“It was important to me that the culture of Louisiana Foods remain the same,” explained Jim Gossen. “We are known for the best quality of seafood, and I didn’t want that to be lost with the transition.” Photo: Ed Lallo/Louisiana Seafood News
by Ed Lallo/Louisiana Seafood News
As Jim Gossen got older, his sleep patterns changed. No longer a night owl, these days Gossen prefers to have an early-morning coffee on the docks with local fishermen near his Grand Isle, La., camp.
And while his sleep times are switched, the 65-year-old Gossen still maintains his around-the-clock energy and enthusiasm for seafood, especially Louisiana seafood.
In 1978, Gossen bought a truck and started to drive back and forth to Houston from Grand Isle, Pointe a la Hache, Empire and other Southern Louisiana cities. Photo: Ed Lallo/Louisiana Seafood News
His life, in fact, has revolved around seafood as chairman and founder of Louisiana Foods, a Houston-based seafood distributor that is the largest in Texas.
Last August, Gossen sold Louisiana Foods to industry leader Sysco Foods – and it is now called Sysco Louisiana Seafood. Terms of the sale included him staying on as the chairman.
“It was important to me that the culture of Louisiana Foods remain the same,” he explained on why he agreed to stay. “We are known for the best quality of seafood, and I didn’t want that to be lost with the transition.”
Born in Lafayette, the bayou state native worked in restaurants during high school and while attending University of Louisiana – Lafayette to pay his bills. Soon after graduating, he was asked by Bill and Floyd Landry to help open a Don’s Seafood in Morgan City.
The Morgan City restaurant was the start of a lifelong partnership with the Landry’s.
In 1934, the Landry family started Don’s Seafood in Lafayette. The business expanded to restaurants in Beaumont, Shreveport, Baton Rouge and Morgan City.
“They were big, high-volume seafood restaurants at the time,” Gossen said. “In 1972, I had a little pickup truck for the Morgan City restaurant. I started to buy red snapper and shrimp and sell it locally to other restaurants.”
Becoming a Texan
At the age of 30, Jim on one of his trips to pick up food products along with fish, shrimp and oysters in Louisiana. Photo: Gossen Archives
In 1975, he moved to Houston. Landry’s early Texas operations consisted of five restaurants and a wholesale Louisiana food company, which Gossen was responsible for starting.
“I opened Don’s Seafood, Magnolia Bar and Grill, Jimmy G’s, Landry’s and Willy G’s, as well as Louisiana Food,” he recalled.
In 1978, Gossen bought a truck and started to drive back and forth to Houston from Grand Isle, Pointe a la Hache, Empire and other Southern Louisiana cities.
“When I first started Louisiana Foods, 100 percent of the seafood I sold came from the Gulf of Mexico, and most of that from Louisiana,” said Gossen.
Crossing the Mississippi River on a ferry going to Point a la Hache to pick up oysters. Photo: Gossen Archives
“I would drive to Houston, sleep in the truck, make my deliveries in the morning and then go back and do it all again. I would bring Leidenheimer French Bread, Camellia Red Beans, Barq’s Root Beer, and of course, stop in Baton Rouge and pick up Community Coffee – that is how the name started.”
For more than a year and half, Gossen would drive ten hours on the daily, 800-mile trip roundtrip, which included two ferryboat rides.
“I realized this was actually a business when I started to have receivables,” he said. “At first, it was strictly a cash or check business that sold fish, oysters and Louisiana foods.”
As the company grew, the focus narrowed to strictly seafood.
Gossen’s Seafood “Child”
In 1978 Photo, Louisiana Foods first plant on Armour Drive in Houston. Photo: Gossen Archives
Louisiana Foods – Gossen calls it “his child” – has grown to surpass the $60 million mark. Customers are throughout all major metropolitan areas of Texas: Austin, Beaumont, Galveston, Dallas, San Antonio, Ft. Worth and Houston, as well as parts of western Louisiana.
Seafood sits in cold storage at the first plant in 1978. Photo: Gossen Archives
“I never wanted to sell seafood that was the cheapest. I wanted to sell seafood that was the best. That is the philosophy, as well as the culture, of the company,” he emphasized.
