Seattle Fish Company is pleased to announce that Sandra Rietkerk has been promoted to Purchasing Supervisor! At Seattle Fish, our purchasing team is responsible for connecting with our vendors to source the high-quality sustainable seafood and gourmet products that end up in our local restaurants, shops and retail stores.
Sandra joined the Seattle Fish family in December 2018, in the role of Retail Sales Support, assisting the sales team for Whole Foods Market and King Soopers. In October 2019, she moved into a full-time role in purchasing, supporting the buying for Whole Foods, as well as salmon, gulf snappers and pelagic fish. She was promoted to Purchasing Supervisor in November 2021.
Sandra was born and raised in southern California where her family owned a 10-acre wholesale greenhouse growing tropical indoor plants, teaching her from a young age the value of hard work. She studied culinary arts at Le Cordon Bleu. After having her daughter, she transitioned out of working in kitchens and worked as a buyer for West Central Produce, sourcing from small, family farms across California.
In 2015, Sandra moved to San Diego and began working for Catalina Offshore, where she offloaded tuna, learned a lot, and quickly fell in love with the seafood industry.
In her role as Purchasing Supervisor, Sandra’s main job responsibilities are sourcing high-quality seafood products, communicating with the sales team, supporting the purchasing department, building partnerships with vendors and in her words, “buying lots of dead fish!”.
Get to know Sandra Rietkerk better by reading her Q&A below!
What were you the most excited about joining the Seattle Fish team?
Our company values are at our core, and I knew I wanted to be part of the family.
You know we have to ask… What’s your favorite seafood? How do you like to prepare it?
For me, nothing beats crabbing off the coast of Oregon for dungies. Every summer we spent time on the Oregon coast catching crabs and having a beach BBQ with whole salmon.