Supermarket Perimeter - August 2019 - 57

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FOR RETAIL SEAFOOD DEPARTMENTS,
Fortune Fish & Gourmet, Bensenville, Illinois,
markets yellowﬁn tuna steaks and portions,
tuna loins to-cut in store, tuna and swordﬁsh
tray packed portions, swordﬁsh steaks and
portions and swordﬁsh loins to-cut in store.
"These are usually our staple top-selling
seafood items," says Stacy Schultz, Fortune's
director of marketing and sustainability
coordinator.
In recent years, she adds, Fortune has seen
an increase in value added and frozen items.
That said, fresh is the niche that has worked
out best for Fortune.
"Our fresh hand-cut items have been the
most popular. They are of the utmost quality
and the best around."
When it comes to popularity, tuna is gaining
ground faster than swordﬁsh, Schultz says - in
large part related to the predictability of pricing from week to week.
"Swordﬁsh pricing ﬂuctuates more and that
tends to inﬂuence purchasing popularity - for
the retail establishment and the customer off
the street," she says. "If pricing is high and the
retailer doesn't carry fresh swordﬁsh, then the
customer off the street doesn't have the product available for purchase."
Pricing and availability for both species,
however, are highly affected by seasonality
and weather, Schultz says. Both tuna and
swordﬁsh are migratory top predatory species
that swim great distances to follow food.
Another reason for tuna's popularity has
to do with trendy dishes in which it's a main
ingredient, Schultz says.
"Tuna is gaining in popularity due to
increased sales of poke bowls and sushi grab
and go."
Seasonality also affects purchasing trends
of consumers in that both yellowﬁn tuna and
swordﬁsh are viewed as great grilling ﬁsh.
When it comes to merchandising, most
Fortune product is sold from a fresh counter,
Schultz says. In addition, 10-K OTR ﬁlm (highly
permeable vacuum-sealed ﬁlm that complies with FDA oxygen transmission rates) is
commonly used to wrap ﬁsh packed in trays,
making fresh ﬁsh case- ready for customers to
grab and go.
"Some of these trays are oven-ready, and
when packed with ﬁsh, a marinade or herbed

butter, they're more convenient for the home
cook," she says. "And convenient packaging
that can be used in meal kits is also increasing
in demand."
No discussion of contemporary retail marketing of fresh tuna and swordﬁsh would be
complete, Schultz says, without considering
the impact sustainability has had on the markets for both ﬁsh.
"Seafood sustainability has become a
priority for our retail partners. Fortune Fish &
Gourmet has made selling sustainable seafood
a priority since the day we opened.
The company has a marine biologist on
staff heading its sustainability program, and
Fortune is a founding member of a Seapact, a
non-proﬁt organization of like-minded North
American seafood companies dedicated to
driving stewardship and continuous improvement of social, economic, and environmental
responsibility throughout the global seafood
supply chain, she says.

certiﬁed non-GMO, and the company offers
a wide variety of merchandising materials to
support retailers' tuna sales.
Wild Planet offers a wide variety of merchandising materials to help retailers inform
their customers that they care about offering
them the very best tuna in a responsible and
sustainable way.
Counter cards, table tents and napkin
dispenser signs are among the materials Wild
Planet can provide its retail partners.
Wild Planet sources albacore and skipjack
tuna only from pole and troll ﬁsheries. This
artisanal, small-scale method is primarily
practiced by family ﬁshermen, and used by
numerous ﬂeets around the world.
"They deserve our support. Though not the
most proﬁtable method or the most efficient,
this catch method is considered a best choice
in harvest technique by a consensus of international environmental organizations studying
this issue," according to Wild Planet.

A commitment to artisan, small-scale
McKinleyville, California-based Wild Planet
Foods sells only 100% sustainably caught
wild tuna. All of the company's tuna products
feature whole loin muscle and are nutritionally-dense and lower in mercury, due to the
smaller size of the ﬁsh used.
New tuna products from Wild Planet include
sashimi-grade whole ﬁllet and skipjack wild
tuna packs.
The sashimi-grade whole ﬁllets are 43
ounces of wild albacore tuna and ship 6 to a
case. Product is packed with a touch of pure
sea salt and cooked just once in the pouch to
retain all of the rich Omega 3 natural juices.
The new sashimi product features no added
water, oil or ﬁllers. Each pouch yields a full 43
ounces of delicious wild albacore tuna.
The skipjack product, also 43 ounces,
contains no added salt and is perfect for
low-sodium diets, according to Wild Planet.
The company hand packs its raw Skipjack tuna
loins with no added salt or liquids, and cooks
them just once, in the pouch, to retain all the
rich Omega 3 natural juices.
Light in color with big tuna ﬂavor, simply mix the natural juices into the tuna for
enhanced ﬂavor, nutrition and maximum yield.
All Wild Planet Foodservice products are
www.supermarketperimeter.com

In addition to grab
and go tuna steak
packs, Minneapolisbased Coastal
Seafoods' retail
perimeter tuna
product roster
includes #1 Sashimi
grade ahi tuna,
ahi tuna, blueﬁn
tuna and albacore
tuna/tombo.
AUGUST 2019 - 57
http://www.supermarketperimeter.com
Supermarket Perimeter - August 2019

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