Dubberly's Seafood

Summary

The Georgia shrimp industry has experienced economic troubles attributed to rising fuel prices and cheap imports of shrimp from overseas. As a result, the number of shrimp boats fishing in Georgia has fallen over the years. The remaining shrimpers are looking for ways to add value to their product and generate additional revenue.

Situation

The Georgia shrimp industry has experienced economic troubles attributed to rising fuel prices and cheap imports of shrimp from overseas. As a result, the number of shrimp boats fishing in Georgia has fallen over the years. The remaining shrimpers are looking for ways to add value to their product and generate additional revenue. Dubberly Seafood is a family owned and operated Georgia shrimp company. The company is owned by the father and mother, and the two sons operate shrimp boats. The boat operated by Mike Dubberly is manned by his son and daughter. Linda Dubbery is responsible for the company's accounting and works with her niece Nicole Dubberly in value-added marketing. Given the current situation, Dubberly Seafood was exploring means of adding value to their shrimp products in order to increase company revenue. Falling shrimp prices “at the dock” spurred them to look for alternative ways to sell their products. One opportunity they were perusing was the USDA value-added grant. This grant provided working capital to companies to allow them to expand their business by adding value to raw products.

Response

The Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development (CAED) was contacted by Dubberly Seafood in Savannah, Georgia for assistance with a feasibility study which is required for the value-added grant. The CAED met with the Dubberly's on two different occasions and successfully completed their feasibility study. In addition, the CAED contacted a number of individuals they have worked with in the past to inquire into their interest in purchasing Georgia wild caught shrimp from a family shrimping company. The Dubberly's were then introduced to a number of individuals involved in the food industry. These individual represented retailers and food brokers. The Dubberly's were invited to the Flavor of Georgia food contest in Atlanta where they meet with various individuals involved in the food industry.

Impact

The impact analysis was written by Linda Dubberly. Processing & Sales Our boats have just begun catching the size that restaurants and grocery stores want the most (21/25). About 15,000 pounds of 26/30's have already been block frozen in 5 lb boxes. We sent some prices to Whole Foods, U S Foods and SYSCO a couple weeks ago but haven't had any orders yet. The prices for shrimp really dropped in the past two weeks. Once some 21/25's are frozen, we're going to send a price update. Daddy is using grant funds to pay harvesters $0.10 to $0.20 more than other buyers in the area. Our best sales will be during February, March, April since there won't be any fresh shrimp at that time. Some people like IQF in bags versus block-frozen, but we get much longer shelf-life with block-frozen. Toward the end of the season, we'll put some up in 5 lb bags. Branding The Georgia Department of Agriculture permitted us to become the first shrimp harvester to use the Georgia Grown logo. We are hoping to be able to bag some of the smaller size shrimp and sell to local grocery stores like Harveys. They feature sale flyers with pages devoted exclusively to Georgia Grown products. We sent them a letter this past summer and again last week. Distribution Flat Creek Lodge sends a truck to Atlanta once a week and has begun distributing our shrimp with their products. They are only taking 100 pounds per week (fresh shrimp) so we're trying to help them build volume with a select group of restaurants in Atlanta, mainly the Buckhead area. The main competition in Atlanta is Inland Seafood. The pricing for us is reasonable now and will be good if the volume increases to about 300 lbs per week. I also put them in touch with Savannah Clam Company. Market Research You introduced us to Tim Forrest at the Taste of Georgia Food Show last March. We signed a consulting contract with him to help us find the best markets nationwide in which to sell block-frozen and IQF shrimp. He should begin this week and finish in 6 weeks. The timing is pretty good since we'll have a large inventory of 21/25's and 26/30's at that point. Joe Hynes also quoted on the project, but his price was three times higher than Tim's. However, we would like to work with Joe at some point in the future. Small Size Shrimp Sales These shrimp remain an untapped source of revenue in my opinion. Considering what Jim Daniels discussed when ya'll came down, I thought of a value-added process for the small shrimp so they can be sold by the serving, not by the pound. Once we have some positive results with the other projects, I'll try to get going on this next March or April. My target market for this new product will be football and baseball stadiums, amusement parks, Georgia Aquarium, Nascar events...places where people buy premium food by the serving and are willing to pay a higher price. It will take some experimenting and cost calculations, but I think it is a good idea. Thanks for everything. We really enjoyed working with y'all. Linda Dubberly

State Issue

Agribusiness Development/Value Added

Details

• Year: 2008
• Geographic Scope: County
• County: Chatham
• Program Areas:
  • Agriculture & Natural Resources