Long John Silver’s Launches Vegan Seafood

The largest quick-service seafood chain in the U.S. has tapped into the growing demand for sustainable, plant-based food by adding fish-free fillets and plant-based crab cakes. 

Credit: Good Catch

Long John Silver’s, the largest quick-service seafood chain in the U.S., has launched plant-based seafood options for the first time in its history. 

The national chain has nearly 700 locations across the country, having served seafood since 1969. But in recent years demand for plant-based food has skyrocketed as more and more consumers are choosing animal-free products for health, environmental, and animal welfare reasons. 

Now, Long John Silver’s has tapped into the growing plant-based market by becoming the first national chain to offer plant-based seafood.  

The new options include a Breaded Fish-Free Fillet that is described as having a tender, flaky whitefish texture encased in a crunchy, crispy breading. And the new Breaded Crab-Free Cakes are entrée-sized with a lump crabmeat-like texture and sweet crab flavor complemented with sweet peppers, green onions, parsley and a kick of spice.

Both of these new menu items are made by plant-based seafood company Good Catch,  who use their signature protein-rich blend of six legumes including chickpeas and fava beans as the base of the fish-free products. 

"We work with partners who share the vision of fishing smarter with less environmental impact, an aspect that we know is very important to Good Catch”, says Christopher Caudill, Long John Silver's Vice President of Marketing. “We're proud to have their plant-based products on our menu as a way to open our doors to a wider customer base who want to experience tasty seafood products in a more sustainable way". 

The plant-based fish fillets and crab cakes are currently only available at five Long John Silver’s locations in California and Georgia. Consumers in Georgia can visit the Newnan (52 Bullsboro Dr.) location, near Atlanta or the Albany (1805 N. Slappey Drive) location. In California, the offerings will be available in Bakersfield (3801 Ming Ave.), Sacramento (7228 Stockton Blvd), and Clovis (406 W Shaw Ave.).

Consumers can look forward to more plant-based seafood options coming to eateries and restaurants in the future too, as demand for fish-free seafood market is expected to soar. 

"With the plant-based seafood sector expected to grow twelve-fold in the next ten years to $1.3 billion, there's room for dramatic growth”, says Christine Mei, CEO of Gathered Foods, makers of Good Catch. "We're excited to propel change in quick service restaurants by teaming up with Long John Silver's".

With figures estimating that over 2.7 billion wild fish are killed every single day, the plant-based seafood market is positioning itself as a sustainable and kind solution to answer the global demand for seafood products. 

Want to hear more about how vegan seafood is disrupting the food industry? Listen to Species Unite chat with Chris Kerr, the Godfather of vegan venture capital and co-founder of Gathered Foods, makers of Good Catch plant-based seafood products.

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