This podcast episode features two distinguished guests, Vnay Bedi of Cox's Seafood and Chef Mohamad ElBanna from The Birria Bros, who share their culinary insights and experiences. The central theme revolves around the resilience and dedication required in the seafood industry, particularly following the adversities faced during the recent hurricanes that impacted supply chains. Vnay articulates the commitment of Cox's Seafood to quality and sustainability, emphasizing their chemical-free practices and full traceability in sourcing Gulf shrimp. In tandem, Chef Mohamad presents two exquisite dishes: Aleppo Butter Shrimp with Toum Lime Crema and Smoked Pineapple Relish, alongside Pomegranate Glazed Lamb Loin with Whipped Feta and Charred Corn Esquites, showcasing the harmonious fusion of flavors that stem from integrity and passion in culinary arts. Together, they illuminate the profound connection between sourcing quality ingredients and the artistry of cooking, underscoring how these elements coalesce to create exceptional gastronomic experiences.

Engaging with the culinary arts often reveals profound narratives that intertwine personal passion with the intricate workings of the food industry. Vnay Bedi, of Cox's Seafood, exemplifies this connection through his commitment to providing high-quality Gulf seafood. This episode invites listeners into the tumultuous journey of rebuilding after the devastation wrought by hurricanes on the Gulf Coast. Bedi discusses the resilience required to maintain a standard of excellence in the face of adversity, emphasizing the transparency and traceability of their products. Chef Mohamad ElBanna, from The Birria Bros, complements this narrative by transforming these premium ingredients into exquisite dishes that showcase the depth of flavor inherent in Gulf shrimp and Aussie Select lamb. The episode serves as a reminder that the stories behind our food are as significant as the meals themselves, highlighting the essential role of integrity in both sourcing and culinary creation.

Takeaways:

• Vnay Bedi's transition from corporate retail to Cox's Seafood exemplifies a commitment to quality and sustainability in the seafood industry.
• Chef Mohamad ElBanna's unique culinary creations, such as the Pomegranate Glazed Lamb Loin, reflect a deep respect for both tradition and innovation in gastronomy.
• The podcast highlights the resilience of the Gulf seafood industry, particularly in the wake of natural disasters that have disrupted supply chains.
• The emphasis on chemical-free seafood at Cox's Seafood underscores a growing consumer demand for transparency and traceability in food sourcing.
• Chef Mohamad ElBanna's incorporation of local ingredients and techniques showcases the importance of regional flavors in modern cuisine.
• The collaboration between Cox's Seafood and The Birria Bros exemplifies the power of partnerships in the culinary world, driving both quality and creativity.

Mentioned in this episode:

Aussie Select - Fully cooked, premium Australian lamb

Fully cooked, premium Australian lamb—ready to serve and packed with clean flavor.

RAK Porcelain USA -Tableware

We use RAK for all in-studio tableware—clean, durable, and designed for chefs.

You've just stepped inside the walk and Talk, podcast number one in the nation.

For food lovers, chefs, and storytellers.

I'm Carl Fiadini, your host, shining a.

Light on the flavor, the hustle, and the heart of the industry.

We're the official podcast for the New.

York, California, and Florida restaurant shows, the Pizza Tomorrow Summit, the US Culinary Open at nafm, and the North American media platform for the Burnt Chef project, recorded.

At Ibis Images Studios, where food photography comes alive and I get the first bite.

Find out more info@thewalkandtalk.com Today's guest is.

Vinay Betty, a man who could have stayed in the comfort of corporate retail but chose to jump into the unpredictable waters of Gulf seafood.

He's now helping to lead a company built on three hard no chemicals, full traceability, and zero compromise.

But that promise got tested hard last year when hurricanes tore through the Gulf Coast.

Boats went down, docks flooded, entire supply lines went dark.

And yet his team rebuilt.

Faster, cleaner, sharper, proving that quality isn't just a claim, it's a comeback story.

And because every story here has to hit the plate, Chef Mo Elbana from Birria Bros. Is in the studio kitchen while we talk docs, data and distribution, he's translating it into taste, bringing Gulf seafood and Aussie select cured lamb to life.

Sweet.

So we can see how integrity becomes flavor.

Let's dig into how a product becomes a promise and how that promise survives storms, literally and figuratively.

Before we welcome Vinay onto the program.

Chef Mo, let's explain the two dishes you've cooked up today.

My man Mohammed.

I mean, you did some stuff.

I appreciate you.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

You and John were incredible, and this experience was great.

Shout out to Cox.

Shout out to Aussie Select.

Beautiful products to work with.

And thanks to John's magical skills, we turned some dishes into some works of art.

You cooked up two bangers.

Thank you.

I appreciate you for that.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

And, you know, so just.

Just.

Everyone knows this is a working chef.

And, you know, we.

