Maine Fair Trade Lobster Holds Job Interviews
by Sandra Dinsmore
The Maine Fair Trade Lobster facility in Prospect Harbor, Maine, formerly the Stinson sardine cannery. The two companies that bought the Prospect Harbor processing facility brought together Maine’s biggest buyer of live lobster, Garbo Lobster and East Coast Seafood, a company with the biggest lobster volume in the world. MFTL Photo
One hundred and two applicants showed up at Maine Fair Trade Lobster’s [MFTL] employment event held at its Prospect Harbor processing plant on Saturday, April 27th. Of those 102 who applied and were interviewed for the hundred available jobs, fifty-nine had already filled out applications and were in the company’s database, leaving 43 new applicants to be interviewed. As of May first, a total of 212 people had applied for the hundred existing jobs, and although not everyone could be hired immediately, as the company grows, more people will need to be hired. “If plans go according to schedule,” said East Coast’s marketing director Christina Ferranti, who ran the employment event, Maine Fair Trade Lobster, the lobster processing company formed by Garbo Lobster and East Coast Seafood, expects to be open for business by June 15th.
Every person interviewed for Fishermen’s Voice on April 27th had either previously worked for the Stinson Sardine Cannery, Bumble Bee, LLC, Lobster Web, or all three. Many of the job applicants were friends who stood around in groups waiting to be interviewed for jobs. Alice and Pete Hartford, of Gouldsboro, who have been married for almost 58 years, had both worked for Stinson’s, Bumble Bee, and Lobster Web. In fact, both had been in the film Downeast, about Lobster Web’s lobster processing business, though neither Hartford had seen it. Alice Hartford worked for 42 years at Stinson’s and said she’d take any job the new lobster processing company would give her. Pete Hartford, who had worked for 18 years at Bumble Bee and at Lobster Web, said he hoped to be hired as a forklift operator. With this wealth of experience among job applicants, interviewers had the luxury of hiring only the most competent.
The two companies that bought the Prospect Harbor processing facility brought together Maine’s biggest buyer of live lobster, Garbo Lobster and East Coast Seafood, the company with the biggest lobster volume in the entire world including all species of lobsters, not just Homarus americanus, according to East Coast vice president Spiros Tourkakis.
East Coast Seafood has been in business since 1981. It does $250 million in business a year, and is among the top 25 North American seafood businesses. It bought Paturel, a Deer Island, New Brunswick processing company on July 29, 1999, and Seatrade, a New Hampshire scallop company, a year ago, to diversify its products, and is a global distributor of lobster and seafood.
The company was started by two native-born Greeks, friends since they were six: president Michael Tourkistas and vice president Tourkakis. A third American-born Greek, James Bouras, is East Coast’s Chief Economic Officer.
East Coast president Tourkistas has said, “The upcoming start of the Maine lobster season will make Gouldsboro, Maine home to a true industry partnership. We are committed to the long-term viability of Prospect Harbor and offer a historical track record with rural community development and respective employees. Longevity is everything in our business,” Tourkistas continued, “and for thirty years we have centered our business on the heart of the industry: people. As vested stakeholders in the lobster industry, we are committed to responsible business and suitable practices for all partners in the sales chain including fishermen, employees, and customers.”
Garbo Lobster has been in business since 1983. Owner and CEO David Garbo, though based in Stonington, CT, has a facility in Hancock, 20 minutes from Prospect Harbor. Although he does not usually speak to the press, Garbo made a point of saying that his company has always worked closely with the lobstermen in Maine. He continued, “We are looking forward to continuing our traditions with partner, East Coast Seafood. Our companies share a similar philosophy.”
Maine fair Trade Lobster Company owners l to r, Spiros Tourkakis, vice president; Michael Tourkistas, president and James Bouras, chief economic officer. The three have been friends since childhood. Tourkistas said, “The upcoming start of the Maine lobster season will make Gouldsboro, Maine home to a true industry partnership. We are committed to the long-term viability of Prospect Harbor.” MFTL Photo
The combination of Maine’s top lobster buyer working with one of this country’s top seafood marketers to make this new lobster processing business, Maine Fair Trade Lobster, financially successful means paychecks—jobs for rural Hancock and Washington county residents. Although the company plans to start small, the property is huge with plenty of room for expansion. East Coast’s chief financial officer, William Darling explained that for the first year, processing will take place on the first floor of the main building. The second year, the processing will move to two warehouses at the end of the facility. “The hiring is going well,” Darling said, “and by June first we hope to have hired approximately 75 to 80 line workers.” He added that construction was also on schedule for completion by that date. Darling stated, “Production can be influenced by many factors. We all hope for steady growth but careful growth, so it’s done correctly and best for all involved.”
The processed lobster, according to East Coast’s marketing director Christina Ferranti, will be turned into food that is convenient for the consumer. “We have a twin-tail pack,” Ferranti said. “It’s two raw lobster tails. You just pop the tails in the oven. They come out ready to eat. They’re delicious.” Ferranti then mentioned a pasteurized lobster meat product and said, “Pasteurized lobster meat is a proprietary process that they’ve made at Paturel. It lasts 180 days” Ferranti asked rhetorically how lobster with a 180-day shelf life could taste that good, and then answered herself, saying, “It’s actually fantastic.” The product comes ready to heat in a microwave tray.
“I wish I had some,” Ferranti said. “I would heat some up for us right now. I can’t believe how good that tastes. You can pop it in a lobster roll; you can pop it in pasta. It is ready to go. It is incredible and it is actually at a very fair price now.” ($13.99 for a 6 oz package.)
Unfortunately, neither the twin tails, the pasteurized, cooked lobster meat, cooked lobster frozen in salt water, or ready to eat claw meat is available in Maine. East Coast’s delicious and ready to eat cooked lobster dishes must, for now, be purchased out of state.
These delicious looking and sounding lobster dishes are the way lobster processors are changing, Ferranti said, “They’re not just selling live lobster in a tank for you to take home and eat with corn on the cob. “It’s not like that anymore.” They call it value-added, Ferranti said, and the ready to cook or heat lobster products sound perfect for today’s busy lobster lovers. And although East Coast’s Paturel will continue making its value-added lobster products, Maine Fair Trade Lobster, the new facility at Prospect Harbor, plans to stick to processing a whopping 60,000 lbs. of lobster a day.