“We try and find the best products and let our customers decide if they want a quality product or a cheap product. We are not for everybody. Our customers want better quality and a high level of service.”
Louisiana Foods sells to markets and grocery chains, as well as a variety of restaurants – from mom-and-pop, Hispanic to high-end and chef-driven. All of its customers demand on thing – quality seafood that is fresh, safe, sustainable and traceable.
To get the highest-quality product, Gossen is very selective about his fishermen and processors. “We only buy from the best fishermen and processors that can guarantee us quality,” he said.
“When I started in the business, there were no limits on fish caught in the Gulf because frankly the demand wasn’t there. Today, if you don’t have a close relationship with the high-quality fishermen and processors you don’t get the product.”
Seafood Business: A Partnership At all Levels
Gossen sees the seafood business as a working partnership among fishermen, processors and marketers.
Gossen sees the seafood business as a working partnership among fishermen, processors and marketers. Photo: Sysco Louisiana Seafood
“My job is to show the fishermen and processor that if they can produce a higher-quality product, I can sell it,” said the transplanted Cajun. “I am willing to pay more money to a fisherman for a quality product because I know I can get more for it when I sell it. I don’t go and try and beat them down on price because nobody comes out a winner.”
Gossen is afraid that unless Louisiana and Gulf Coast fishing communities are willing to change how they do business, the whole seafood industry could be lost.
Competing on Quality, Not Price
“Bayou Lafourche used to have 16 oyster companies. Today, there is one,” he said, lamenting how Louisiana seafood communities are changing. “You drive down any bayou road and there are all these abandoned plants that used to be vibrant seafood processing plants.”
An employee at the Houston plant holds two black drum caught and landed in Louisiana. Photo: Sysco Louisiana Foods
Louisiana and Gulf seafood can’t compete on price in the open marketplace, and he feels fishermen shouldn’t try.
“We have to compete on quality. We have some of the best seafood in the world coming out of Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico. We need to help fishermen learn to fish the Gulf more efficiently, keep seafood fresher and deliver higher-quality seafood to the marketplace.”
He believes fishermen have to reap higher profits so the next generation will want to say: “I want to become a fisherman.”
If the next generation fishermen can’t make a living, fishing communities in Louisiana and along the Gulf will continue to disappear.
Better Resource Management, Less Regulations
Better management of the Gulf is what fishermen need, not more regulations. Gossen, whose relatives have worked in the seafood and oil industries, worries the state is not preparing adequately for the future.
“I love the oil industry,” he said. “It has been fantastic for Louisiana, but what happens when the supply runs out and the rigs go away? We need to start now to nurture our source for renewable seafood. If we don’t, we are going to lose a culture I know I don’t want to live without.”
Filleting fish at Sysco Louisiana Foods Stafford plant outside of Houston. Photo: Sysco Louisiana Foods
At more than twice the size of the state of Texas, the Gulf of Mexico is a fertile source for seafood like no other.
Gossen, a recipient of the EPA’s Gulf Guardian Award, sees a need for creative management of the Gulf much the same way farmers manage their land – rotate crops and farrowed land and keep a constant vigil for unforeseen circumstances.
“If we saw fertile land twice the size of Texas producing fabulous crop slowly disappearing, wouldn’t we do something about it?” he asked. “I think we need to concentrate our efforts on preserving the Gulf, it’s our ‘money tree’ beneath the sea.”
He sees customers having little problem with seafood not being always available. “Take soft shell crabs. A place that has them on the menu year round, I just don’t eat there. I want a place that has them on the menu only during season.”
At the mouth of the Mississippi River, Louisiana is the source for seafood in the Gulf. The river bring the fresh water that nurtures seafood life by creating brackish water essential for shrimp, oysters and other seafood to spawn and grow.
Everything affecting the Gulf is out of sight, under the water. It is important to realize the Gulf has to be managed in a responsible manner. People need to ask themselves: “How much would we miss Gulf seafood if it was not available?”
Gossen believes they’d miss it – a lot. “I know I don’t want this to happen. I don’t want to be eating seafood from China or Vietnam. That’s just not the future I want.”
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