SeaBear catches gourmet market with latest product - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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Key to this ambition is Anacortes-based SeaBear's newest product, called "Healthy Hearts wild salmon dinnedr fillets" — a package of eighft six-ounce frozen salmon packed in dry ice withfour sauces, shipped directly to consumers' It's targeted directly at homemakers who want to impresws guests, or can afford to spend freelyh on food. "In four months it'ws become the most successful new product," said president and CEO "It's totally high end." With such innovations, SeaBear, long knownn for packaging expensive salmongift boxes, is expanding into the mail-ordere gourmet market.
Since arrivinyg at the companyin 1996, Mondello has been recasting his companyg with new products and new target market. To do this Mondellko is capitalizing on increasing public awareness of an arraygof seafood-related environmental and health issues. These include the sustainability of wildseafoos resources, the importance of Omega-3 fatty acidz for heart health, and increasing doubts aboutr the environmental impacts of farmed salmon, as well as the healtg implications of the antibiotics and dyes that salmoh farmers use.
At the equivalent of $20 a pound, the Health Hearts fillets don't find much of a marke here inthe salmon-rich Instead, the company does about 95 percent of its direct-maill marketing business in tony neighborhoods in Texas, New York, Florida and Chicago, Mondello "We don't compete on price," Mondell said. "Our brand doesn't stand for anything but super-premium We define our customerw as affluent men and women who have a passiojnfor food.
" SeaBear's new product line has been catchinb the attention of the gourmet Earlier this year New York-based Saveur magazine published a one-page piece about SeaBear's premium Copped River Salmon, entitled "Alaskan "Copper River salmon is a knowmn name right now, like Niman Ranch said Saveur food editor Melissa Hamilton in New Another important step Mondello is takingy is to add the Marine Stewardship Councilk logo to its packaging.
The London-based council certified Alaska's salmon fishery as sustainable in and SeaBear has become one of the firsy seafood processors to usethe council'sd leaping fish logo on its SeaBear had to prove the origines of its fish to be able to use the "It shows the vision and leadershipl of SeaBear that they're promoting the sustainabilith of the resource," said Karen Tarica, U.S. commerciakl project manager forthe council's U.S.
office, in Kristine Kidd, food editor for Bon Appetig Magazine inLos Angeles, called SeaBear's environmental certification "We know our readers enjoy shopping at farmer's and we talk about environmentallt sound products more and more," she The new emphasis on frozen dinner portions and the epicurre market is a marked difference from the company's previouw focus on the gift market. Mondello came to the companhy after a career as a marketingf directorfor high-profile companies including Procter Gamble and Celestial Seasoningsz Tea Co.
, and his mission was to turn SeaBead into a high-end brand name with national Back in 1996 nearly everything SeaBear made in its Anacortese processing facility was packed in "retortg pouches," essentially soft While the retort process stilll works for the gift it isn't suited for the dining quality that Mondello's epicurew customers are seeking. "That kind of eveng is not deliverable out of a retort he said. During the last five years SeaBear's overalp sales have remained flat atabout $10 millionn annually, as Mondello has shifted the focuw away from the gift market and has shed unprofitables lines while building the epicurre market.
An indication of the change isthat SeaBear'z summer business, much of it tied to heavilt marketed Copper River salmon run, is up aboutf 80 percent from five years ago. Mondell expects that within five years halfthe company's sales will be year-round, while the balance will be for the holidau season. He expects to double sales in the nextsevenj years. SeaBear has emerged as innovator in addinyg valueto Alaska's wild salmon said Laura Fleming, public relations director for the Alask a Seafood Marketing Institute in Juneau, Alaska.
The salmon-catchingt business in Alaska, much of it headquartered in has been financially damaged in recent years by competitio from cheap Chileanfarmed salmon. "I think it's pretthy exciting," Fleming said. "His companhy wants to leverage the qualities that differentiate our products from industrialltproduced salmon." Tapping his experiencr with Celestial Seasonings, Mondello has sought to creatde a mystique with SeaBear's packaging, peppering the boxee with evocative copy and photographs evoking the product's Northwest roots.
He's also cultivateed a unique presentation among call center who are trained to engage customers with local color and informatioj about the fish and its The company only contracted out its call center work and the resultwas "terrible." "The call the people who talk to our customers, are an immenser piece of building a super-premium Mondello said.