Case Study: Alaska Symphony of Seafood

Symphony of Seafood judge critiquing an entrant.

In 1999, the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation came to FPN principals Val Motley and Amy Barnes and asked them to plan and grow the Alaska Symphony of Seafood (“the Symphony”), then in its eighth year. Amy and Val took a look at the event and decided that to increase market exposure, the Symphony should go on the road. Since that time, the Symphony has held events in Chicago, Boston, New Orleans, Las Vegas, Seattle and Anchorage, and FPN has managed all the details of this multi-event project.

The goal of the Symphony of Seafood is to increase consumption of Alaskan seafood by rewarding and publicizing innovative uses of Alaska salmon, whitefish and shellfish. The first component of the “four-movement” Symphony is a private competition held in a city outside Alaska (Chicago, Las Vegas and Seattle have each been hosts) where expert judges gather to sample and review the newest Alaskan seafood products. Following the judging, a public reception is held to allow judges to talk with chefs, manufacturers, buyers, sellers and the media about the products they tasted. The judging and reception are followed by a gala with a people’s choice judging held in Anchorage, where more than 400 attendees sample a variety of Alaskan seafood products. For the finale, the winners of the contest are escorted to the International Boston Seafood Show where their products are exposed to over 18,000 seafood buyers.

As a result of the Symphony, a previous contestant received an order from superstore giant Wal-Mart for their winning product. In addition to the exposure products receive at the Boston Seafood Show, winners of the Alaska Symphony of Seafood have frequently been featured in several media outlets, including Las Vegas Live, Easy Home Cooking, Food Processing Magazine and on the Chicago’s CLTV program Good Eating.