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Cortland Seafood Owner Profits On Community Reputation Cortland Seafood Owner Profits on Community Reputation

Reputation has helped Cortland Seafood survive COVID-19, thrive during Lent

By Mat Mlodzinski

MAT MLODZINSKI: Philip Niver has worked at Cortland Seafood since he was seven years old. Now in his fifty-first year on the job, he says the market has become a staple for people living in the area.

PHILIP NIVER: There’s been some people that come back to vacation to see mom and dad or whatever and it might be ten years, fifteen years since they’ve come to town last. And they think about us so they make sure this is one of their stops.

MLODZINSKI: Cortland Seafood offers plenty of choices, from fresh haddock and salmon to frog legs and octopus. He even sells in wholesale, with clams in packages of up to 400 count.

NIVER: One of the main attractions here at Cortland Seafood is the fact that you can not only buy fresh fish, but they’ll also fry it for you, which makes for even better business during Lent.

MLODZINSKI: But on February twenty sixth, twenty-twenty, it didn’t matter how popular Niver’s market was. COVID-19 shut down all American business. For Niver’s market, it came at the worst time – during the Lenten season – a Christian holiday where believers often eat fish on Fridays for over a month.

NIVER: The full effect of places having to shut down, and wearing masks, and the first general hype of the whole thing happened the second week of Lent. So for that week and the next two weeks, things were a little weird, because people didn’t really know.

MLODZINSKI: Niver said that during a normal Lent, profits will rise between thirty and fifty percent. In a normal week, this would mean roughly four hundred pounds of fish per week. But during Lent, that would double to eight hundred. So with COVID-19 scratching out Lent profit, Cortland Seafood had to rely back on their connection with the community once businesses could re-open.

NIVER: Once the initial shock, so to speak, got over with, it went bananas.

NIVER: The selection of dinner was greatly limited. Our duration of time here and the fact that I’m doing the same thing my father did – no break in quality, no break in consistency, it came full circle.

MLODZINSKI: So now, in the midst of the twenty-twenty-one Lenten season, Cortland Seafood isn’t just capitalizing on the usual profit from Lent, but also what they’ve learned from COVID-nineteen – the importance of character and consistency when running a business.

NIVER: You get to be more personable with your customers, and that’s something in a big place that you don’t really get.

MLODZINSKI: And with three weeks remaining in the Lenten season, Cortland Seafood continues to take that motto to heart. Mat Mlodzinski, N-C-C News.

CORTLAND, N.Y. (NCC News) — Now in his 51st year on the job at Cortland Seafood, Philip Niver is reeling in profit during a tough time for local businesses.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Central New York, it happened during the Lenten season. Lent is a Christian season where believers don’t eat meat on certain days. Instead, they opt for fish on Ash Wednesday and the six Fridays during Lent. So in 2020, Niver’s market flopped at the worst time.

Niver said Cortland Seafood normally sells about 400 pounds of fish in a week. During Lent, that will double. So when COVID-19 shut it all down, it took what was normally the most important month and a half of business and threw it back to sea.

 

Fresh fish selection at Cortland Seafood
Cortland Seafood sells a lot of different kinds of fresh fish, including haddock and salmon. They’ll also cook it on the spot for you.
© 2021 Mat Mlodzinski

But that’s where consistency over the years paid off.

“The selection of dinner was greatly limited,” Niver said. “Our duration of time here and the fact that I’m doing the same thing my father did – no break in quality, no break in consistency, it came full circle.”

After a few weeks of shutting down for COVID-19, Niver’s market was able to re-open. This was largely in part because although Cortland Seafood a full-scale menu including fish sandwiches, calamari, and french fries, it operates as a market, which was deemed an essential business.

And because of Cortland Seafood’s established reputation and popularity in the area, Niver’s market blew up.

“Once the initial shock, so to speak, got over with, it went bananas,” Niver said.

It was so bananas that he relied on family friends who didn’t even work for Cortland Seafood to come in and help because that many people started coming there for food. Niver said business would get so crazy he’d even have to unplug the phone during dinner hours on Friday nights.

Since then, as the pandemic has ever-so-slowly crept toward normalcy, and with more and more restaurants opening and for longer hours, the rush has customers has also decelerated. But now, in the midst of the 2021 Lenten season, Niver is able to rely on that usual increase in profit.

Niver told me they’ll make 30-50% more during the Lenten season. One year later, he’s able to make up for what he lost in 2020 and capitalize from the yearly profit due to Lent.

So as Niver looks to year 52 at Cortland Seafood, he can bank on its reputation to make sure it’ll never fail him as a business.

 

Cortland Seafood wooden sign
Philip Niver has worked at Cortland Seafood for over 50 years.
© 2021 Mat Mlodzinski

“There’s a great deal of my customers that I know by name,” Niver said.

He started at seven years old doing odd jobs at the market, but began working retail at age 12.

“Some of them that are elderly have literally seen me grow up,” Niver said.

This consistency is what allows Cortland Seafood to have profit during Lent each year, but also how it was able to thrive as the “mom and pop” food market throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

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