At this time of year Shoalhaven’s appetite for fresh seafood moves to a whole new level.
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This week from one seafood and meat retailer we will buy ten tonne of tiger prawns, 7000 dozen Greenwell Point and South Coast oysters, three-quarters of a tonne of lobster, two tonne of salmon, one tonne of snapper, 16 bodies of beef and 40 pigs.
That is what the lead-up to Christmas looks like to the 70 staff who will serve 8000 people at Nowra Fresh Fish and Meat Market.
“This few days before Christmas are massive for our staff. We will go through 3000 customers in one 11-hour day,” owner/ partner Brad Banks said on his way back from the Sydney Seafood Market.
“Yes there are frustrations. We demand a lot from our staff at this time of year, but they respond well, they are a good team.
“If one staff member is struggling someone else will come in and pick up the slack.
He said the demand continues to grow each year.
“People absolutely want local produce and we have established relationships with local oyster farmers.”
Mr Banks sees a side to the Christmas seafood buying frenzy that most people don’t.
At 1am today he was jostling amid the 400 buyers bidding for seafood at the Sydney Fish Market auction. He hoped to be out of there by 3am and back to Nowra for a 5am start and plans to shut the shop at 4pm.
“The (Sydney) market will do about 100,000 customers over a 36-hour period. It’s a marathon.”
Mr Banks said it was around Christmas that his efforts shoring up supply chains throughout the year came into play.
“To get the stock we need at this time of year when everyone else wants it we have to show those suppliers plenty of love throughout the year.
“It’s the same with our customers who support us all year and our staff, without them all we could not do this,” he said.
Christmas in Australia isn’t just about seafood, there is plenty of pressure on the supply of other cuts of meat too.
Last year Mr Banks said they sold 2400 half hams and expect similar numbers this year.
He said turkey however was a meat people shied away from, with only 20 on order.