Over 3,000 Chefs were engaged on questions related to fish species and fish use. Here are the first findings:
We found first of all, that COVID impacts on most chefs’ businesses fell in the middle ground: that is, about 75% of respondents said that they remained open but traffic was down OR they remained open and were doing OK. Outside of the first few weeks of the #pandemic, it seems that is the overriding experience everywhere: that things somewhat mirror the way they used to be but are nowhere as good. Sort of like the ability to eat dinner but without the sense of smell and only a partial sense of taste.
Then we got into fish species and asked about preferences. We were a little surprised to find that the favorite species on the list was #Steelheadtrout and #Rainbowtrout but then we realized this was probably a #recencybias – as the previous question was entirely about #trout. But the next favorite fish species was, surprisingly, #AtlanticSalmon! In fact, #AtlanticSalmon outperformed #KingSalmon on the list – which was a big surprise. Below you can see the responses to this question.
We switched gears and dug into preferred sources of #farmedsalmon. Results this time were unsurprising, except for the last placed source: Land-based, recirculating systems. This was behind even #ChileanSalmon which has traditionally been the least preferred source of salmon. We will dig into this in future surveys to understand the nuances behind this! Unsurprisingly, #NorwegianSalmon was most preferred, followed by #FaroeseSalmon, #ScottishSalmon and then #CanadianSalmon. No real surprises there.
We asked what role fish would have on their menus moving forward and 43% said they would use a lot of different types, while 24% said they would rotate among species. And as far as what types of fish they would utilize, 81% said #salmon, 57% said #tuna and 51% said “some type of whitefish (cod, halibut, etc.).
When we asked about frozen fish, this elicited a broad spectrum of opinions. An equal amount of chefs (27%) said it was “to be avoided” as said “use regularly due to better cost or shelf life”. And 16% fell in the middle ground (30% had their own unique comments under “other”).
In terms of which products they were going to be using, (whole or fillets), this was split almost exactly down the middle – surprising considering the growth of fillet imports to the US in 2020 (whole fish has declined 10% while fillets are up 9.5% year over year).
Finally, in terms of what impact “sustainability” has on chefs in their fish-buying decisions, 97% said either “extremely important” or “somewhat important”. More drilling down on this topic is required for a better understanding of how sustainability affects buying motivations.
All in all some interesting nuggets that will certainly lead to further research and hopefully useful insights to drive #seafoodmarketing #strategies.
