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FlatfishWhy Flatfish? / Q&A with Roy EnoksenEastern’s co-founder/owner discusses the company’s latest endeavor: Alaska flatfish. Q: Why has Eastern, the world’s largest scallop company, recently expanded its seafood offerings? A: We were and still are a scallop company and are very pleased with our progress in global markets. As a direct result of this expansion, we couldn’t help but feel a worldwide need for fish. This represented an opportunity for Eastern to expand its scope even more than it already has. You can source fish from all over the world, but we decided to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the plentiful Alaska fisheries for raw material. We already had an office and did processing in China and had a sales force on the East Coast. It seemed natural to combine the three and develop the flatfish business. Q: Can you elaborate on the benefits of your company’s presence in China? A: We’ve been processing in China for a few years now, and it was by no means a stretch for us to put our processing ability together with our harvesting ability to make us competitive in selling fillets. Although we process in China, we also procure the fish that goes into our plant. This is a measure of our vertical integration. For example, others contract the catch and the processing. They buy the finished product - but not the whole fish. We buy the fish and process it. If the buyer wants X pounds of fish, we know we can fill that order.
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