Crustacea

After a hectic work schedule, you are finally in a fancy restaurant to relish your taste buds. It did not take long for the Tropical Blue Crab Ceviche to attract your attention from the menu. But the unexpected letdown happened right after the first bite.

The food was fresh, the ambiance captivating, and the service top-notch. What went wrong? It is the quality of the crab meat. Hundreds of restaurants face the same issue due to the vendors’ lack of quality control.

Crustacea—a leading crab meat importer—has taken the onus on itself to challenge the status quo. The company’s pasteurized crab meat is produced following stringent quality standards, meeting and exceeding client expectations.

“With decades of industry experience, we understand that food businesses often prioritize quality initially, but over time, the focus tends to shift. We believe in operating on a small scale to maintain quality over pursuing rapid sales growth,” says Hector Medellin, president of Crustacea. “We are nimble and can do things larger companies can’t. Everyone at this company is committed to serving clients in the best way possible.”

Crustacea’s journey as a crab meat provider started with a small customer base, and these customers are still loyal, which is a huge testament to its success.

Consistency Matters

Crustacea offers multiple grades of crab meat, including colossal, jumbo lump and super lump, to name a few. However, the standardization of the products is the key pillar of its success.

In the crab meat industry, the larger the piece, the more the value. The colossal and jumbo lumps basically move the paddle in a swimming crab. Crabs only have two of these muscles, and extracting and packing them without breaking takes a lot of finesse from the plants.

The differentiation, however, lies in the blends. Apart from the colossal and jumbo lump grades, the rest is white meat—treated differently by each company. There is a general idea of what each grade should be, but it’s never standardized.

Crustacea has solved this issue through standardization, delivering the same superior quality every time.

“Consistency is key for us. We don’t change our specifications. When a customer opens a can of Crustacea crab meat, they know what will be inside, and it won’t change,” says Medellin.

With a platter of quality, consistency and taste, clients persistently receive predictable service from Crustacea.

Beyond Just Product

One of the biggest differentiators for Crustacea is its commitment to training. The company trains distributors’ sales staff on how to sell its product. Medellin himself handles this training as well as retraining sessions.

As an importer and distributor of crab meat, the company believes that understanding what the end user is doing with its product is crucial for making the right recommendations. For example, customers often purchase jumbo lump crab meat for making crab cakes, but in the crab cake, there’s no jumbo lump left.

“If a customer is buying a $30 per pound product and turning it into something worth half of that, I feel obligated to advise them on either changing their process or choosing a more suitable product. This approach can save them a lot of money. We handle this ourselves, without brokers, by directly engaging with end users to match them with the appropriate product,” says Medellin.

Crustacea also provides customers with recipes, empowering them to prepare innovative crab dishes beyond just crab cakes.

The Next Step

In the coming years, Crustacea aims to expand its business segment beyond blue swimming crab through different partnerships. It has already collaborated with a new partner for Honey Crab™ production in Angola. The uncertainties of the crab meat sector are subtle, and to mitigate risks and ensure frictionless business growth and development, Crustacea focuses on diversification.

The company has been in the NFI Crab Council since the company opened in 2017, which is a part of the National Fisheries Institute in Washington. This highlights its commitment toward sustainability and responsible fisheries in the crab industry, elevating the organization’s value.

Today, Crustacea is setting new industry standards by focusing on quality and excellence, reshaping the crab meat sector and delivering superior products to clients.

No matter how bad your past experience with the quality of crab meat was, Crustacea can restore your trust.