Five minutes are on the clock as Catch the Current hosts Amanda Buckle and Lorin Castiglione welcome Alaskan Leader president Keith Singleton and vice president of value-added sales Scott Sandvig to the podcast, live from the Seafood Expo North America (SENA) show floor in Boston, Massachusetts, the US.

Keith and Scott talk about Alaskan Leader's big success with Costco and the introduction of its new deli kit, which Amanda and Lorin are desperate to get their hands on. 

But wait! There's overtime! March Madness begins now as Scott drops a big foodservice reveal. Listen now!

Don't have time to listen? You're missing out on the fun! But you can still read a transcript of the latest episode below: 

Amanda Buckle (AB): You're listening to Catch the Current. I'm Amanda Buckle.

Lorin Castiglione (LC): And I'm Lorin Castiglione.

AB: We are live in Boston for Seafood Expo North America, where we are taking the show floor by storm for an epic series we are calling Boston 2025 in five.

LC:  That's right. We are covering as much ground as we can over the next few days, bringing you the best of the best that SENA has to offer.

AB: So, without any further ado...

AB and LC: Let's Catch the Current. We're on the SENA show floor with Alaskan Leader. We've got president Keith Singleton and VP of value-added sales Scott Sandvig. Thanks for joining us on the show.

Keith Singleton (KS): Thank you. Thank you very much. We're excited to be here. Appreciate you.

AB: Scott, we'll let you have the mic this time. I think last year when we were here and we were interviewing you too, but I think either you hopped in late or Keith just got so happy with the mic that he didn't pass it over. One or the other.

Scott Sandvig (SS): I think it's the 'happy' part. He gets pretty excited and I've been working with him for 10 years, I know. So this is a topic that we love to talk about and there's a lot of excitement here at the show.

AB: Can't agree more.

LC: There sure is. So Keith, Scott, this year Amanda and I are doing something called "Boston 2025 in five," where we're putting just five minutes on the clock to get a quick pulse of the show floor from as many exhibitors as possible. So I'm going to set the clock, and let's talk seafood with Alaskan Leader.

AB:  Five minutes. This is intense with Keith. Scott, are you ready? All right.

So we got to hit briefly...We're on the Boston show floor. What are your goals here for the next three days?

KS: Well, thank you very much. After winning the Symphony of Seafoods Awards in Alaska for our miso black cod, Scott and I said, 'you know what? That's really wonderful.' Costco has been an amazing partner to launch it for us.

And then of course, retailers jumped in now and also we're expanding into foodservice. So we've got our radars on looking for foodservice distributors. We launched with Pacific Catch restaurant chain in California this last year.

And that just became their featured item on their entire, I think 20-odd restaurants all through Southern California. It's that spectacular. So we're looking for foodservice and retail.

LC: That's great. So you talked a little bit about your partnership with Costco. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? You know, we know that you just came back from the UK, you expanded there. How has the reception been? 

KS: It's awesome. Our miso black cod has definitely been around the world. It started, it's on the world tour. It's done incredibly well all throughout Canada, 109 locations. We just expanded into the UK and on day three, they ordered another container because it was selling that fast. So we know it's going to be very good for a long term.

We just have to manage it right. We've got to manage the boat price, so the boats are healthy in the ocean. That's the most important part. That's who we are as a fishing company.

Scott carries that same degree of passion for that. Between the two of us, we got each other's back whenever we're speaking to a customer. Boats come first because if you don't have that boat being profitable and you're delivering quality on every catch, every fish, then we can't do our jobs. So we're boats first, and the rest will come.

And I think that we've got great goals. And one of them is to expand this business. And I think this is a good several years.

It was a sauce that had a needed a place. Black cod needed a partner. They partnered with Hikari Miso and it's amazing, as you know.

AB: It's a truly special product. And last year, when we were here, we got to try some of it. It cured Lorin's laryngitis.

LC: Sure did.

AB: Amazing products.

But we've seen it on the retail front, but also Scott, can you talk a little bit about Costco? It has just launched it in the deli kit section, which is -- I've only ever seen salmon there, and to see black cod, I haven't seen it in my personal Costco. So I'm here. If you can introduce me to somebody from Costco so I can file a complaint. I want it now.

Scott, tell us about this. Tell us about this product.

SS: So with the success of the frozen item, we've been able to actually launch a deli kit into Costco. It's the second seafood item they've ever launched in the deli, which is extremely flattering for us for them to choose us.

But it's a miso black cod on a jasmine ginger rice with bok choy. So it's a complete take and bake item, fresh, ready to go, feeds a family of four and it's absolutely delicious and taking off like wildfire.

AB: It's like he thought of us when you were making this product because we're always looking for something easy.

But what's this test kitchen like at Alaskan Leader? Because this had to have been something different. I mean, you were in the frozen aisle. Now you're taking this fresh.

Alaskan Leader's Wild Alaska Miso Black Cod Deli Kit at Costco. Photo Credit: Alaskan Leader

KS: I mean, I love that question because my wife would talk to you about whose test kitchen they're actually using here.

LC: Do we need to be interviewing her?

KS: Yeah, you probably should. We've taken over my house. We have a very nice gourmet kitchen I built for her. But Scott's got an amazing kitchen as well.

Between the two of us, he cooks up at his place, I cook up at my place and we just share notes on which could be better. And you know, how's it coming out? Do we boil it first? Do we bake it first? Do we sear it? But I'll tell you what -- air fryer, this thing's unbelievable out of an air fryer.

LC: I love to hear that.

AB: And so from the frozen side into the air fryer or are you taking to fresh?

KS: No, no, it's always frozen. You thaw it overnight. It activates the miso. It takes like 24 hours and that gets into the meat. And so then that gives it its amazing flavor.

That mix, right? So 24 hours later, you always want to take it out a day in advance and let it thaw. And that activates the miso flavoring. 

And so, as far as the test kitchen, we use anybody's test kitchen. We found that our friends, especially people that are the shoppers in the family, they like us. They have good palates and they try it and they love it.

They tell their friends and on and on. And pretty soon it's an organic growth. We don't spend a lot of money in marketing, advertising.

We hired an amazing firm recently to help us with that -- Tastemaker Comms, which is Katie Goldberg and Tessa Ward. They're helping us with a lot of that because we are getting a lot bigger now. We have to manage what we're doing.

AB: Yeah, and I really want to quickly touch -- we're running out of time -- on foodservice.

Editor's note: The timer went off, but as Keith kindly pointed out -- It's March Madness! So we put some time on the clock. 

I'm putting it on the clock. I want this answer with foodservice. You were talking a little bit about -- can you name the chain?

SS: It's Pacific Catch Restaurant Chain in California. We're expanding into a major restaurant chain in Seattle.

Pacific Catch's miso black cod

One of the most longstanding seafood companies in Seattle. So we're excited about that. A little teaser, but certainly want to get more broadliners.

The US Foods, the Syscos. With labor shortages being such a challenge for restaurants. This is a perfect item. Thaw, cut up your dinner portions and away you go.

So it's really convenient, not only for the home shopper, home cooker, but restaurant chains too.

AB: Five minutes was not enough.

LC: It was not enough. We're going to have to have you guys back on the podcast soon.

KS: It's March Madness. It's about to go to overtime!

AB: Alright, thank you guys so much. Enjoy the rest of your Boston.

KS: Thank you so much.