Safe Catch commands complex retail waters with Crisp real-time data

Advanced forecasting and fill-rate optimization enabled Safe Catch seafood to recover $1 million from stockouts, while navigating international supply chains and unpredictable fishing seasons.

Commodity supply chains are notoriously complex, but few rival the wild-caught seafood industry. With crucial retail partnerships on the line, seafood companies like Safe Catch must navigate international waters regulations, tariffs, varying harvest cycles, and more, to keep shelves stocked and valuable inventory investments flowing. As industry conditions continue to evolve, real-time data intelligence has become critical to staying ahead.

A supplier of premium tuna, salmon, and other canned fish, Safe Catch is an innovative, MSC-certified sustainable seafood company that is also plastic-neutral, having removed over 350,000 pounds of plastic from our oceans. Recently, the company acquired Dang Snacks, an Asian-inspired snack line and long-time Whole Foods mainstay. 

Sausalito, California-based Safe Catch prides itself on Silicon Valley roots, which manifest in their innovative, technology-driven approach. To manage its extensive SKU portfolio across wild-caught proteins and evolving snack categories, Safe Catch leverages real-time insights with Crisp. In addition to achieving next-level efficiency gains, the team is keeping out-of-stocks at bay for their expanding product portfolio, reeling in over $1 million in recovered revenue.

Sea of complexity

Kevin McCay has been steering Safe Catch’s operations as COO for over a decade. What he’s learned over the years is that wild-caught seafood presents supply chain challenges unlike any other commodity category.

Take salmon, for instance. Fishing is restricted to a small time window, and some species like Pink Salmon operate on alternating even-odd year cycles – meaning Safe Catch must forecast demand and secure inventory two full years in advance. Add continuous geopolitical disruptions and fishing challenges specific to each species, and the complexity becomes clear.

“We source various species from places like Russia and West Africa, which face unique challenges, so having proven sales and velocity data makes our supply chain planning more effective,” Kevin explains.

For Kevin, daily data visibility with Crisp is crucial for growth, let alone operational survival, in competitive retail. Even when tariffs shift overnight or seasons deliver surprises, granular sales and inventory data help his team make revenue-boosting adjustments quickly and accurately.

“We source various species from places like Russia and West Africa, which face unique challenges, so having proven sales and velocity data makes our supply chain planning more effective.”

_{Kevin McCay, COO at Safe Catch}

All hands on deck with data

Safe Catch leverages four major retail channels through Crisp: UNFI, KeHE, Whole Foods, and Wegmans. The platform serves as a single source of truth for teams across operations, logistics, inventory management, sales, and marketing – creating unified visibility where data was previously unavailable or disconnected.

Immediate gains were realized as Crisp saved the team hours every week previously spent hopping between retail data portals and manually aggregating insights. From there, features like DC inventory heatmaps and fill-rate tracking provide a clear roadmap for McCay and his team to proactively address out-of-stocks and protect every sale. The sales team can also regularly review voids reporting to pinpoint and close distribution gaps. Further, the platform’s saved reports functionality makes key dashboards accessible to all, and accelerates training for new team members.

“Reviewing Crisp is a consistent process for our team, and we often uncover actionable opportunities through the data,” Kevin shares.

When Kevin’s team meets with retail partners, they arrive prepared with clean, credible data that mirrors the buyer’s own records, making conversations about growth opportunities clear and compelling.

“In one case,” Kevin recalls, “we were able to pull up velocity insights in Crisp for a dropped SKU and get it reinstated immediately.” Kevin describes how having instant access to accurate, visualized data not only streamlines decision-making but also builds trust with partners, driving constant incremental growth.

“Reviewing Crisp is a consistent process for our team, and we often uncover actionable opportunities through the data.”

_{Kevin McCay, COO at Safe Catch}

Abundant results

With a clear, actionable view of performance across their supply chain, Safe Catch drives significant expansion while recovering lost sales. 

Distributor and product growth

The brand’s data-driven approach fuels impressive growth across its top distributors and core products.

• 37% YOY distribution sales growth

• Within UNFI, major retail sales growth includes The Fresh Market (+32%), ShopRite (+27%), and Wegmans (+26%)

• The brand’s #1 SKU, Wild Elite Tuna, saw 33% YOY growth across distributors

New category success

With a close eye on sales velocity in Crisp, Safe Catch is seeing healthy double-digit growth for Dang Rice Crisps across Whole Foods stores nationwide, including for its Coconut (+40%) and Sriracha (+20%) varieties.

The $1 million catch

Leveraging Crisp’s fill-rate and inventory dashboards to monitor its distributors, Safe Catch was able to proactively prevent stockouts across key accounts. Average fill-rate improvements year-over-year represent the recovery of over $1 million in potential lost sales. 

Safe Catch is seeing healthy double-digit growth for Dang Rice Crisps across Whole Foods stores nationwide, including for its Coconut (+40%) and Sriracha (+20%) varieties.

In an industry defined by volatility, Safe Catch proves that even the most complex supply chain waters can be navigated with precision. Real-time, granular data transforms their unpredictable challenges into sustainable competitive advantage. From its premium protein staples to its expansion into snacks, and another recent acquisition of Scout, Safe Catch continues to build unstoppable market momentum.

Explore more Crisp customer stories here, or start your own journey and book a demo.