Pacific West brings new packaging and look to foodservice market

PROUDLY KNOWN AS AUSTRALIA’S SEAFOOD SPECIALIST, Pacific West has established a solid reputation for bringing innovation from the ocean to the foodservice market.

“We source seafood from all around the world, working closely with fishermen, identifying opportunities where we can value-add, and developing products which meet the demanding requirements of Australia’s foodservice professionals,” says Pacific West Innovation Manager Neil Cane.

Having recently undertaken a review of its packaging and marketing materials, Pacific West decided the time was right to refresh and modernise its logo, unveiling a contemporary new look which exemplifies its commitment to ongoing innovation.

“We’ve always positioned ourselves as a market leader dedicated to forward thinking and this logo refresh underscores that dedication through a very contemporary brand image,” Neil explains.

“We’re constantly looking for new ways to promote and build our business, and with the new packaging now out in the marketplace, foodservice professionals will already be starting to recognise this new look from an established brand they know and trust.”

Committed to keeping abreast of the latest trends and continually innovating its product range, Pacific West has launched a number of exciting products in recent times.

One of its most popular items is Lightly Battered Cod from Okains Bay in New Zealand, which combines great taste with sustainable fishing. Long-lining has low impact on the seabed, resulting in less stress to the fish and the ability to more accurately target species.

Pacific West has also introduced a line of Long-line Blue Eye Trevalla, which are caught at a depth of up to 1200m in the canyons around Tristan da Cunha, the most remote inhabited island on earth. They are available both in their natural raw state and as value-added Medallions. Complementing these are wild whole cooked Tristan da Cunha Rock Lobsters, which are individually wrapped and are notable for their striking colouration and terrific taste.

“Our focus is on providing a quality seafood range from sustainable sources, that foodservice professionals can use to tell a story on the menu,” Neil says. “Almost all our seafood is wild caught, then frozen either on ship or as soon as is practicable on shore. We are a major supplier into the Australian market of Talleys, which is a New Zealand family owned fishing company that provides ocean caught fish of fantastic quality, such as their Hoki which is one of our biggest sellers.”

The comprehensive Pacific west range is a mainstay of menus across upmarket cafes, pubs, clubs restaurants, and caterers – and includes both frozen natural seafood and value-added lines designed to save on preparation time and labour costs.

Kristen Feldtmann, owner of Coast to Coast Golden Roast for Melbourne North West, uses a variety of Pacific West value-added products including Prawn Cones, Battered Whiting and Salt and Pepper Squid for function catering, ranging from corporate events to family gatherings with groups of 30 up to 5000. “We’ve had terrific customer feedback on the taste profiles – when providing food for functions we like to offer something that’s higher quality than the standard finger food, and Pacific West products certainly fit the bill,” Kristen says. “The portion sizes are quite generous and the pricing is very competitive.”

Kristen makes the point that for function caterers, product consistency is of paramount importance. “If we get a referral from one catering job to do another, the expectation is that the food quality will be exactly the same – which means product presentation, flavour profile, portion sizing and so on has to be consistent every time. That’s always the case with Pacific West so we don’t have to worry. And being able to order pre-portioned fish in the cuts we need removes a lot of time-consuming preparation – it’s great that our staff don’t need to do all that.

“Pacific West are also very good at sending out samples when we want to trial different things, and our Pacific West rep who is a trained chef has been fantastic – he comes out to help us with presentation ideas and makes suggestions about complementary ingredients to use with various products.”

 Visit www.pacificwest.com.au for full details of the current product range.