Aiming to Lure Home Chefs With Seafood Offerings

Despite being hard-hit by economic pressures, the $18.8 billion seafood sector is swimming with opportunities. For example, at-home seafood preparation and consumption has climbed 6% (to 59%) over last year, according to FMI, The Food Industry Association. Adventuresome Gen Zers and millennials comprise over half of frequent seafood eaters, FMI notes in its 2024 Power of Seafood report.

Frozen remains the largest retail seafood category with sales of $6.7 billion for the year ended Dec. 31, 2023, per Circana, followed by fresh at $6.2 billion, deli sushi at $3.1 billion, and center-store at $2.6 billion. Shrimp, salmon, tuna, and crab accounted for over 70% of seafood sales.

Moreover, 43% of frequent seafood eaters are experimenting with new or different types of seafood. According to T. Hasegawa, 40% of U.S. adults regularly eat sushi. For the four years ended March 2023, salmon sashimi was among the fastest-growing entrées on restaurant menus, per Datassential.

• Home Cooking Takes Hold. Over half of Gen Z seafood consumers (57%) versus 37% overall say they’re cooking more seafood than a year ago, per FMI. And smart marketers are making preparation easier.

Scott & Jon’s new frozen Salmon Bowls feature uncooked ingredients for microwaving. Their new stovetop seafood 10-Minute Meals include Shrimp Fajitas. Prime Shrimp’s boil-in-the-bag New Orleans Style BBQ Shrimp is ready in seven minutes. Cooke Seafood’s Breaded Scallop Medallions are air-fryer ready. East Coast Seafood’s Shrimp Fried Rice with a 28-day shelf life is paving the way for seafood in the deli fresh-prepared sector. Aquamar’s refrigerated Steamed Mussels with Tomato & Garlic are ready to heat and serve.

Jimmy’s Famous Seafood’s Old Bay All-In-One Crab Cake Mix offers a shortcut for creating the iconic Maryland Crab Cake. Tastee Choice offers regional favorites that are ready to serve in minutes, like Crawfish Boil with corn, Louisiana crawfish, andouille sausage, and red potatoes.

Wahoo sushi, walleye, trout, Hawaiian poke, crawfish, mahi-mahi, and grouper are fast-growing regional favorites, per the National Fisheries Institute.

• Breaking and Entering. Savvy seafood marketers are stepping into new dayparts and categories.

SK Food Brands’ Premium Shrimp Sliders and East Coast Seafood’s Lobster Roll Sliders aim to rev up lunch. Argentinian-style Tria Crab Dip Empanadas with blue crab from 3Fish Inc. are a new ethnic frozen handheld entrée.

Phillips Crab Toast features premium crab meat, breadcrumbs, and Worcestershire sauce on lightly toasted bread triangles. Handy’s has created Shrimp & Sweet Onion Tempura Swirls.

Highland Farms introduced Salmon Salami, air-dried for 14 days over beechwood. Salmones Austral North America’s Salmon Bacon comes from Patagonian aquaculture farms.

Ocean Beauty Seafoods’ Echo Falls Smoked Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon Nuggets offer an alternative to chicken nuggets.

Acme’s single-serve, grab-and-go Lox in a Box snack kits feature smoked salmon, cream cheese or avocado spread, artisanal crackers, and utensils. StarKist’s fully cooked, on-the-go Smart Bowls feature tuna, grains, and vegetables in flavors like Latin Citrus.

Snacks from the Sea’s Kelpie Chips are made from sustainably harvested kelp and come in flavors such as Zesty Pizza. Surfsnax introduced Salmon Jerky; Ideal Fish a Smoked Branzino Dip.

Multi X’s ready-to-eat Latitude 45 Smoked Salmon Candy Bites feature salty, sweet, and smoky flavors.

• Fish Is Medicine. Eight in 10 frequent seafood consumers say that nutrition and health are the primary reasons (or at least very important reasons) they eat seafood, per FMI.

More than half of U.S. adults say the desire for optimal heart health, high quality protein, and omega-3s have a major impact on their decision to eat seafood. Those citing an omega-3 claim as a purchase motivator jumped 7% over 2023, according to FMI.

Four in 10 cite immune system and mental health support as reasons. Nearly six in 10 say mercury concerns have impacted their seafood purchases, per FMI. Wild-caught is now preferred over farm-raised.

Meanwhile, alternative seafood sales have suffered, falling under $10 million in 2023, a decline of 15% in dollar sales and 22% in unit sales since 2022, per Circana. To counter that, Konscious Foods recently introduced three new innovative plant-based offerings: Smoked Salmon, Kimbap Korean Veggie Rice Roll, and Salmon Avocado Roll.ft