We were eating, having a great time, and time kind of slipped us by.

You have.

You have a dinner event tonight.

This is true.

This is true.

We have an event at 5 o', clock, so we're gonna go from here straight there.

Exactly.

So you're gonna cut out here in a few minutes, but before you do, let's talk about the dishes.

Let's do it.

Yeah.

Dish one.

Dish one.

We have the Aussie select lamb loin, and we turn that into a pomegranate Glazed lamb over a charred street.

Corn esquites with black beans sitting on top of a beautiful ribbon of whipped feta with honeycomb from past the honey.

Shout out past the honey.

That was some incredible stuff.

I'm still at a.

At a loss for words.

So we whipped the feta with the honeycomb with some lemon zest, with some housemade lebneh.

If you don't know what lebneh is, it's a strained yogurt.

It's kind of like the Mediterranean Middle Eastern cream cheese.

I mean, we all grow up eating that stuff.

You know, I, I make a plate of it every now and then at night, and just this sigh in relief about how incredible and simple and beautiful it is.

That was this combination.

It was Mediterranean.

Yeah, but you had a twist on it always.

We always do things with a twist out here.

Tell me there was that lamb.

Oh, man, I, I honestly, I loved everything about it.

It's very hard to find any style now.

We didn't use it as charcuterie, but it's very hard to find any style of charcuterie that's halal and beef or lamb that doesn't have pork involved or pork casing or cross contamination.

So to be able to cook with it as a whole piece, we went and we seared it on all sides with our lamb seasoning that we made in house.

And then we basted it with a butter bath, finished it with our house made pomegranate molasses.

Gave it a nice glossy finish.

Just brought all the flavors together.

The seasoning mesh well, it got real caramelized on the outside.

And.

Yeah, I mean, I can't say it enough.

That was a beautiful product to work with, and thank you for introducing me to that, and I'll definitely be using it more.

We do try to, you know, promote local businesses, larger businesses just in general, introducing chefs to distributors, to manufacturers, and a lot of it happens here in studio.

And today, obviously, you know, Vinay's in house and, you know, he's with Cox's Seafood, and they're, you know, they're doing Gulf shrimp and whatnot.

Your second dish, Gulf shrimp.

It was a beautiful Gulf shrimp.

Shout out to the state of Florida for having an iconic piece of protein in the shrimp, you know, and shout out Cox for being one of the main pushers and providers of that stability and great product here in the state of Florida.

We did a Aleppo buttered shrimp, and that was sitting on top a.

On top of a sumac covered tostada.

And then from there, we Finished it off with a pineapple relish, which involved some charred pineapple, some pickled serrano peppers, some pickled shallots, as well as some Persian cukes.

And, yeah, the acidity, everything about the dish just brought it home.

And again, huge shout out to John for just taking that thing and doing something with it, man.

I mean, we look back at those photos, and I'm just blown away how incredible it really looks.

I mean, how cool is the TV setup.

Insane, right?

I mean, you were insane.

So what?

Everyone doesn't realize that you.

If you haven't been here, we're cooking, we're doing stuff, we're filming.

There's cameras everywhere.

There's all sorts of mics everywhere.

It's a thing.

Well, as a chef finishes up a dish, it goes straight to food photography.

And within minutes, John is doing his thing.

He's building out the set.

He's.

And he's snapping pictures, and they go live on the big screen.

So typically, what happens is, you know, chef is doing his thing or whatever.

A lot of times they'll just happen to look up and see a cool picture and go, wow, that's a great.

Wait a minute.

That's my dish.

So that happens.

A lot happened to me today.

Happened hit your ass?

Yeah, several times.

I didn't even believe it, honestly.

There was, I think the first one.

You looked at, I thought it was rolling from just previous episodes.

And I'm looking, I'm like, that's shrimp right there.

That looks right there.

Yeah, man.

I mean, big kudos to you guys.

It's just been an incredible experience from the start, and we connected a briefly, very short time ago, and it's just been all love ever since to see what you guys have done in this space over the last X amount of years.

And the passion, it's incredible to see because it brings passion out of us all.

You know, just hearing Vinay talk about shrimp and hearing us talk about food and the discussions we had on the phone in the previous week.

And some change.

You know, it.

Seeing John, right?

John was in the room, and he's watching and seeing, and doing.

And then I see him disappear and come back, and you look at the TV screen and boom, that's where he's shining.

That's what he's.

That's what he's passionate about.

And you see it.

It took an image of something that I, in my standard, thought wasn't as good as it was.

And then this man just Michael Jordan the hell out of it, you know.

Like, what's really great.

What's really great about it is typically you have the photographer, you have a food stylist.

There's.

There's a lot of moving parts.

And then they were using, you know, different tools that you.

In other words, you can't eat the food after we eat everything.

