LP Seafood & Specialty (Formerly Lobster Place Wholesale Seafood)

Why did we rebrand, and why NOW? To us, it felt like the right time due to changes in the market, the recent growth of our specialty catalog, and the fact that we're celebrating 50 years in business *this* week! It feels like an appropriate time to tell the marketplace how our business has evolved, and what they can expect from LP Seafood & Specialty moving forward.

We've got a new look! Lobster Place Wholesale Seaood | Gourmet Cargo is now LP Seafood and Specialty #rebrand #specialtyfoods #seafooddistributor

The bluetongue virus outbreak in western Europe has sent butter prices soaring to unprecedented levels, with a metric ton now exceeding €7,900 - shattering the previous record of €7,400 set in 2022. This dramatic price surge is a direct consequence of the virus's devastating effect on cattle and sheep, significantly reducing milk production across affected regions. DCA Market Intelligence warns that consumers will soon feel the pinch, as these skyrocketing costs are expected to hit supermarket shelves, especially with increased demand during the upcoming holiday season. The virus's rapid spread since July, now affecting multiple countries including Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and France, continues to drive prices upward. With nearly 550 farmers in Flanders alone reporting infections, the economic impact of bluetongue on the dairy industry is proving to be severe and far-reaching, despite posing no risk to human health. We'll continue to monitor the pricing situation for our specialty butter brands.

Summer Scallop spawning - when female scallops are in reproduction - is popping up in certain harvest areas. The North Atlantic sea scallop spawn takes place every year from late summer to early fall when water temperatures are at their warmest. The result of a spawning female scallop is the change in pigment, texture of the meat, and release of water “milk” after harvest. This release of water from a female scallop in spawn is a natural occurrence, and has no impact on the taste or quality of the scallop. Some scallops in spawn release water after harvest and some don’t, depending on what stage of reproduction they are in. In the fresh scallop world, spawning season is the?#1?challenge every year as we are aware that chefs don’t like to see any moisture, but it’s all part of the nature of wild fishery at this time of year, when dealing with fresh dry North Atlantic sea scallops. We are doing our best to monitor the quality with our scallops, and within the next week or two we anticipate this year’s spawn cycle to be behind us.

Last week, Ian MacGregor and Chefs Dave Seigal and Gina Torres (of Lobster Place and Cull and Pistol) paid a visit to one of our longest standing oyster suppliers, Mike Martinsen, an oyster farmer who harvests Montauk Pearl oysters. We've worked with Mike at Lobster Place for many years - he had a close relationship with Ian's dad back in the day. Mike is the only one farming oysters out in Montauk, and he cultivates the Montauk Pearls from juvenile little specks all the way up to market size. Not only was it incredibly cool to see the nearly one-man operation that Mike has set up out East, but it's important to us to maintain the legacy of the decades-long relationships we have with many of our purveyors. Working with local suppliers like Mike helps us keep the supply chain as tight as possible, and in turn helps our customers offer unique products on their menus, from as close to the source as they can be.

We're thrilled to introduce two new beverage products to our specialty catalog: La Colombe Cold Brew Coffee, and YuzuCo Yuzu Juice! La Colombe is a renowned coffee company, out of Philadelphia. Their cold brew is crafted with fresh roasted beans for a smooth, bold coffee flavor with a clean sip and natural sweetness. YuzuCo specializes in cold-pressed yuzu juice. They offer 100% juice along with their amazing Super Juice blend, a unique and reliable source of brightness that can replace other citrus or acid components 1:1, which helps reduce waste and improve consistency without sacrificing flavor. Seafood might be the cornerstone of our business, and what we've become known for amongst the best kitchens across NYC and the Northeast, but we've been growing our specialty category catalog significantly over the past few years. It all comes back to being able to make our customers' lives easier, by offering all of the specialty products they're looking for from one source.

