General manager
Coastal Seafoods
Minneapolis
The paths we follow are not always the ones originally set forth; circumstances change either by happenstance or by careful design, but the wisest among us know when it’s time to head in a new direction. Such was the case for Tim Lauer, who nearly 25 years ago was a successful chef at Minneapolis’ Nigel’s Restaurant, with about a decade of sweating in Chicago’s demanding kitchens also under his belt. However, Lauer felt the urge to spend less time behind the line and more time with his wife and young children — so he followed it.
His exit plan formed in the mid-1980s when he promised his seafood purveyor, Suzanne Weinstein, that he’d join her small company, Coastal Seafoods, to help her organize and manage the business for a couple of years until he could open his own restaurant. A change in plans wasn’t new to Lauer, who had studied physics at Macalester College in St. Paul for three-and-a-half years before leaving school, knowing that food was his true passion.
As it turns out, Lauer, 53, stayed at Coastal, and today he’s the general manager of this two-store specialty seafood retail operation that serves shoppers in the Twin Cities as well as wholesale buyers in the surrounding five-state area of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and the Dakotas. Lauer, a Pittsburgh native who still loves to cook and even penned “The Saltwater Cookbook” in 2004, has never looked back.
“This job has the seasonal and food aspect I always desired,” says Lauer. “My job is varied. I’m hands-on. I talk to customers all day and have been teaching people in cooking classes for 20 years. No long hours. No nights or weekends. It was a really good fit.”
Lauer’s a busy man, as his chief responsibility is to find the fish that Coastal’s savvy customers demand. But he gave me some time in August, and we covered a lot of ground, from his early days in the kitchen to the pressing issues fishmongers face today.
WRIGHT: What were the early days at Coastal like?
LAUER: I loved my time [at Nigel’s]; it was great. But I was working 80 to 90 hours a week. I bought fish from Suzanne — she was really the first person in the Midwest to bring any variety of seafood here. She had tilefish, fresh Alaskan fish, farmed Norwegian salmon, all delivered from the back of her Subaru Brat.
Back then there were very few women in the business. She was a pure entrepreneur. I thought [the job change] would be temporary; I’d help her through the growth period, I could see my kids more. It’s grown on me.
What are your daily responsibilities?
I start my day between 5 and 6 a.m. in the cooler, looking at what the guys picked up from the airport. Then I’m on the phone buying fish for the next day or two, alternately talking to customers or [the sales staff] about what they’re looking for, what’s nice, what’s hard to get. In the afternoon, I’m making sure that the flow of fish is correct. We try really hard to run out of everything at the end of the day. We turn over about 85 to 90 percent of everything every day. We do a fair amount of shipping to the five-state area restaurants. In metro areas, [the variety of fresh fish] is really strong but it’s underserved in rural areas.
What’s your top priority?
The most important thing I try to establish is the relationship with the people I buy from. I make it a point to be honest with them about what I’m looking for. I’m demanding but polite, because I have a certain type of business. Everyone says they have great quality but it’s just not true. At Stavis [Seafoods in Boston], I’ve had two people I’ve worked with [in the past] 15 years. My guy is aware of what we do; I’m important to him.
Close to that, I’d say [my priority] is making sure that people who work here feel they have the tools to succeed; that they’re trusted but given the support and structure to do what is expected of them. Whatever you do for a living, you spend a fair amount of your life doing it. It’s important to feel that it’s fulfilling.
How many countries do you source from?
A dozen or more. Quality is based on the vendor more than the country. I know a guy with a seafood business who used to be extremely prejudiced against imported seafood; everything had to be local. Over time, he started to feel that imported fish were of better quality, that the fishermen took more care.
How much of your product mix is domestic/imported?
About 50 percent imported. I’m more concerned about quality and how it’s raised or fished than where it’s from.
In terms of sourcing, which species give you fits?
Lately, tuna’s been difficult. A lot is from Vietnam and the Philippines, where they’ve had typhoons. I would say that wild Alaska salmon this year and for the last couple of years got more challenging. The Copper River is overhyped. The Yukon is underhyped — I think it’s a bargain. But you never know, how long will [the fishery] be open?
What prevents consumers from buying more seafood?
My belief has always been that marketing, promotion and education is the issue. Some people don’t know what good fish tastes like and they don’t know how to buy it. It’s intimidating; they haven’t had it around them. It’s also expensive, so you’re asking people to spend more than they do on chicken — period.
When I first started teaching, men would come in and say, “I don’t like fish, my wife made me come.” That’s the best customer you could have. They’ve just had bad fish. They don’t know if they’ll be successful cooking it. It’s a risk. But we as an industry are partially to blame for that [for not educating consumers enough].
I’ve been lucky to meet people I bought from who know more than me and I’ve absorbed it, but that information is not always easy and open. Our story doesn’t lend itself to news sound bytes.
Associate Editor James Wright can be e-mailed at jwright@divcom.com
October 2009
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