GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — There's tuna fish — and then there's tinned fish.
The Great Lakes Tinned Fish Company is the first in the Midwest to source exclusively from the Great Lakes region.
Founder Marissa Fellows plans to debut Great Lakes Tinned Fish by selling smoked whitefish.
Amy Ruis, owner of the restaurant Aperitivo, said, "It’s been really rising in popularity, probably over the last 5 to 10 years.”
Ruis is a trailblazer when it comes to tinned fish.
“We sell tin fish here at Aperitivo. We probably have 40 different kinds,” Ruis said.
However, Ruis noticed a deficit. “We have fish surrounding us in five lakes," Ruis said. "We're not utilizing it for a tin fish opportunity.”
So, Fellows saw an opportunity to make tinned fish local.
“The fact that nobody is doing it yet, and people get to enjoy that for the first time ever through this type of eating experience, is really exciting," Fellows said.
Fellows can't do this alone. She works with Bruce Osterhaven, owner of Big O's Smokehouse.
“We get the raw fish and then we’ll take it and get it into a saltwater brown sugar brine," Osterhaven explained.
Simply put, Osterhaven said, “We source it from Great Lakes companies."
Fellows tells me, “Not only are there no companies that are tinning fish here locally but there's also no one sourcing locally.”
According to Fellows, tinned fish has staying power. People are eating less red meat, eating cleaner, and mindfully snacking more — all things perfect for tinned fish consumption.
Great Lakes Tinned Fish plans to debut this fall with smoked whitefish.
“I feel like something about in particular, smoked whitefish is... it's kind of like packaging up that taste of Michigan summer,” Fellows said.
This is bigger than whitefish — Great Lakes Tinned Fish is making Michigan fish famous.
“Knowing how to create a supply chain that allows people to enjoy something that is local — that they know where and how it's been fished and where it's been supplied from — just makes me so happy to be a part of that equation," Fellows said.
Great Lakes Tinned Fish plans to start rolling out to select restaurants and retailers in Grand Rapids and along the Lakeshore this fall.
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