Local 130 Seafood Writes Its Next Chapter

GROWING LOCAL
 

Anyone who has shopped at Local 130 Seafood’s store in Asbury Park knows to expect a snapshot of what’s running in Jersey waters week by week. This summer, the business is taking a leap with the addition of a 6,000-square-foot, ocean-hued warehouse in Long Branch. Formerly home to D’Ambrisi Wholesale Foods— which has moved up the block—the space opens possibilities for a company that started with a single refrigerated truck and a vision.

“We started the business to support New Jersey fisheries, first and foremost,” explains Eric Morris, founder and CEO. “We represent hardworking men and women on the working waterfront.”

In an industry where pristine catch is often loaded into shipping containers and transformed into a commodity, artistry can be lost. Countering that paradigm, Local 130 has developed first-name relationships with the state’s captains and cooperatives, intent on celebrating their craft and delivering their catches and stories to restaurants in the region.

That vision has made Local 130 a rising force in the state’s local food scene, name-checked on the Instagram feeds of top Garden State chefs. This is notable in a state where economic pressures make local seafood a shockingly rare dining find, even when paired with waterfront views. “We live in a feast or famine community, so when it’s time to feast, you have to get the cheapest thing you can and put out food,” Morris explains of the summer seafood crush.

Translation: lots of non-local fish.

According to the National Fisheries Institute’s (NFI) annual “top 10” seafood list, American seafood consumption went up by more than a pound per capita in 2017 to roughly 16 pounds. However, a seafood trade deficit means that many of the consumed species are imported. In 2017 alone, the United States exported $3.1 billion of seafood to East and South Asia—representing half of the export trade—according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s US fisheries report. In turn, we imported $10.8 billion in seafood from the region (though some of that reflects US caught species shipped out for processing and then reimported).

Highlighting species that shine seasonally in our own waters, Local 130 has grown to include six trucks and has 20-plus sourcing partners at any given time. Backed by a USDA food systems grant, the team also brings seasonal seafood to a dozen farmers’ markets, with a focus on urban communities. There, the company accepts SNAP benefits and seeks to counteract the impact of an industrialized food system on our collective understanding of seafood.

We’ve been engrained to eat tilapia and bronzini, Morris says, and have lost a piece of our local culture in the process. “It’s volume and hundred-million-dollar marketing budgets telling us what to eat. “To fishermen like Jamie Dopkin, that’s mind-blowing. “It’s amazing to me that people pay $10 a pound for tilapia when I’m selling monkfish to a dock for 60,70,80 cents a pound. And it’s delicious. And it’s healthy.”

With the addition of the Long Branch facility, Local 130 will expand restaurant distribution while setting sights on a more equitable wholesale trade that better connects local product to local plates—with clear traceability. By creating price stability and pushing a few more pennies to suppliers, the company is making a statement about the value of New Jersey’s fishing industry.

“These guys are the last hunters for food,” says Morris, who once considered becoming a chef. “We’re not going out and killing a pig. We’re not going out and killing a chicken. But we are going out and hunting seafood. Supporting that last artisanal form of eating inspires me.”

In 2018, 75% of the seafood Local 130 purchased came from fisheries in Point Pleasant and Barnegat Light. Looking forward, the work is to create greater economies of scale locally. “We’re selling to some of the best restaurants in the state and Philadelphia, and we’re doing it literally in a strip mall,” says Morris’ business partner, Michael Kenlay, who cut his teeth doing Peace Corps work in the Caribbean and veered into sustainable culinary business development along the way. “Now we have a real, professional facility. It’s going to enhance our quality. It’s going to help us execute.”

It’s also a far cry from the Tetris-like cooler in Asbury Park.

In May, Local 130 partnered with Dean’s Natural Food Market to launch branded counters that place Jersey fish and shellfish on a pedestal. The Asbury Park shop is also freshly revamped with a retail focus. Expect hyperlocal offerings—from sand shark (a.k.a. dogfish) tacos to grab-and-go sushi—that take the guesswork out of supporting our local fisheries.

“People don’t think about New Jersey as having this really amazing seafood culture,” Morris says. “They think of Maryland. They think of Boston. They think of Maine. What’s between Maryland and Boston? We have a really good fishing culture and community It’s the most underrated billion-dollar industry in the state.”

LOCAL 130 
1305 Memorial Dr.
Asbury Park
732.455.3951 
local130seafood.com