The Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP) has awarded a combined $750,000 (€638,000) to companies marketing wild Alaska pollock.
On Thursday, GAPP announced it had awarded Nippon Suisan Kaisha-owned Gorton’s Seafood, High Liner Foods, Trident Seafoods-owned Louis Kemp, Pescanova USA, Restaurant Depot and 7-Eleven with funding for new products and proposals.
Gorton’s will be launching a brand-new awareness campaign titled “Move Over Meat, It’s Seafood Time,” which will showcase pollock in a number of recipes.
High Liner Foods, in two separate campaigns, will both launch and drive awareness for its new “Alaska Wild Pollock Fish Wings."
7-Eleven has been funded for a new promotion in 2021, as a follow-up to its popular Wild Alaska Pollock fish sandwich, which it launched during Lent earlier this year.
Pescanova USA will launch a Fettuccine Protein Pasta to target the chilled category and be marketed as the "all good, no guilt" pasta.
Restaurant Depot, a new participant this round, will be carrying a variety of Alaska pollock products in its club stores, which have seen an increase in consumer-traffic due to coronavirus.
With tightening global supplies, COVID-related demand spikes and a slower-than-expected B season harvest, US Alaska pollock producers are anticipating price increases across all formats -- in some cases significant ones.
Raw material harvests for all three major frozen pollock forms produced from the US fishery remain lower compared to last year.
Alaska pollock will also be getting in on the Super Bowl action this year through a partnership with Louis Kemp and celebrity chef Nancy Fuller. The program will promote recipes featuring surimi seafood as perfect Super Bowl snacks for the “big game.”
The GAPP board also approved one “off-cycle” funding proposal from European Seafood giant Young’s for its new “Gastro Bakes” line of products to launch in the United Kingdom.
GAPP recently announced it was approved for more than $3 million (€2.7 million) in funding for North American partnerships and close to $1 million (€890,000) in funding for European partnerships.