Click here for the full recipe!
The National Fisheries Institute (NFI) recently hosted the 11th anniversary of The Global Seafood Market Conference (GSMC) from January 16-20, 2023, in Palm Springs, California. GSMC is an annual conference that offers high-caliber insights into trends and provides expertise on seafood products, markets, and consumers.
Savanna Ronco, Seattle Fish Company’s Marketing & Brand Specialist, attended the conference, held at the La Quinta Resort in Palm Springs. Savanna is an active member of NFI’s Communications & Education Committee and will be participating in the NFI Future Leaders program in 2023.
This year’s GSMC agenda featured many expert speakers from both inside and outside of the seafood industry – shedding light on relevant topics such as retail, food service, economics, freight, and other sectors. While the seafood industry will continue to be unpredictable throughout 2023, Seattle Fish Company will continue to collaborate with NFI and other industry partners to voice current challenges and develop solutions.
Below are a few key takeaways from the 2023 GSMC Conference:
1 – Consumer buying power is shifting to “younger” Americans.
A big topic of conversation at this year’s GSMC was that Millennials and Gen Z now make up over 40% of the US population. According to the US census, by the year 2030 half of all Americans will be Millennials, Gen Z, or younger. Chris DuBois, EVP and Practice Leader at IRi, suggests that a massive change is coming, as the younger generations begin to hold most of the buying power both in retail and foodservice. For seafood in particular, IRi has noticed that millennials are purchasing much less seafood than boomers, and the climate is “ripe to embrace new ways to drive demand”, including more demand for storytelling, informational display cards or QR codes, or cooking instructions with health benefits.
Kelly Fecher of Datassential shared that 67% of Gen Z consumers have taken a video of a dish at a restaurant or meal at home and shared to social media. As the buying power shifts to younger Americans, they will relate to restaurants and retail stores that engage with them on social media, and many state that they would go to a restaurant they’ve never been to specifically to try a dish they saw online. Additionally, video sites like Instagram and TikTok continue to drive new food trends, like the butter boards that went viral in 2022. Fechner reported that 76% of consumers are excited about new food & beverage trends in 2023 and 74% of restaurant operators say that new food & beverage trends will be important to their business in the upcoming year.
2 – “Transparency is the cornerstone of trust in food.”
Mickie French, Executive Director of The Center for Food Integrity, spoke about “Changing the Tide on Consumer Trust”, saying that “Trust is every organization’s most valuable intangible asset.” French shared that “shared values are 3-5 times more important to building trust than sharing facts or demonstrating technical skills/expertise.” According to Richard Barry of NFI, this isn’t a “clear cut win for seafood” because the industry has so much information to share, which makes it all the more important that seafood companies and distributors act as a trusted source of information and a valuable partner to consumers.
French stated that younger consumers, in particular, expect transparency in their food system, with 83% wanting companies that align with their values. Additionally, Gen Z consumers are taking a more holistic approach to food & health and are the only generation putting mental health in the Top 3 benefits sought from food, beverage, and nutrients. Her suggestions for the seafood industry were to embrace the skepticism, share why you care (which is as important as what you know), and don’t overload people with facts, instead focusing on the most important information in addition to shared values.
3 – GSMC 2023 Insights & Trends
Fechner of Datassential shared that 32% of consumers say they’ll never visit restaurants as often as they did before the pandemic, which is understandably concerning for many people in the hospitality industry. This could be for a number of reasons, including the surprising “staying power” of working from home, as well as people moving from the cities to the suburbs, or from the suburbs to a more rural area, as a result of the pandemic. She suggests that operators will have to “step up their game” to win these consumers back. One of the ways she’s seen restaurants do this is by adding items to your menu with high “purchase intent” and “draw”, meaning an item that people come to your restaurant specifically to enjoy, like Joe’s Crab Shack’s “Build your own Boil”.
Labor and staffing continue to be a major issue for the hospitality industry, particularly in foodservice. Chef Andrew Gruel of Calico Fish House in California shared on a panel that the labor challenges have resulted in him considering and testing value added products for the first time as a chef to alleviate some of the burden on his back-of-house staff. Michael Brennan of Specialty Restaurants Corporation agreed, adding that his group is also testing 4-day work weeks, daily staff meals, and extra incentives for management.
Steve Sands, President of Protein Brands at Performance Food Group, did a presentation on “Markets and Marketing Trends in Animal Protein”, which focused largely on the comparison between premium beef and seafood. Sands said, “Even though beef is by far your most expensive protein, it is not slowing down people’s consumption.” One of the reasons for this is that beef is “far ahead of other proteins” on branding and telling a story. However, with the widespread drought in 2022, the USDA is predicting a drop in beef output in 2023, up to 9% in Q3 and Q4. This means that operators need to be prepared for increased costs as well as thinking “outside of the box” on other proteins to fill the void.
Savanna recommends:
Connect servers and diners with your food & ingredients. Data shows that now, more than ever, consumers are interested in where their food comes from. They want to know the story behind the dish you are serving or ingredients you choose, what family farmers they might be supporting, or what social/environmental impact they are making by choosing to support your restaurant or retail store. Encourage your diners to share stories or videos online with a tag to your restaurant so you can repost.
Take a look at the biggest uses of labor in your operation and evaluate which brings benefit to the customer, and what might be outsourced with no loss of value. Create space to experiment or research options that you may not have considered in the pre-pandemic world, such as changing portion sizes, labor scheduling, specials, value added products, etc.
Understanding how shoppers and diners engage with seafood and other proteins, the forces that shape that engagement, and how external forces impact our industry will continue be important. Look for Seattle Fish Co. to continue to invest in industry leadership that shapes our marketplace, keep our pulse on the trends as well as important information you need, and share this with you in a meaningful manner.
Exciting Changes Ahead for Seattle Fish Co. & Lombardi Brothers Meats
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 fromNovember 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.
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.