To control (sea)food costs, NYC foodservice operators should change the way they order fresh fish. If we told you that we’d guarantee the lowest price per lb anywhere in the market, as long as you could never weigh your incoming fish deliveries, you’d probably pass. Yet, that’s precisely what happens every day in the New York area foodservice market. Chefs and purchasers tell their fish suppliers to bill them for the “gross weight” of the whole fish they order before it's filleted – and then tell them not to send the heads, fins, and bones together with the fillet. The invoice then reflects the weight of the whole fish – but the kitchen only gets the fillet and the chef has no way of knowing if the billed weight is accurate. It's madness. It's always smarter to order fish by the Net Weight of the flesh to be received rather than by the Gross Weight of the whole fish to be cut. Many buyers avoid Net Weight purchases because the unit prices are higher than corresponding gross weight prices – but truly savvy chefs know there is no difference between net weight and gross weight costs. Follow this math to see why: · LP recently quoted $6.00/lb for Whole (Gross Weight) Salmon, Filleted with the Skin On. · On the same day, we quoted $9.00/lb for Skin On Salmon Fillet (Net Weight). · A chef orders 1 Whole salmon, filleted with the skin on – asks to be billed for the gross weight of the fish, and requests that the vendor NOT send heads and bones. · The wholes salmon weighs 12 lbs and yields 2 fillets about 4lbs each. At $6.00/lb for the “Gross Weight” of the whole fish before it was cut, the total charge is 12 x 6 = $72.00. But the chef has no way of knowing what that fish really weighed – because all they have is the fillet. · A savvier chef orders 8lbs NET of Salmon Fillet on the same day. They receive 2 fillets, and their receiver verifies that the fillets weigh 8 lbs exactly. The invoice shows 8lbs x $9.00/lb and = $72. They paid $9/lb vs $6/lb - but only paid for usable flesh AND they know EXACTLY what they received. The seafood business is notorious for being a bit “fishy,” and selling products by the pound without giving customers a chance to verify weights only contributes to that. We prefer to compete in markets that are transparent and fair to all sides – which is why we recommend “net weight” fish ordering to all our customers.

The scallop industry is seeing fewer large size scallops (U/10 and 10/20) landings this summer. From what we hear, demand is consistent year over year for this time of year, but the landings have been of smaller sized scallops. In 2022, there were closures in certain areas of MA for scalloping and this resulted in the scallops being able to grow for longer and get to be larger in size. In 2023 when the areas re-opened, they were catching more large size scallops because of this. However, there were no closures like that in 2023, so now the scallops that are being caught are trending smaller. Something to keep in mind for the summer season, which is always a busy time for scallops in the Northeast!

We're pleased to share that we'll be expanding our specialty product range even further with the upcoming addition of The Spotted Trotter charcuterie to our catalog. The Spotted Trotter is a boutique Charcuterie House and Butcher Shop based in Atlanta, GA. Their products feature an exquisite balance in flavor, price, and sustainability, and all of their ingredients are sourced with responsibility in mind. We'll be offering a delicious array of sausages and cured meats like chorizo, 'nduja, guanciale and coppa. Being able to offer our customers a wide range of highly curated and unique specialty products, in addition to the highest quality seafood available, has become an important cornerstone of our business since we acquired Gourmet Cargo, and one of the ways we strive to make our customers' lives easier in the kitchen.

The pause on Congestion Pricing means crisis averted for now - but even without the looming threat of delivery fees, we should still work together to change the 7-9AM "attended" delivery paradigm that most foodservice operators prefer. Doing business this way in New York City makes foodservice delivery expensive and environmentally unfriendly. Here's why: When NYC operators insist that deliveries be made to attended kitchens during a 2 hour time window in the early part of rush hour, it forces distributors like Lobster Place to be in hundreds of locations at the same time at the precise moment when vehicle mobility is at its worst. By allowing early access to unattended kitchens before 7am, operators reduce the requirement for distributors to be everywhere at once, greatly speed up delivery times, and consequently reduce the number of trucks required to "feed the kitchens." We estimate that by expanding the delivery window to 5am-9am, kitchens could reduce the number of trucks required to make deliveries by as much as 33%. Case in point - imagine what it would mean for your personal relationship with Amazon if you only accepted your packages in a 2 hour window of time during rush hour and you made the Amazon courier wait for you to open your box and inspect its contents. The Amazon courier would NEVER be able to finish their route - and Amazon would need more trucks and drivers to deliver their packages on time. This is why purveyors have delivery minimums and delivery charges and Amazon doesn't - because the 7-9AM attended delivery paradigm makes last mile logistics incredibly inefficient. But we can work together to change that. With your permission and cooperation, our drivers can access your unattended kitchen as early as 5:30AM, load-in your products in the locations you specify, snap a photo of the delivery contents, and lock up behind them. When your crews arrive and inspect the product, we'll still replace it same day is there's a problem. We're already doing this at over 60 locations across the city. Governor Hochul might have removed the financial consequence of continuing the status quo - but early access/"dark drops" are still a better, more environmentally friendly way of doing business.