Young Fishmonger 2015 announced by seafood development agency, BIM
Gerard Collier of Fisherman’s Catch, Clogherhead, Co. Louth was named as the overall winner of the BIM Young Fishmonger 2015 competition
Print25 November 2014
Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), the Seafood Development Agency announced Gerard Collier of Fisherman’s Catch, Clogherhead, Co. Louth as the overall winner of the BIM Young Fishmonger 2015 competition at an awards event in the Radisson St. Helen’s Hotel, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin.
Gerard was selected as winner from a shortlist of five finalists, all of whom demonstrated to the judges, an exceptional high standard in technical expertise, product knowledge and customer service. Martin Shanahan, owner of Fishy Fishy Café & Restaurant, author and TV broadcaster was guest speaker at today’s event, where he congratulated the finalists and commended their passion for the seafood business.
This is the second year of the BIM Young Fishmonger Awards, developed by BIM to recognise and reward young fishmongers with a view to encouraging new entrants into the business and to ultimately raise the bar across the sector.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Donal Buckley, BIM’s Business Development & Innovation Director said: “Our role, as the Seafood Development Agency, is to develop the retail trade in terms of seafood presentation, training and food safety management. We see this initiative as an exciting component of this strategy. The sector is benefiting from an increase in sales in the last year with loose fish now accounting for 33.3% of total fish sales. This is extremely positive for the 500 fishmonger businesses and supermarket seafood counters around Ireland and we look forward to working closely with the industry to assist them to take full advantage of this demand. All of our finalists were exceptional throughout every stage of the competition and they should be very proud of their achievements. Congratulations to our worthy winner Gerard Collier and his colleagues at Fisherman’s Catch, I hope this experience and the competition prize fund allows you to further develop what is a very successful family business’
As overall winner of the competition, Gerard will be offered a study trip to France, a cheque for €1,000 and along with the other finalists he will benefit from a free placement on BIM’s retail development workshops, a set of professional knives and a specially designed trophy. As part of their prize, all of the finalists have already enjoyed an inspiring masterclass in seafood cookery with Martin Shanahan.
The competition judges put the finalists through their paces with three different stages of scoring, including two unannounced visits to their shops to assess product knowledge and customer service and a practical test where they were asked to fillet and prepare a range of fish and shellfish for customer use under time constraints. Finalists were also required to discuss their plans, opportunities and challenges for their business. Throughout all the stages, the judges were very impressed with the knowledge, skills and commitment demonstrated by all the finalists.
According to BIM commissioned research by Kantar World Panel, fresh fish sales are valued at €122 million and have increased by 1.4% year on year. Fresh fish accounts for 63.7% of total fish sales which are valued at €192 million. Of these fresh fish sales, fish purchased from a fish counter is valued at €41 million and sales have increased by 7.9% year on year, accounting for 33.3% of total fish sales. This is largely due to customers purchasing fish more frequently and paying higher prices.
In terms of the most popular fish species; salmon, cod and prawns are well established on the Irish market and are retaining their place as the top three species followed by mackerel. However, hake has grown in popularity with sales have increased year on year from a low base and it is now the fifth most purchased fish species.
The other finalists in BIM’s Young Fishmonger 2015 competition are:
Stevie Connolly, Connolly’s Seafood, Rathmines, Dublin 6
Neil Turner, Caviston’s Food Emporium, Glasthule, Co. Dublin
Mateusz Kowalik, Doran’s on the Pier, Howth, Co. Dublin
Gary Quinn, Stephen’s Fish Market, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath
Follow BIM’s social media pages via www.bim.ie or click on the links below for regular updates and to support and hear more about the winner and the finalists.
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