Lafayette native Jim Gossen has been immersed in the seafood industry since the early 1970s when he began picking up and selling Gulf seafood out of the back of his pickup truck to source fresh seafood for Landry's Restaurants. His hands-on experience and relationship building over the past few decades have given Jim an up-close understanding of the challenges facing the fisherman who captain the seafood industry and what it will take to pass on the tools for business survival to the next generation of fisherman. His message is clear: the Gulf Seafood industry must have a unified voice and be innovative as it adapts to changing circumstances if it is to remain viable for future generations.

In this episode of Discover Lafayette with Jan Swift, Jim Gossen shares his love of the seafood industry, provides an historical overview of how consumers' tastes and demand for seafood has evolved, and explains why he believes Louisiana's fisherman can successfully compete globally by focusing on the quality of their superior product as compared with other country's cheaper and inferior seafood offerings.

Jim Gossen's dedication to the seafood industry led him to great success as a restauranteur, seafood processor, manufacturer and distributor of fresh Louisiana seafood. In the early days of his initial business, Creole Foods, Jim drove his own 18-wheeler to source and deliver shrimp and red snapper. Creole Foods quickly evolved into a successful business renamed Louisiana Foods, a global seafood endeavor that Jim sold to Sysco in 2012. He served as Chair of the board of Sysco until his recent retirement.

Jim currently serves as Chair of the Gulf Seafood Foundation, which promotes Gulf seafood, tourism, and culture. He also owns Jimmy G's by the Houston airport and Louisiana Catering, an oil-related catering business. A recipient of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Gulf Guardian Award for his work in promoting the use and sale of by-catch (seafood such as Cobia or Triggerfish caught unintentionally while hauling in fishing nets that can be sold to restaurants), he has also been recognized by "My Table’s Legends of the Industry, Southern Living’s Heroes of the New South Awards, and is one of Cooking Light’s 20 Food Heroes in America.

While today's restaurant menu typically offers salmon, crabcakes, and a variety of fish dishes, it wasn't always so. When Jim entered the distribution business in the early 1970's and moved to Houston, seafood was not a staple on menus. No one knew what Creole meant, no one knew what crawfish was. In fact, when Jim drove his fresh seafood offerings to Houston, he also carted along Community Coffee, Barq's Rootbeer, Camellia Red Beans, tasso, Veron's Andouille Sausage, and New Orleans' Leidenheimer French Bread, all of which were unknown commodities outside of Louisiana. They quickly became hits in the cowboy market of Houston and beyond.....as did Jim Gossen.

At the age of 30, Jim Gossen on one of his trips to pick up food products along with fish, shrimp and oysters in Louisiana. Photo Gossen Archives

Over the years, tastes have changed and the manner in which seafood is sourced has also changed dramatically. In the 1980s, restaurant patrons feasted on Speckled Trout and Redfish. Both of these fishes were made popular by Chef Paul Prudhomme and his "blackened" seafood dishes. No one could have imagined how fast the popularity of these dishes would take off worldwide and the fish became scarce due to high consumer demand. Limits were placed upon the catch of speckled trout and redfish and now they are only accessible by the recreational fishermen in the region. China and other countries, however, have been willing to step in and meet the demand for affordable and accessible seafood.