In the wake of the government’s declaration that the BP well is “dead,” local businesses are starting to see relief.
Many businesses are seeing sales improve — despite some lingering financial struggles such as the premium prices they are paying for seafood from China and the Gulf.
“We’re starting to see the beginnings of stabilization, but it has really affected all of the fish species that come out of the Gulf,” said Mike Kushner, an employee of Michael’s Finer Meats and Seafoods in Columbus. “The prices had risen higher than we ever thought they would.”
Frank Gonzalez, owner of Frank’s Fish and Seafood Market on the west side of Columbus, agreed that issues stemming from the Gulf spill have been getting better over the past five months since the beginning of the spill.
“Our retail store is holding its own, and our wholesale is doing OK, but it’s still down from where we were last year,” Gonzalez said. Sales “are slowly beginning to turn but not to where we’d like them to be.”
Frank’s Fish and Seafood Market distributes to more than 350 local restaurants, and Gonzalez said he has been careful about what species he orders from the Gulf Coast area.
“We haven’t brought up anything from the Gulf other than a little bit of shrimp but we’re looking into bringing up some oysters relatively soon,” Gonzalez said. “It’s difficult, especially considering the pricing for oysters has increased to almost $100 a gallon.”
Seafood distributors along the Gulf Coast aren’t the only ones who have been affected by the oil spill. Michael’s Finer Meats and Seafoods has run into trouble buying from distributors in other countries, too.
This can become problematic for a company that counts local restaurants such as the Columbus Fish Market and Hyde Park among its clients.
“There’s a large amount of crawfish and shrimp coming out of China, and these industries have seen their prices go up considerably, if not making them almost unavailable,” Kushner said. “A lot of fish like snapper, grouper and tuna that typically come out of the Gulf are also unavailable, making it harder for fish markets in Costa Rica and South America. Their prices go up as their inventory is decreasing.”
Although the local seafood market is just beginning to improve, local oil company Englefield Oil has benefited from a quicker return to normalcy. Englefield Oil Company owns 127 gas stations in central Ohio, more than 40 of which are BP gas stations.
“The sales have pretty much returned to normal,” said Bill Englefield IV, co-president of Englefield Oil. “I’m sure that there may be some residual resistance to the brand, but for the most part, it’s certainly not the issue that it was two or three months ago.”
Barry Stegner, who works at a Duke and Duchess gas station on the north side of Columbus, agreed that sales haven’t noticeably decreased. Englefield Oil Company owns the gas station and displays the BP brand name on its sign.
“In my opinion, sales haven’t been affected recently,” Stegner said. “If anything, just by appearance, it seems as if they’ve increased lately.”
The Englefield Oil Co. emphasized throughout the summer that it is a local company with local employees.
“I think for the most part our customers have realized that we’re a local company and that we’re certainly not involved in any way in that whole situation,” Englefield said. “I think that the customer’s interests have moved on to other things. We very seldom hear any more comments about it.”
Englefield said he believes a lack of recent media coverage might be the reason for the decrease in customer concerns.
“The (oil spill) issue being taken off the front page somewhat, and with some of it being resolved, I think that has helped,” he said.
While the local oil market continues to alleviate recent sales concerns, the local seafood market hopes to be in a similar position soon. Gonzalez is trying to remain optimistic.
“Our wholesale is still down about $10,000 to $15,000 over last year, and I blame that on the economy and on BP,” Gonzalez said. “It has been a tough year. I’ve been doing this for 35 years, and this is the worst year we have had out of that 35. But the highs are always better than the lows, and you have to hit the lows before you can appreciate the highs.”
