reLAKSation
203.
It’s
a different product: Last week, the BBC’s
‘Full on Food’ TV programme included a feature on salmon. This demonstrated
how the views of the most knowledgeable foodies are riddled with preconceptions
and how little they really know about farmed salmon. Chef presenter Richard
Corrigan of the Lindsay House restaurant in London had only ever cooked with and
eaten wild salmon and believed that all farmed salmon were only fit for the bin.
Mr
Corrigan visited his native Ireland in an attempt to compare wild salmon with
fish that had been farmed organically. Having waxed lyrical about wild salmon,
he was unable to actually catch one. He eventually resorted to showing the
camera one that had been caught earlier. Viewers were told how wild salmon were
sleek and muscular and that unlike their farmed counterparts, the colour of wild
salmon could vary. Clearly, they hadn’t seen the variation in colour that
occurs in farmed salmon, sometimes noticeable in different packs on the same
supermarket shelf.
Mr
Corrigan then went off to visit the organic salmon farm at Clare Island and was
surprised by what he saw. Perhaps, he was expecting to see something more akin
to an intensive broiler unit? He clearly had no idea how salmon were farmed. He
asked whether organic salmon were considered to be comparable to wild and was
told that the two were different, meeting different consumer needs.
We,
at Callander McDowell believe that this was the most important point to come out
of this programme. Farmed salmon provides the wider market place with a value
for money everyday meal choice. Consumers are now able to eat a healthy meal
made from salmon whenever they want. If we only had access to the wild fish,
then it would be available only as a special treat. In terms of taste, a wild
fish that has foraged for its food, may be superior, but that doesn’t make
farmed fish any less desirable to consumers. The problem for the industry is
that chefs like Mr Corrigan are too dismissive of farmed salmon and their
preconceptions are too readily adopted by the wider market place.
In
this case, Mr Corrigans preconceptions were shown to be unfounded. He was really
surprised when he eventually ate the Clare Island salmon he had prepared. He
even said that he would be willing to put it on his restaurant menu, as organic
salmon. When asked if it was as good as wild salmon, he replied that it was a
different product. This was certainly an about face. Earlier he had said when
you walk down the aisles of the supermarket and see all that prepackaged salmon,
looking slimy, in these hermetically sealed little plastic boxes, then you see
something that I wouldn’t want to bring into my restaurant. He failed to
realise that when told that Clare Island sell their fish to over 400 UK
supermarkets, they reach the consumer in the same prepacked hermetically sealed
little plastic boxes. This is exactly the same salmon that he will now be
willing to bring into his restaurant.
Of
course, Mr Corrigan is no different to any other consumer. What they say and
what they do is often two different things. This week, salmon was no-where to be
seen on the menu at Lindsay House, irrespective of whether it was wild or
organic.
It's
different!: An IntraFish editorial asks
whether IKEA can do for salmon, what it did for furniture? The conclusion is
that if the company stays true to form, that IKEA could make seafood and salmon
a more global phenomenon, however, we at Callander McDowell are not convinced.
The
editorial was prompted by the announcement that IKEA are to launch a range of
private label product. The first product is made with herring and has already
appeared in its Swedish food markets. Managing Director of IKEA Foodservices,
Jan Kjellman said that the idea behind putting an IKEA label onto food products
is pretty basic private label logic. He said that that outside Sweden, not many
people know Swedish brands so that the average non-Scandinavian consumer might
respond better to an IKEA salmon than one from Leroy. He added that there are
other private label considerations such as competitive pricing and brand
recognition. Mr Kjellman believes that the blue and gold IKEA logo is well known
and could probably make any number of items sell at higher volumes.
Certainly,
the IKEA brand is well known but in our view a high brand recognition is no
guarantee to increased sales. The problem for IKEA is that their food outlets
are contained in their furniture stores. Most people who purchase items of
Swedish food from IKEA have usually just eaten in the IKEA restaurant and in
common with the experience of holiday makers returning from foreign travel, IKEA
customers often buy something to take home. The fact that the product has an
IKEA brand or not is irrelevant. The challenge is to persuade these customers to
make a repeat purchase. This is not easy, simply because the products are only
available through IKEA food outlets. The IKEA shopping experience is actually
something of a nightmare because of the volumes of shoppers. This is an
experience that many customers are prepared to bear because it is usually a one
off as buying furniture is not a regular shopping trip. It is unlikely that many
customers would be willing to repeat the experience just to buy food.
With
the launch of their own food brand, IKEA could try to widen their potential
market by supplying their products to the existing supermarket network. The
problem is that whilst IKEA have brand recognition for furniture, they might
find it much more of a challenge if they had to compete with existing food
brands as well as against supermarkets’ own label. IKEA need to offer
something extra to attract customers as well as overcoming possible resistance
to Swedish dishes. We, at Callander McDowell are not sure if the blue and gold
logo is enough.
Huon
and on and on: Seafoodintelligence.com report
that Huon Aquaculture has taken over Springs Smoked Seafoods with the intention
of creating Australia’s largest privately owned integrated ‘gate to plate’
salmon business. Springs Smoked Seafoods products are sold in more than 700
supermarkets and the company also supplies products for Qantas in flight meals.
Whilst
salmon farming companies in Norway are busy consolidating production through
mergers and acquisitions to produce ever larger production companies, Huon
Aquaculture has shown that there is more to the salmon business than producing
large quantities of raw salmon flesh. Whilst, Huon are not the first company to
go down this route, they provide a timely reminder that salmon prices will not
remain high for ever. Falling prices will mean that margins will be put under
increasing pressure so the opportunity to seek elsewhere in the supply chain
will become an increasingly attractive option.