If "green" was the buzz adjective of last year's NRA show, "sustainability" made a strong bid to succeed it in 2009. Tom Fiorino of Wild Planet Foods, Inc. wants it to be more than buzz.
"We are a little Humbolt County, California company with big ideas about changing the world," he tells us. We spied some tuna melts being prepared with Wild Planet's sashimi-grade albacore. Since the sandwiches were going to take a few minutes, we asked him to "tell us more about sustainable seafood."
Fiorino told us about how Wild Planet was leading the way among the 10% of albacore producers who abstain from the "long line" fishing method (which inadvertently kills sea turtles, birds and other fish) by employing the "pole and troll" method, which is a fancy way of saying guys with fishing poles, on the back of a boat, catch one fish at a time.
Wild Planet was back at NRA Show 2009 to market a 2-lb. pack of sustainably caught tuna and to offer P.O.S. materials to help operators market the story of sustainability directly to their customers. "Sustainability is starting to be a #1 demand, and that's because of consumer demand," Fiorino told us. "People are interested in who is using the best practices to bring the highest quality food to the table."
Wild Planet's is more expensive than national brands, but the story of positive ecological impact and high quality is something more and more diners are willing to pay for. "Our core market is natural and organic," Fiorino says, with increasing interest from "higher-end restaurants and colleges and universities. That is how it starts."
We were feeling good about Wild Planet, Fiorino seemed to feel as good about the NRA Show. "Traffic has been really, really good," he offered. "We're meeting a lot of the right people."
We should have asked about Wild Planet's other products (like salmon and shrimp), about why their tuna is so much higher in Omega-3 and lower in mercury than the non-sustainable alternatives, about their being named "BEST CHOICE" by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch...but the tuna melts were done, and have you ever tried to conduct an interview while eating a sandwich?
Visit Wild Planet and a host of other green, organic and sustainability-focused exhibitors in the Organic and Natural Pavilion at next year's show.
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