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Dickie's Seafood is located at 1508 Brook Road. (Photo by Ace Above Media)
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Richmond-based Dickie's Seafood sources shrimp, wild-caught fish and crabs. (Photo by Tyler Darden)
After a fire on June 5, 2020, that burned its operation to the ground, seafood processing plant and wholesaler Dickie’s Seafood, located at 1508 Brook Road, has found a silver lining amid a year of devastation. Dickie’s CEO Frank Fay says the company wanted to take this opportunity to rebuild with a focus on sustainability.
Although the fire forced the business to close for over a year, Dickie’s was able to keep about a third of its employees on payroll while the plant was shut down with the help of insurance and COVID relief programs.
“We felt it was important to keep our employees here and keep the family together,” says Fay, noting that several Dickie’s employees have been at the company for over 40 years.
During November and December of last year, Dickie’s ran a shrimp holiday tray program in the plant’s parking lot. With the help of 12 employees, the company steamed shrimp to stock the seafood cases at Kroger and Food Lion.
“We were really thrilled with the way the program worked,” Fay says. “We were steaming shrimp outside in nature. [It was] intense, you know? And we did it for six weeks.”
While Dickie’s plans to introduce more sustainable equipment to its rebuilt plant, its commitment to sustainability is not new, Fay says, noting that the original founder, Dickie Poe, was dedicated to sourcing eco-friendly products when the company was established in 1978.
“[Poe] was a cutting-edge guy in the sense that he wanted to have product that was all natural and chemical free,” Fay says, “unheard of in the 1970s and 1980s. That in itself is a component of sustainability. So what we’ve done is we’ve continued with his philosophy. People understand that if you have a product that’s natural, it’s actually going to taste better.”
Dickie’s products continue to be completely chemical free, and expanded eco-friendly efforts are in progress in other parts of the company. Some of the biggest changes include the plant’s new equipment that will reduce electricity usage by up to 70%. The seafood processing plant is also implementing a water recycling process with the goal to reduce water use by up to 40%.
“Not only are we saving water and electricity, but we’re getting a better yield, [and] we’re going to have [about] one extra full day of shelf life. [This] means that product is more likely to be sold rather than thrown away because it [expired],” Fay says.
In addition to the plant’s new equipment, Dickie’s is making moves to be more sustainable overall. This includes transitioning to electric sales vehicles and new packaging. The new packaging, as opposed to a traditional styrofoam tray, is made of sugar cane that will easily compost.
“It’s not just us that are wanting to [be sustainable],” Fay says. “Our customers want to be sustainable as well. People want to feel that they’re contributing something of value and that even in their shopping they’re buying something that’s better than old methods.”
Other sustainability efforts include Dickie's partnership with the James River Association, a Richmond-based nonprofit that promotes conservation and protection for the river and surrounding areas. Dickie’s will be donating up to $10,000 over the next year to the organization as well as promoting the organization’s work.
According to Fay, these efforts are just the beginning. The company sees sustainability as an ongoing effort rather than something that can be achieved.
“The goal is always to improve,” Fay says.
Currently, Dickie’s Seafood is in the final stages of reopening with plans to start taking orders and shipping its products in the first week of August.