So John's doing his own styling and the photography, and then we eat the food.

We don't waste anything, which for us is very important.

Sustainability in every facet, every level is very important to us.

Even as something as silly as a dish being cooked here, we're going to eat that food.

Yeah, right.

So I'm just thrilled you got to come out here.

I put a call to action out of CTA a couple of weeks ago, and not just you, but a bunch of your people, like, they were messaging back and forth.

Hey, look at this guy.

Check him out.

Hey, man.

Shout out to Birrea family.

You know, we've been doing this for quite some time, and people know what we're about, people know what we do.

And I have an incredible community supporting us and pushing us forward each and every day, and I wouldn't be here without them.

So shout out to the Birria family, and thank you for listening.

Listen, before you go, talk a little bit about yourself.

Yeah?

So my name is Muhammad Al Banna.

I'm the culinary mastermind behind the Birria Bros. We are a Mediterranean Mexican establishment.

We travel all over the country, we collaborate with chefs high and low, you name it.

Michelin, James Beard award winning, we've done collabs with some of the greatest names in the country, if not the world, in my opinion, and I'm very blessed for it.

I was born and raised in this business, so it's not just something I do.

It's something I truly love.

And when it brings amazing people like it does here today, it's a very, very blessing life that I live to be able to do this each and every day and know that no matter what we're doing, God's on our side because we're putting out good product.

We're doing it with intention, and we're doing it with love and passion.

Can't say it better than that.

How do people find you?

Hey, follow us on Instagram at the Birrebros.

Honestly, it's the Birrebros everywhere.

Want to check me out?

Check out chef Muhammad Albana.

M O H A M A D E L B A N N A on Google.

You will see.

We get down, spell the, spell the.

Spell the name of the Company.

Yeah.

So it's the Biria Bros. E H E B I R R I A bros birya like the tacos you dip.

If y' all don't know, pull up on me and find out.

I recommend it.

You know, listen, I've.

I have this man's food today.

Fantastic.

We actually have tacos in the.

Waiting in the wings.

That you do.

Yeah.

I'm sad I won't be able to be here to make it for you, but I promise you we'll come back and do it again.

We're gonna eat them.

Because I have to tell Pooch that I had him before he did.

Please shout out pooch, man.

Me and Pooch have been trying to get together for a long time, and for this to happen is beautiful, because I know he's gonna.

He's gonna appreciate it and he's going to be proud.

He's doing some big stuff.

Actually, we're going to be in Atlanta in about a week and a half.

Beautiful.

We did the US Culinary Open, which they're a partner of the show, at the NAFM trade show in.

In.

In Georgia this past February.

And the winner, Chef Freddie Money.

Michelin Chef Guy is amazing.

He wins the competition.

Well, the same company that makes the NFL super bowl rings is the same company making the rings of the winners of this competition.

Wow.

So it took between what's going on, you know, tariffs and all this stuff, they couldn't get the rings here sooner.

Now they're here.

We're actually doing the ring presentation, and we're flying in to take care of that video, the whole nine yards.

That's awesome.

Yeah, it's pretty cool.

Super excited.

We're doing the ring ceremony.

The chef ready.

Way coolest guy ever.

Accent, he's from.

I think he's from uk.

Coolest guy.

He's with Tavistock Group.

Major, major group.

I'm super excited.

This is a big opportunity for walk and talk media.

Obviously, we're there to support the US Culinary Open with Chef Nick and Chef Polly, who own that franchise.

Great thing.

Super excited, Chef.

I know you have to roll.

Yes, sir.

Right, so we're going to.

Don't mind me.

Yeah.

We're going to say goodbye.

But, you know, we'll see you soon.

Yes, we will.

We gotta recap this.

That we will.

Yeah.

And I need you to make me tacos now.

I got you.

I got you.

You already know it.

And I appreciate you, Vanae, for everything, man.

Let's stay in touch and we'll make it happen.

Keep doing what you're doing in this community.

I know everyone appreciates it.

I appreciate that, man.

Yes, sir.

Okay, Vinay, welcome to the program.

Ah, excited to be here, man.

Wasn't today cool?

I mean, I, I, it really stinks that chef had a split.

Yeah.

But I, I'll tell you this.

That guy has so much passion, such a genuine chef.

I mean, I'm very, very thankful to be here.

Very blessed to meet you guys.

And just seeing the work that he did today, just, it's so inspiring and just, just thankful all around.

So we, we had just met.

It was only about two weeks ago on the telephone.

Yeah.

You know, we've been following each other on, on socials for a while, but we've never had a, you know, conversation.

Get on the horn with him to have our pregame talk.

Probably two and a half hours worth of phone calls that we've had together.

I feel like I know this man for years.

Not as much as I know you, John over there, but yeah.

So it's a shame he had to leave.

He's a working chef.

