By Karen E. Thuermer, AJOTDarden Restaurants, Inc., the world’s largest casual dining restaurant company, has high standards when it comes to its suppliers. After all, it operates nearly 1,400 Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, Smokey Bones Barbeque & Grill and Seasons 52 restaurants in North America. Brunswick, GA-based King & Prince Seafood Corp. is one of its prime seafood purveyors. The reason: the company recently completed a cost-saving freight program that enhanced the profitability of Red Lobster’s menu promotions. When it comes to the purchasing of seafood, King & Prince partners and contracts with a select group of certified global suppliers in all major producing countries. Shrimp is one of the major commodities imported by King & Prince, which ironically has its manufacturing facilities close to Georgia’s sea coast, known at one time as a rich shrimping location. John Waters, marketing director for King & Prince, reveals that today much of the shrimp his company imports comes from Thailand, Indonesia and China. “These days we are seeing a lot more come from China,” he states. The shipments are transported by ocean carriers in freezer containers and arrive the United States predominately through the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Brunswick, GA. The shipments take eight weeks. The company ensures freshness by monitoring its vendor facilities worldwide to ensure GMP, HACCP, and SSOP compliance. “We lend technical expertise to our primary packers to maintain exceptional quality standards,” he states. Also top on the list for vendor excellent at Darden Restaurants is Thai Union Seafood, one of Thailand’s major seafood exporters. Darden purchases some $21 million in shrimp from the company annually. That equates to more than 100 million shrimp processed by hand, one at a time. “Thai Union has become one of our most dependable suppliers of top-quality shrimp,” said Joe Lee, Darden Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “We work extremely well together to serve terrific food to our guests at a great value.” A major supplier of shrimp for Red Lobster and Olive Garden, Thai Union has become the model for other Darden suppliers to follow in making quality and food safety improvements, two issues paramount in the industry. World marketsThailand’s shrimp exports were projected to increase by 7.7% to 450,000 tons compared with 418,000 tons in 2005, with export values rising 20% to $2.4 billion from $2 billion, according to the US Department of Fisheries. Over the last several years, Canada and Thailand have continued to be the largest sources of US imports, accounting for 20% and 15%, respectively. Other major suppliers include China (shrimp and Tilapia), Chile (salmon), Indonesia (shrimp), Vietnam (shrimp), Ecuador (shrimp), Mexico (shrimp), and India (shrimp). China is ranked third, with its market share increasing from five percent in 1995 to 11% in 2004. With its rapidly growing aquaculture industries, China is expected to soon surpass Canada and Thailand as the leading supplier of seafood products to the United States. According to USDA Foreign Agricultural Services, the United States is the world’s third largest seafood importer behind the European Union and Japan. The figures are dated, but US seafood imports have been rising over the last decade from $5 billion in 1990 to $11.3 billion in 2004. During the same period, US exports were basically flat. New England marketNew England remains one of major exporters of lobsters worldwide. Total lobsters harvested in 2003 was equal to 77 million kilos, 80% of which were exported. Boston is the biggest exporting market for live and fresh seafood in the United States due to the volume of product. Most of that product is flown out of Boston’s Logan Airport for international destinations. Logan Airport attracts seafood exports from as far away as Prince Edward Island in Canada as well, due to the backhaul advantages Boston offers truckers. American Air