El2-Grower & Marketer, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 1,2003
Fish Farmer Exlores Marketing Methods
(Continued from Page El)
farm,
First on his agenda was to
diversify sales. “I was looking
for year-round cash flow,” he
said.
Scott quickly saw that he
had to learn to debone fish to
compete with the supplies
from Idaho. He learned to
debone he was able to do
100 fish an hour so he
could have an edge on the
market over the western fish,
since the fish he could supply
to East Coast markets were
two days fresher.
The business grew, and “I
realized I couldn’t grow
enough fish to meet de
mand,” he said. “I decided to
buy fish to supplement my
supply to restaurants.”
In 1982 he began calling
other hatcheries for his trout
supply. “I got great deals in
summer,” he said. The mar-
Here Scott shows fingerling
Brown Trout.
This is an empty hatching jar,
which gets a steady supply of
fresh water from the pipeline*
ket swung seasonally and
dropped after stream stocking
demand was over. “I knew
restaurants could give me
year-round cash flow, so I
could do year-round produc
tion and sales,” he said.
This line of reasoning led
Scott and, by now, several
employees to butcher 1,200
pounds of fish per week and
purchase fish from hatcheries
in western Pennsylvania and
Virginia.
Scott re-invested back into
the business and bought a re
frigerated truck.
By now, there was a
marked change in Scott’s op
eration from producer to pro
cessor and marketer. “My
own supply became a backup
to imported supply” he said,
as he delivered fish to Phila
delphia and surrounding
areas.
A question from a restau
rant chef who asked if Scott
sold anything else sparked his
idea to diversify even further
into niche markets. He
formed a working partnership
with a nearby farmer who
raised pheasants, rounded up
a supply of quail eggs, ducks,
and even began to cut water
cress from his own ponds,
which he sold to restaurants.
He also began experimenting
with free-range chickens and
the sale of eggs.
In addition, “I went to
trade shows to look for prod
ucts as I shifted my focus
from what to grow to what to
sell,” he said.
Reading about how Salm
on is a high-quality alterna
tive to trout, Scott decided to
market Salmon from Seattle
and Vancouver in the East
Coast, especially Philadel
phia.
The busy, 70-hour-a-week
schedule, which began with
picking up Salmon at the
Hatchling fish. “The longer you can keep thenrln
doors, the less trouble you’ll have with predators,’ l
said Scott. However, “outside it is less crowdeijf aind
the fish get better color and grow faster.”
Philadelphia airport and in
cluded hours of set up and
delivery of Salmon and the
other products, “became
labor intensive,” he said. “I
decided to go back into law
and try my hand at politics.”
In 1990 he was elected
township supervisor, in 1992
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