Food Export–Northeast regularly conducts promotions of Northeast seafood products around the globe to introduce products or to expand market demand. These promotions are conducted on behalf of the industry and at no cost to individual businesses. As foreign markets begin to reopen after coronavirus, Food Export–Northeast is ramping up seafood promotions to reclaim markets and to develop new markets. To help demonstrate the value of these promotions, we wanted to take you behind the scenes and show you what these promotions look like.
The Food Export–Northeast team often works with the catering sector to host promotional events. Supporting promotions of American lobster through China’s foodservice sector created consumer awareness and demand that led to China becoming the leading foreign market consumer of this important Northeast US seafood product.
The Food Export–Northeast team also often works with major food distributors supplying to tens of thousands of restaurants. These seafood distributors will showcase specific products in their catalogs and promote their value and versatility. This is a popular promotional tactic in France where we support promotions of monkfish, dogfish, scallops and skate.
Similar to foodservice promotions, Food Export–Northeast also hosts promotions with retail chains to promote Northeast US seafood. In Vietnam, consumers open and curious about US seafood products since they are considered to have high quality and safety standards. Food Export–Northeast recently worked with Vietnamese foodie social media influencers to get the word out about American Lobster to explain their origin, great taste, and availability. The influencers typically share recipes, pictures of meals and fun, or interesting seafood facts to entice their followers to try something new and exciting. Once the consumer is in store, they’ll see point of sale or promotional advertising to further explain how they can use the seafood. Sometimes, small samples are distributed for consumers to taste.
One of the most popular ways to promote Northeast US seafood products is to introduce them to esteemed chefs. Food Export–Northeast has hosted chef training seminars in various countries including China, Spain, Germany, France, and many more to introduce new species to a region. This results in more chefs adding Northeast US seafood products to their menus for more consumers to enjoy, ultimately driving greater overall awareness and demand.
About Food Export USA – Northeast
With its extensive programs and educational offerings, Food Export USA–Northeast (Food Export–Northeast) is recognized as the preeminent expert and cost-effective resource for Northeast seafood and agricultural suppliers looking to sell their products overseas. Founded in 1973, Food Export–Northeast is a non-profit organization that works collaboratively with its 10 member states’ agricultural promotion agencies from Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont, to facilitate trade between suppliers and worldwide importers and to promote the export of food, agricultural and seafood products from those states. Since its founding, the organization has helped Northeast seafood suppliers gain access to a broad range of export markets, supported overseas in-market educational and promotional programs and offers emerging suppliers access to funds to help grow their export business. The organization is funded through the Market Access Program (MAP), administered by the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service.
Learn more about us and what we do for the Northeast seafood industry here. Contact us.