Chefs and hospitality industry
As setters of food trends, chefs and restaurateurs are key players in creating consumer demand for sustainable seafood. Chefs and restaurants that are interested in serving their customers ocean-friendly seafood dishes offers promise that it is possible to increase awareness and appreciation of seafood that not only tastes delicious but is also good for the environment.
Up to now information about the seafoods that they use to create their latest culinary masterpieces or five-star menus has been difficult to come by and has been limited to freshness and quality only. Luckily, more and more prominent chefs are acknowledging that they too have an important role to play by selecting their ingredients more carefully from sustainable and environmentally responsible sources.
While overfishing presents a challenge in terms of supply and availability, chefs diversifying their use of seafood species can not only expand customer’s palates but also improve sustainability by alleviating demand for traditionally popular species (such as kingklip, kabeljou and cape salmon), that are prone to over fishing.
View a video clip of Pete Goffe-Wood talking about sustainable seafood by clicking on the image above.
Chef Champions:
SASSI is supported by a number of prominent chefs and cooks in South Africa. Pete Goffe-Wood has been promoting sustainable seafood in his business,The Kitchen Cowboys, for a number of years.Restaurant Participation Scheme:
Show your clients that you care by joining our Restaurant Participation Scheme
Restaurant and Small Retailer Participation Scheme
We are proud to introduce the SASSI Restaurant Participation Scheme.
This programme enables responsible seafood businesses to support sustainable and responsible fishing and seafood production by pledging to adhere to certain guidelines. There are two levels of Participation:
SASSI Aware Participants:
1. Always buying seafood from legal sources
2. Never buying or serving SASSI Red-listed (no-sale) species
3. Always have Green-listed species available for sale
4. Never promoting Orange-listed linefish species as these species come from populations that are particularly threatened
5.Supplying their customers with the correct name, place of origin, and production method (farmed or wild-caught) of the seafood served, as well as indicating the fishing method used for wild-caught species
There is an annual membership fee of R2000 for SASSI Aware Participants.
SASSI Champion Participants:
1. Always buying seafood from legal sources
2. Never buying or serving SASSI Orange-listed or Red-listed (no-sale) species
3. Always having Green-listed species available for sale
4.Supplying their customers with the correct name, place of origin, and production method (farmed or wild-caught) of the seafood served, as well as indicating the fishing method used for wild-caught species
There is an annual membership fee of R1500 for SASSI Champion Participants.
Who should join?
Seafood restaurants, retailers and outlets who are concerned about sustainable utilisation of seafood resources and who would like to make their business sustainable and legal, stand to benefit from joining our participation scheme.By joining, participants stand to receive the following benefits:
- Receive strategic advice from SASSI regarding seafood products and procurement
- Manager-level training on the status of our marine resources and how to implement sustainable seafood in your business
- SASSI´s Practical Guide to Sustainable Seafood (a hard-cover manual that accompanies the training course)
- SASSI Aware/Champion certificates and stickers for your restaurant
- SASSI in-store training materials for restaurant staff including our Interactive DVD and Fish Fact cards.
- Advertising on both the SASSI and Dining-Out websites
- Regular updates on SASSI info and news
More Info:
Additional requirements are that someone from the business must attend a SASSI managers training workshop prior to becoming a Participant and on an annual basis thereafter, and that they have SASSI materials available for display to their customers.
Participation lasts for a period of one year, after which the business needs to re-apply by submitting an evaluation form of progress made towards sustainability. Consumers are encouraged to contact SASSI should they feel that the Participant has done anything in contravention to these conditions.
If you are interested in the programme and want your business to become a SASSI Participant, please read through our SASSI Participation Scheme Outline, which can be downloaded below. If you would like further information or would like to apply to become a participant, please feel free to contact us at sassi@wwf.org.za.