have changed, but individual memories of an earlier era lin- 

 ger on. 



Perhaps your greatest opportunity lies in convincing the 

 youth of the country that fish is delicious, tasty meat. Fish 

 sandwiches at drive-ins are a step in the right direction. Well 

 prepared fish and seafood served in our schools is another con- 

 tribution. I'm not convinced that your industry can wait until 

 the next generation matures. Action is needed now with to- 

 day's housewives. The problem needs to be attacked on sev- 

 eral fronts. It would be presumptuous of me to suggest how 

 to convince the American housewives that fish and seafood 

 preparation can be approached with confidence. Obviously, 

 food editors, schools, tie-ins with manufacturers of selected 

 products, special cooking schools, cook books, and paid adver- 

 tising all have a place in any meaningful program. 



Professor Brunk spoke of marketing services, particularly 

 those that generate profits. I think we are in agreement that 

 fish and seafood are a profitable section of supermarkets, but 

 it can be made more profitable if in-store merchandising were 

 more imaginative. A seafood training program for the man- 

 ager and those responsible for running the seafood department 

 is a high priority project. Using the techniques of training the 

 trainers, the entire organization from supervisor, merchandiser, 

 to department manager should be included. The need for this 

 tvpe of service grows out of contrast in experience and interest 

 of personnel in a perishable department, such as produce, and 

 those assigned to the seafood department. In the produce de- 

 partment you are likely to find a department manager that 

 either grew up in the produce business or had family affiliations 



which motivated him to develop and operate an outstanding 

 produce department. Unfortunately, there are not enough 

 displaced downeasterners with either an understanding of or 

 appreciation for fish to staff the seafood departments of the 

 nation's food stores. 



A fundamental back-to-basic type of on-the-job training 

 planned by your association and executed by member firms is 

 needed by retail food store operators. A leaf from the trade 

 sen ice projects of the Campbell Soup Co. would certainly be 

 worth studying. 



Retailers need to be offered programs that will make it pos- 

 sible for them to profitably advertise fish and seafood every 

 week. Consumers need to be reminded that frozen fish and 

 seafood make freshness and flavor available throughout the year 

 in forms never dreamed of 1 years ago. 



All of us need to recall Henry Ford's statement that "Busi- 

 ness is never so healthy as when, like a chicken, it must do a 

 certain amount of scratching for what it gets". 



Frohman: This meeting would be incomplete if we didn't 

 give you a brief report of what we have been doing and what 

 we propose doing. We haven't been entirely asleep, as you 

 all know. And now I want to give you just a few examples 

 of the activities of the N.F.I. Promotions Division, with the 

 help of Murray Wheeler, N.F.I.'s Director of Advertising and 

 Publicity. 



Murray, what about newspaper publicity? 



Wheeler: Every day, every week, every month, newspapers 

 all over the United States are publishing new stories about our 

 products. 



Production of breaded fish portions at Blue Water Seafoods plant. A series of cuts with high-speed 

 saws turns blocks into uniform portions desired. 



