The Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association will head into retail markets in Boulder, Colorado this fall with a pilot project to promote the Bristol Bay brand of wild Alaska salmon.
While the focus will be on retailers, the BBRSDA also has a project going with the Chefs Collaborative in the Boulder area to get Bristol Bay salmon on menus and teach chefs about the value and unique quality of Bristol Bay sockeye, says Becky Marcello, executive director of the BBRSDA.
Boulder was selected in part because of its size, and also because of its predominantly young, affluent, health conscious population, said Marcello.
The important thing, says Mike Friccero of Kodiak, a veteran harvester and president of the BBRSDA, is to tell Bristol Bay’s story.
“People want wild fish from a sustainable source. We are trying to make sure our fish is presented as Bristol Bay sockeye in more markets in the United States, and to make sure they have quality fish,” Friccero said.
The BBRSDA is getting support from the project from Copper River Seafoods.
“Partnering with the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association was a positive collaborative experience, says Scott Blake, president and chief executive officer of Copper River Seafoods. “They’ve done a great job beginning to develop a strong platform for the Bristol Bay brand.”
Blake said his company took the branding concept to their customers and successfully executed it by doing what they do best- supplying the highest quality fresh fish that matches the image the fishermen and the RSDA, are working so hard to achieve. “The fresh programs we built this year with our customers have momentum and we see potential to grow them in 2017,” he said.
