East Coast Seafood, Whitecap partner on new products featuring cold-water shrimp, snow crab

New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based East Coast Seafood and Saint John’s, Newfoundland, Canada-based Whitecap International Seafood have formed a marketing partnership with the goal of developing innovative products for sale in North America.

The alliance grew out of a complementary overlap of the companies’ priorities and a shared desire to expand their value-added seafood offerings, according to East Coast Seafood CEO Bob Blais. Whitecap is a major supplier of Canadian cold-water shellfish including shrimp, snow crab, and lobster; and East Coast has upped its production of retail products following a company reorganization, the expansion of its Salt & Sky retail line, and the opening of its 66,000-square-foot lobster- and scallop-processing facility in New Bedford. All of the species Whitecap supplies are used in East Coast Seafood’s line of Make-Your-Own Roll Kits and, through the co-marketing agreement, the two companies will pursue further utilization of Whitecap’s products in East Coast’s value-added lineup.

“This developed fully when Whitecap said they liked our lobster roll kits and asked us to do something with their cold-water shrimp. Once we did that, they said, ‘Wow, this is great. What about the snow crab?’ We did that one. We then started just bouncing ideas back and forth, and once that collaboration got going, we started looking at our distribution channels and saw they didn’t have a lot of overlap,” East Coast Seafood CEO Bob Blais told SeafoodSource. “We also have different distribution channels, and that's what becomes important on the marketing side. Our focus has been on the big box stores and traditional retailers and they want to get these items into club stores.”

The current lineup of co-marketed products includes Snow Crab Cakes, Seafood Pan Roast, Shrimp Lo Mein, Shrimp Rolls, Snow Crab Rolls, Lobster Mac and Cheese, Snow Crab Mac and Cheese, Lobster Risotto Bites, Snow Crab Stuffed Sole, and a SeaCuterie Board.

"Seafood can be intimidating for consumers to prepare at home and we’ve removed all the guesswork.  Our innovative products are designed to provide healthy and delicious seafood choices, making them easy for the consumer to prepare at home," Blais, who was appointed in 2021, said. “We’re responding to consumer demand for increased seafood choices, with newly inspired flavor profiles and cuisines. Our alliance with Whitecap has helped us to speed and exceed expectations on new product rollouts and remains transformative in our evolution for species and product diversification." 

The Snow Crab Hot Pot, which was a Seafood Excellence Awards finalist, is the star of the lineup, according to East Coast Marketing and Product Development Director Christine Ferranti-Clift. The product contains lo mein noodles, bok choy, carrots, and shiitake mushrooms, and can be prepared with boil-in-bag technology or in the microwave.  After gauging its success in the market, the partnership is considering expanding the line to offer shrimp and lobster alternatives.

“It's healthy, it's wholesome, and lo mein is probably one of the biggest takeout items across the U.S.,” she said. “Asian flavors are on trend right now, but this isn't going out of style.”

East Coast Vice President of Sales and Marketing Steve Musser said the enhanced product-creation process for the line has been grueling but has resulted in better end-products …

Photo courtesy of Cliff White/SeafoodSource