Seafood restaurants like Houston’s top-ranked Reef are bracing for price increases to cope with the Gulf Coast oil spill that threatens 25 percent of the U.S. fresh fish haul.
The leak, gushing about 5,000 barrels a day, has shut fishing for at least 10 days from the mouth of the Mississippi River to areas off of Florida’s Pensacola Bay. That may force restaurateurs such as Bill Floyd, who co-owns Reef, to raise the price on his Jumbo Crab Cake appetizer above its current $15.50.
“We are really concerned,” said Floyd, whose restaurant is rated the nation’s best for seafood by Bon Appetit magazine. “We are covered on product for now, but the immediate impact is on pricing, not availability. We would hate to raise prices, but I don’t think that anyone will be able to avoid it.”
The spill puts the restaurants at risk just as they approach their single biggest U.S. sales day of the year, the Mother’s Day holiday. Crab suppliers in Louisiana have raised prices $10 per bushel in the past week and are charging as much as $170, up from $120 last year, said Mark Musterman, owner of Strongs Bay Seafood, which buys crabs from the Gulf Coast.
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