Swimming Upstream
By Jennifer LeClaire

What could a career Alaskan fisherman know about operating a quick-serve restaurant? Enough to found a concept that's caught the attention of diners in Anchorage and beyond.

When he was nineteen years old, Les Burtner hitchhiked from Missouri to Alaska to start a new life. Little did he know he would spend the next twenty-five summers making a living fishing for wild salmon in legendary Bristol Bay. Selling his harvest to local canneries was a bonanza for Burtner until the mid-1990s, when an upswing in farm-bred salmon made the fish a commodity.

Like those of other Alaskan fishermen, Burtner's business began drowning under the competitive pressure that took wild salmon prices to record lows. While today he still sells about seventy-five percent of his catch—some eighty-two thousand pounds—to a local processor, it's no longer profitable enough to make a living.

The seafood entrepreneur knew that he had to get creative to keep his fishery afloat. That need for creativity spawned two foodservice companies—Salmon Express Roadside Deli and Lady Marion Seafoods—that are reeling in health-conscious customers.

Six years after he cast his creative nets, Burtner's concepts are attracting growing numbers of customers who are looking for healthy, sustainable, natural seafood with a twist. Salmon quesadillas are the mainstay of Burtner's deli, with salmon kabobs, stir fry salmon, Thai salmon burgers, halibut, and hand-held garden salads rounding out the menu. And Lady Marion Seafoods satisfies consumer demand for fresh wild salmon by filling Internet orders for skinless and smoked salmon filets.

But does Burtner, with his little fishing boat and on-board processor, dare to compete with the Long John Silver's and Captain D's of the industry? Why not? Economist Ralph Bradburd, a franchising expert at Williams College in Massachusetts, says the market is crying out for better-tasting, healthier quick-serve seafood.

“There isn't really anything right now by way of good fast food fish,” says Bradburd. And what is out there, he adds, varies in quality and is almost always fried—this at a time when healthy, quick alternatives, like Burger King's veggie burger and Wendy's successful new Garden Fresh salad line, are taking off.

So what can the big boys learn from this up and coming seafood star? How to give customers what they really want. Salmon Express may or may not be the next Arthur Treacher's, but Burtner's growing fast fish business has customers asking for seconds.

Burtner developed the Salmon Express concept during an Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute travel program in which fishermen helped explain the unique characteristics of wild salmon and provided samples to shoppers in grocery stores across the United States. This hands-on market research led him to understand what salmon consumers really want: large portions with no skin, no bones, and no fishy smell.

His first culinary creation was the salmon quesadilla—salmon covered in salsa and secret spices and wrapped in a flour tortilla. Burtner cooks up salmon and halibut in a variety of ways, but refuses to fry anything.

“I'm deliberately going in and among the burgers joints, but not trying to compete head on with a burger,” says Burtner. “I'm offering an alternative fast food that's quite a bit healthier. Of course, the realities of the market are still there. People like french fries.”

There are other market realities as well, beginning with costs. Of all the things Burtner has learned in the quick-serve business, he is quickest to warn would-be quick-serve entrepreneurs about the financial investment it takes to bring a concept to market.

The market is crying out for better-tasting, healthier quick-serve seafood, says one expert.

Burtner has invested more than $100,000 into Salmon Express. Half that amount was to bring processing equipment on board his fishing boat. But it is this ability to immediately harvest and filet the fish on board that ensures a fresh taste and superior quality.

The fish comes off the boat restaurant-ready, but selling it would prove more difficult than Burtner expected. Restaurants buy through distributors, and Burtner could not get a foot in the door. So he built his own door.

He began peddling his salmon products from a mobile vending unit at a local Saturday market for $5 each. The response was overwhelming, he says, and Salmon Express has become a favorite at markets and fairs all over Anchorage. Business really began to take off after his salmon quesadilla won acknowledgment at the Alaska Symphony of Salmon, a value-added products contest.

Popular demand led Burtner to construct a roadside, drive-thru deli in Anchorage—and a second, more stable revenue stream was born. Like the mobile vending units, the deli features made-to-order salmon-based items that are finding a huge following with groups like health-conscious, female, thirty-somethings, among others.

Understanding that customers value convenience just as much as speed, Burtner began designing packaging that would both give his product an attractive appearance and make it easy to eat while driving. “Mine's a drive-thru deli, so in my mind whatever I designed had to be able to be eaten in the car without making a mess,” he says. “We've got this quesadilla dialed in. It's not at all messy.”

By its nature, the quesadilla is self-contained and easy to eat. But how do you eat a salad on the go without ending up with the fixings all over your lap? Easy. Just get creative with some aluminum foil and use dry, fat-free Mediterranean seasonings instead of high-calorie creamy dressing.

“I invented a hand-held salad with lettuce, tomato, bell pepper, and black olives,” says Burtner. “You eat it like an ice cream cone in the car without it getting on you at all. There is no dripping, and it doesn't fall apart. Just eat it and peel the aluminum down as you go.”

Hands-on market research led Burtner to understand what salmon consumers really want: large portions with no skin, no bones, and no fishy smell.

Take-out sacks and boxes feature graphics of Burtner's boat, a map of Alaska, and photos of his food. His packaging and exterior signage are an integral part of his overall marketing strategy: tying the fisherman to the franchise.

“A mobile vending unit would have a photo of the fisherman and his boat,” says Burtner. “I want the customer to realize that this product is coming directly from this particular fisherman. We are talking about special quality here and paying attention to detail.”

This attention to detail won Burtner a $30,000 mini-grant from the state of Alaska designed to encourage alternative means of marketing salmon. “The future of Alaska's salmon industry depends on how creative we are in meeting customer expectations,” says Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute spokesperson Laura Fleming. “Les decided to produce a premium quality product and take it to market himself, which makes him an exception among Alaska's commercial salmon fishermen. He's a pioneer.“

Other Alaskan fishermen are trying to get aboard the Salmon Express boat. Burtner is discussing franchise agreements with eight entrepreneurs. Initial franchises will be mobile vending units with a licensing fee of $4,500. Sounds like a small fee, but Burtner makes his real profits supplying the salmon to his franchisees, which also ensures the quality and form of the filets.

“Franchises large and small have explored Alaskan communities,” says Fleming. “Some turn tail to leave, and others flourish. Salmon Express is homegrown and has been well received.”

But Burtner's vision reaches beyond Alaska. In the short-term, he wants to establish casual sit-down restaurants in Washington, Oregon, and other West Coast states with a long-term vision of expanding to cities as far away as Chicago. That would mean hooking up with a processor or restaurant group that could take the franchise to the national level.

For now, Burtner has to suffer through some growing pains—pains, says economist Bradburd, that could actually stunt the growth of his health-conscious company.

“If you are going to be a franchisor and you are the only supplier to your franchisees, then ensuring continuity of supply is absolutely critical,” he says. “You can have a regional system, but there you have to worry about squeezing your territory so small that it's not profitable for the franchisees. You can try to go national, but you don't have, essentially, unlimited supply potential. You are going to be stretching your supply lines over a very large geographic area, and that's going to make your distribution cost much higher.”

Burtner understands he has an upstream swim ahead of him, but says he's come too far to turn back now. And the seafood entrepreneur has too many ideas to test on a quick-serve market hungry for fresh fish. His future casual sit-down restaurants will serve up appetizers in addition to his signature salmon products and would allow customers to purchase specialty cuts of seafood for home delivery right from their tables.

While it may be some time before consumers see Salmon Express in food courts in major malls, the concept has captured the attention of Anchorage diners hook, line, and sinker, forcing fast food fisheries to keep an eye on the up and coming Alaskan quick-serve.