When we wrote our
first story about Fergus-Mc-Barendse Co. in February, 1995, refocusing
fisherman Dana Ferguson and his formerly-forester friend Reid
McIntyre were just starting out. They had recently moved into
the processing warehouse/retail fish market location at the end
of 11th Street in Astoria. At the time, the partners were doing
most of the work themselves, for no pay, to keep overhead costs
to a minimum.
Today, they have nine employees(double in season) and are offloading
fish from commercial fishing vessels 24 hours a day, when scheduled.
The retail fish market, daily attracting more patrons, is open
from 10am to 6pm seven days a week.
They began using e-mail to communicate with their regular commercial
fishermen in 1997. "Albacore fishermen like e-mail because
they are so far away. They may be 200 miles offshore to 2000,"
said McIntyre. "With e-mail they can communicate with their
families, determine what the market will be for their catch, and
nobody else can hear what you're saying - fishermen are very private
persons."
The next wave of technology for F-M-B was to develop a website
where Internet surfers and customers may learn more about the
company and the product they have available.
They launched their site with NW Network out of Portland in March,
1999.
During development of the site someone told the partners about
the listserv process available on the Internet. Today, interested
parties may subscribe to the F-M-B weekly newsletter to have information
about the freshest of arrivals sent directly to them at their
own e-mail address. The newsletter is free of charge and you may
add your name to the list by dropping by the retail store, sending
a fax containing your e-mail address, signing up when you visit
the Website or simply sending an e-mail directly to the company,
asking for inclusion on the list.
In keeping with the entrepreneurial nature of the business, there
is no on-site Webmaster or person in charge of the e-mail. Reid
answers most the the e-mail inquiries himself in his "spare
time," and develops the newsletter with the help of bookkeeper,
Bruce Wood.
The newsletter is designed to "tell people what we foresee
happening as far as what we are getting in,"said Reid. "We
try to include recipes, tell how the fish is handled on the boats,
and once in a while, when we have a very special product - like
the spot prawns we have in now - people want to know just when
that boat hits the dock."
The beauty of the e-mail newsletter is to inform customers when
the freshest product will be available. The intent is to encourage
buyers to e-mail, phone or fax right back with an order. When
that happens, the folks at F-M-B will hold back enough product
to fill the orders, and to sell at the retail market, before letting
the product be shipped off to other wholesale buyers. "Our
motto on our retail is to keep the prices low for the locals,"
continued Reid. "Locals are your backbone, and we want enough
people running through the store that you don't have product going
bad... that you are always running out, even when you keep increasing
the amount of product that you have on hand." LCB
Fergus-Mc-Barendse Co.
Principals: Dana Ferguson /Reid McIntyre
Address: At the Foot of 11th
80 11th Street, Astoria, Oregon 97103
Telephone: 503/325-9592
Toll Free: 888/631-8800
Fax: 503/325-0820
e-mail: fmb@v-town.com
Website:www.nwseafoodconnection.com
Hours: 10a - 6p, Seven Days
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