| SEAFOOD RETAILER |
"I recommend
seafood retailing as a career that is both interesting and rewarding.
It involves lots of skills, from customer relations to specialised crafts
like filleting, which is wonderful to watch."
A seafood retailer in a family business is responsible for:
| - | Dealing with retail and wholesale customers, i.e. hotels, restaurants, pubs |
| - | Marketing the shop and its range of seafood products to customers |
| - | Setting up the display counters, including whole fish, fillet fish and frozen fish |
| - | Preparing fish: filleting, skinning, boning, to customer requirements |
| - | Ensuring optimum stock quality and quantity |
| - | Design, fit out and maintenance of the shop |
| - | Bookkeeping |
| - | Hiring
staff |
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| GAEL MORGAN |
Gael Morgan and her brother jointly run the family-owned seafood retailing shop, Johnny Morgan's, in Market Square, Dundalk, Co. Louth. "My father started off by running a seafood stand in Market Square. The business grew and needed more space; seafood was becoming more widely available in restaurants and customers were looking for more. We made a family decision that a shop would be our next step forward, and have been open for more than six years now."
In addition to retail customers, the shop also sells to the wholesale market. Gael's father runs a near-by fish processing operation, which supplies the shop with stock for its retail and wholesale businesses.
"I did a Marketing Diploma with Business French in the Accountancy and Business College in Dublin. It was a good choice of course, because there was a marketing edge to all the subjects I studied. Marketing Finance has come in very useful as I do the bookwork for the shop. I don't use French at all however, because we are a local business and do not export." Gael also thinks that a secretarial/computer course would be useful to anyone in business. "I did the marketing course with a view to getting involved in the family business, as it always interested me. My first job after college was with BIM's marketing department. I gained great experience there and got exposure to many aspects of the industry, particularly on the promotional side."
Gael left BIM after three years, and spent the next five months designing Johnny Morgan's Fish Shop. "The shop interior is very traditional in style. Everything is black and white, and we used lots of marble and granite, with murals of Dundalk Port on the walls. It was important to get the look right before we opened."
The shop doors open at 8.30am every day, but the staff is in earlier to get preparations underway. "A typical day involves loading, sorting and preparing the seafood for display. Moving stock into cold storage, putting ice on the fish and ensuring it's stored at the correct temperature. We re-stock continuously throughout the day and spend the rest of the time dealing with customers and taking orders over the phone and following up on deliveries. It's hard work, but the fact that you are working for a family business makes it worthwhile. It's also very rewarding to get positive feedback from customers. A new delivery order from a satisfied customer is a great feeling."
"I recommend seafood retailing as a career that is both interesting and rewarding. It involves lots of skills, from customer relations to specialised crafts like filleting, which is wonderful to watch. Like every job, it has its down sides. It is not glamorous and involves a lot of physical, hard work, and the worst thing about it is having smelly clothes!"
On the subject of further training and development, Gael says: "I would like to get more involved in the advertising and promotion of the business, while my brother is interested in learning new computer skills to monitor stock and trends. As a family business, we all bring different skills to the table, and work well as a team. We have done food hygiene courses locally, but at the moment I don't have time for any other training." Gael is currently working part-time in the business.
In the future, Gael would like to return to full-time work and become more involved in promoting new product lines. "Frozen and prepared seafood are becoming increasingly popular. We follow the trends in the industry by monitoring sales and listening to our customers. Cookery programmes have a huge influence on retail sales. We have good relationships with chefs, and bar and restaurant owners, who give us continuous feedback."
