Background
From humble beginnings selling the day’s catch on the pier starting in 1939, Santa Monica Seafood now supplies one of the largest selections of seafood in the Southwest. With markets in Santa Monica and Costa Mesa, Santa Monica Seafood offers huge, live shellfish and fresh or frozen fish for curbside pickup and home delivery. One thing that hasn’t changed is Santa Monica Seafood’s commitment to sustainable sourcing from a network of trusted fishermen and aquaculturists.
Santa Monica Seafood sells the vast majority of seafood and other products by the pound. Dealing in mainly small portions as they are ordered, there was no need to consider prepackaging. Simply wrapping in freezer paper offered a safe, easy method for packing seafood for delivery or in-store purchases.
Objectives
While Santa Monica Seafood was successful in their classic business model, they wanted to explore ways to create convenient, tasty ready-to-cook meal kits for their customers with easy-to-use cooking bags from a microwave and oven bag manufacturer.
Given its commitment to quality, Santa Monica Seafood’s primary concern was finding a packaging option that would deliver seafood entrees full of flavor, fresh taste, and nutritional potential. Secondary considerations centered on the ease of preparation and cleanup as well as usability for both customers and employees.
Solution
Santa Monica Seafood did not consider other microwave bag manufacturers before choosing Ready. Chef. Go! cooking bags. “The cooking aspect for the protein first drew our interest in Ready. Chef. Go! bags,” said Eric Costelloe, Santa Monica Seafood’s Vice President of Retail Operations. “We were impressed by the quality of the product once it was fully cooked in the ready-to-cook meal kits.”
Santa Monica Seafood conducted several promotions using both Ready. Chef. Go!’s oven and microwave-cooking bags for customers. Salmon was the natural choice for one of the company’s first forays into grab-n-go store-prepared meals for cooking at home.
Both Santa Monica Seafood locations prepacked seasoned salmon along with a vegetable with delicious spice rubs from Tom Douglas. The new product generated significant interest and sales as well as impressed employees.
“Our employees are the ones selling the product, so they have to believe in it,” Eric said. “Everyone who has tested it at both our locations was amazed at the results, especially the convenience of the microwave bag. Some were quite surprised that the finished food turned out as well as it did after cooking it in the microwave.”
Results
“We would have the store-prepared meal prepacked in the case as a value-added item,” Eric said. “We found that the concept took on significant life, especially at our Santa Monica location.”
He said customers were drawn to the bags both because of the convenience they promised and the attractive manner in which the meal was presented in the transparent meal bags. The quality of both the food and packaging keeps them coming back.
“You may think, ‘Why microwave fish?’ I say, don’t be scared. The ready-to-cook meal kits steam the meals, so the fish comes out of the oven moist and flaky,” Eric said when asked what he would say to those wondering about offering or trying Ready. Chef. Go! bags. “The results are very good. Don’t be afraid.”
If you are a market or restaurant considering offering your customers a convenient, delicious store-prepared meal alternative, you owe it to yourself to consider Ready. Chef. Go! as an oven and microwave bag manufacturer. The cooking bag and cooking box design ensure even, consistent cooking and simple clean-up.
Check out how you can increase distributor and grocery sales by offering our unique product through our cooking bag program. Once you have seen our full line of oven and microwave cooking bags, contact a Ready. Chef. Go! representative.
