Supermarket Perimeter - June 2022 - 54

Seafood: Grab-and-go
Popular and innovative
value-added seafood
Adding innovative flavors and variations of valueadded
seafood - including steam-in-bag and
microwavable meals - continue to spur growth in the
category.
Among Publix's more popular prepared seafood items
is its marinated salmon lines and appetizers. Offering
marinated salmon portions on their own is beneficial,
according to Pizzuti, because there is a growing
segment of customers that do not want the starch and
vegetable to be decided for them.
Gelson's does well with offering live lobsters and fresh
peeled and deveined wild-caught Mexican shrimp,
steam-cooked in-house, Saenz noted. Among the
innovative new products is vacuum-packed, readyto-microwave
shrimp and salmon meals in the fresh
or frozen seafood sections at grocery chains such
as Publix.
" So far, it's performing very well and is adding to the year-over-year
double digit sales growth we are seeing on the fresh seafood salad bar
category, " Saenz said.
While Saenz doesn't expect the plant-based option to achieve the
same volume as its seafood-based pokes, it's " nice to continue to
differentiate ourselves from our competitors. "
Publix is also seeing an uptick in prepared salads, " driven by the
convenience factor within the snacking category, " Pizzuti said.
Publix offers a traditional seafood salad, a tuna salad, and a seafood
pasta salad.
However, similar to the overall prepared seafood category, salads may
be impacted in their performance due to the economy, Pizzuti added.
Seafood salads have done " tremendously well over the past year and
continue to be one of the few areas that is growing sales in the first
quarter of 2022, " Roerink said.
" I think it has everything to do with usage occasions. We've seen the
full on return of entertaining. After being apart for many months, people
are getting back together just to hang out, birthday parties are back on
and all the big holidays are seeing engagement that is nearly back to
pre-pandemic levels. That means we're seeing items like shrimp platters
and seafood salad make a return, just like we see huge gains in fruit
trays and deli prepared sandwich trays and the like, " she added.
Retailers can have some fun with limited time offers, especially if they
develop seafood salads in-store, Roerink suggested.
" It provides an opportunity to change up species and flavors and
introduce people to new items. "
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supermarketperimeter.com
The supplier, Elk Ridge, Md.-based Clean Label
Gourmet Foods, vacuum-seals the tray and then
pressurizes it at extremely high pressure, which
protects against inactive bacteria and viruses. As a
result, the shelf life on the meals is two years frozen
and 45 days refrigerated, according to Todd English,
vice president of sustainability for Boise, Idaho,
U.S.A.-based Riverence Group, which supplies the
sustainable seafood for the meals.
The seafood meals - which
include Thai Style Salmon,
Blackened Salmon, and
Shrimp Stir Fry - contain
only a few ingredients,
and zero additives and
preservatives, according to
English.
Pittsburgh-based Giant
Eagle has had success with value-added items
from Seattle-based Orca Bay Foods, such as garlic
parmesan salmon portions and honey jalapeno salmon.
Blackened and bourbon salmon portions from Miamibased
Camanchaca " have also done extremely well for
us, " said Shawn Oliver, seafood category manager.
Tap into the huge
popularity of salmon
by adding grab-andgo
options to your
salmon lineup.
210 ANALYTICS, FUSIA
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Supermarket Perimeter - June 2022

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