The subsidiary of the Spanish group Nueva Pescanova in the United States aims to conquer the palate of the “man of Cincinnati”, the average American, with new products created specifically for this market, in which he expects to grow from 100 to 150 million dollars in sales for 2020
Following in the footsteps of its parent company, Pescanova USA, based in Coral Gables, a city neighboring Miami, has designed a strategic plan to make the leap from wholesale to marketing and retail, notes Richard Grant. its president and executive director, in an interview with Efe.
The 2017-2020 plan is based on the one adopted in the matrix from which Ignacio González assumed the management and is “reaching the Retail channels (retailers) and Food Service (food services) organized with Pescanova brand”, underlines Grant, a Briton who has lived 25 years in Spain.
In Pescanova USA the wholesale business represented up to now 85% of the total and the objective is to enter the huge and full of opportunities sub-sector of the food services organized in the USA.
That includes creating products to the American taste and that respond to the needs of “convenience”, understood as ease and comfort for consumption, and “health”, because fish is considered a healthy source of protein.
Pescanova Seafood Tapas, Pescanova Snacks and Pescanova Classics are the three product lines that will reach US consumers starting in 2018.
In March they will be presented at the Boston Seafood Fair, the most important showcase in the United States for fish and seafood products, and in April Pescanova USA products will begin selling at Kroger, the second largest supermarket chain in the country, second only to by Walmart.
Kroger is based in Cincinnati, in the state of Ohio, and it is towards that city and its inhabitants where Pescanova USA looks, says Grant to explain that it is not just about selling tapas or ceviches to Spaniards and Latinos in states like Florida where community is great, but to encompass the whole of the United States.
The trends and tastes of the American consumer, including packaging, were investigated over six months and taken into account to create the new products, all made with raw materials raised on farms or captured in the ocean by New Pescanova.
“The response from customers is being spectacular,” says Grant, who believes that if the American consumer is removed “fear” to eat fish and seafood, “you already have half earned.”
Some ideas of Spanish lifestyle, such as tapas, which are seen as a “fun” way to share food with family and friends, are “catching on” among Americans, he adds.
The offer of tapas, which require minimal preparation, include for now three types of skewers, based on white or red prawns and mahi, a type of fish, with different marinades.
The snacks, which are ready to eat, consist of different types of ceviches and Pescanova Classics are dishes that require more preparation time, such as seafood paella or portions of mahi and hake.
Grupo Nueva Pescanova has a workforce of more than 12,000 people (1,100 in Spain) and 18 transformation plants, in which it processes more than 70 species of fish and shellfish that it markets in 80 countries on five continents.
