Media report states that in some affected area restaurants are substituting imported shrimp for Gulf shrimp and thinking about dropping oysters from the menu as the Gulf oil spill is starting to hurt supplies and lead to higher prices. Curtis Fellows, general manager and part owner of the two Gainesville restaurants, opined that Cedar River Seafood will not change menu prices as a result of increased costs but might drop oysters if the prices go too high.
Cedar River still is getting oysters from the Gulf as many oyster beds remain open, but the costs are up and Fellows anticipates further increases. Seafood buyer Brian Stengl told that restaurant supplier Florida Food Service paid $4 more per gallon the last time they bought oysters a week ago as they become a little more scarce. He added that the Gulf shrimp prices are “through the roof” since seasonal supplies already were down heading into a new Gulf shrimp season, and some restaurant clients have told him they will use imported shrimp instead.
Stengl said the price of imports could start coming down in a month when shrimp harvesting begins, but that depends on a lot of economic factors. The market gets a lot of its shrimp from an Alabama supplier that sent freezer trawlers closer to Florida away from the spill.
