Saturday April 26, 2014

Today I did some catching up in the morning, so I decided I ought to write about it.  I actually accomplished a lot.  I was mostly doing research for my market analysis, specifically for my target market.  It was a really hard slog through the Internet.  However, since I had all morning to do it rather than a free block, I think I managed to get places.

The reason that the research was so difficult is that there different regions of the United States that culture oyster; Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Gulf, and West Coast.  The majority of the information on the Internet is about the Mid-Atlantic and the Gulf.  The Mid-Atlantic is an area that used to be very plentiful in oysters and shellfish until their fishery began a slow decline after 1980.  Since the early 2000s, there has been a huge initiative in the area to grow the fishery again.  Because of this, there are a lot of studies and industry reports for that area.  In the Gulf, the majority of the oysters go to the shucked market, which has much clearer records than that of the half shell market.  The West Coast has not been an issue yet in my research, since culture there is still relatively new.

So, now we can get back to the Northeast.  As I said, there really isn’t that much information out there.  However after many hours of wandering through the Internet, I was able to discover some things.  The Northeast accounts for about 25% of the oysters harvested in the United States.  (The Gulf and Mid-Atlantic accounting for almost all of the rest.)  Of this 25%, most are sold in restaurants and fish markets in the Northeast.  This is because of two factors.  The first is that people are more likely to buy fresh seafood, so a lot of seafood is sold relatively closely to where it was harvested.  The second is that Northeastern oysters have a nice briney taste.  (Gulf oysters tend to be bland and Chesapeake oysters tend to be a little silty.)  Northeastern oysters therefore are dominant in the quality half shell market.  Despite this apparent setback in entering the market, the taste of oysters varies a great deal due to the conditions in which they were grown, so while competition is a factor, it will not make or break a business.

I’ve actually been surfing through quite a few food taster blogs to see what they look for in an oyster.  I was really glad to see that oysters vary so much in taste (according to the experts), because it gives more of an opportunity to make a name for yourself in the business.  According to all the experts, the Taj Mahal of oyster bars is the Grand Central Oyster Bar.  If you are an oyster farmer that is the one restaurant at which you want your oysters featured.