He's out there doing the fighting, the good fight.

Did you enjoy the food?

Did you see?

Did you.

I know that you got a lot of stuff going on.

I mean, you had some pretty intimate phone calls today.

We won't get into that.

But did you get to experience this thing that is walk and talk media?

I did.

I did.

I can see the setup all around me.

And just again, like, I think what you guys have done to not only bring out the, the real spirit behind the culinary art, I mean, that's the magic I just saw today in the kitchen.

Right.

I mean, I saw this guy literally from ingredients, knowing him, talking where it's from, where it's sourced.

That was very cool to see.

You can notice that he cares.

He does.

The people that end up here, the chefs, the farmers, you know, manufacturers, distributors, if they come here because they care, you know, I don't care what their reasoning is to, to sit in front of a microphone, but their heart comes out.

For me, that's the win.

I look at that as the big check mark because that I am enjoying that.

Like, I enjoy the vibe of the people that come here.

It's one of the reasons why we do this.

Let's get into shrimp.

You switch from retail to shrimp.

You're doing food service, you're doing grocery.

What made you make that move?

Yeah, that's a really, really good question.

Look, I had a great, great experience in retail, and it's called big retail.

And I've learned a lot about scale and systems, but really, for me personally, I wanted a challenge.

I wanted to move into a space where there are more variabilities.

And, you know, shrimp is unpredictable.

There's a lot going on right now.

It's tough.

I mean, supply chains, sustainability, pricing.

But I saw an opportunity to, to make a difference and bring a different perspective in an industry and do some really meaningful work.

And so for me, I didn't leave retail because it wasn't good.

I left it because I wanted to grow.

There's a lot of passion when it comes to food products, especially something that's, you know, in this case, Gulf shrimp, wild caught.

So it's not like you're, you know, producing paperclips.

This is something that comes from the ocean primarily.

Most of your stock is coming from the Gulf, which I think is tremendous.

The volatility in it.

How are you actually making this?

How does a company stay in business for all these years?

How does that, how does that, how does that happen?

Yeah, I mean, look, four plus decades is how it happens, right?

With really, really hard work of building blocks.

And I think the industry has changed so much for, for Gulf shrimp in general.

Right.

The number of boats that have been out over time.

And you've seen this industry on our end shrink because farm raised shrimp has gotten bigger.

And that pie has obviously leaned heavier towards farm raised and less with golf.

But to answer your question, the way we've been able to survive, I give all the credit in the world to the people that are in front of me.

Like, they're the ones that have built this business to where it is.

And I give them a lot of credit to building the foundation of what Cox is, is today.

So, look, it's hard work.

It's being able to maneuver around the struggles that this entire industry brings forward, but it's staying focused.

And I think that is what we do at Cox's is we're focused on the end goal, and that is to bring Gulf shrimp to everyone's plate in a very, very clean, fresh way.

When you first stepped into this space, what did you find broken that you knew that you could fix?

Look, I wouldn't say I came in thinking I could fix the industry.

Right.

Shrimp has a lot of moving parts and even veterans struggle with it.

So I didn't see inefficiencies, but I did see there are definitely opportunities where there's inconsistent quality.

I also saw that there's a lot more opportunity to do more collaboration.

So my goal is to help simplify it, bring clarity, and really modernize a few of the processes that is coming along the way.

That's actually one of the main reasons I reached out to you guys.

I've seen your social media and I've seen some stuff with you out there.

And then I, you know, hey, listen, I stalk people's Instagram.

I do that because I have to find the right people to have on the show.

Your energy has been very good.

And then when we actually started speaking, you're fast on the text, you're fast on the draw.

You put yourself out there.

So you don't put yourself in a cave.

You're not alone on an island somewhere.

You're an extrovert and you appear to enjoy what it is that you do.

But let's look back, you've been, you've been with Cox's now for a couple of years.

Little over a couple of years.

Yeah.

Last year was a doozy with the stores when the boats were grounded and everything was turned up and business was desolate.

What did you guys do in your operation to get through that moment, that period?

Oh, my gosh, these are.

I'm loving these questions, by the way.

So, look, rebuilding in this industry is not a single moment.

I mean, it takes thousands of steps, right?

I mean, there's a lot of steps you have to take to kind of get rebalanced.

And look, we have to balance pretty quickly, right?

And to do that, you gotta be resilient and you gotta play the long term goal in this whole process.

But for us, you know, water is eventually cleared.

The process taught us a lot about sticking close with the community.

You know, there's a lot of boats out there that, that needed support.

There's a lot of suppliers that, you know, we extend credit to, competitors that we share and kind of find solutions together on.

But that's when I realized the Gulf isn't just a place.

It's a network of people that refuse to quit.

Shrimpers are out there for 30 days at a time in the water.

And yes, we had to get a rebuild from the hurricane and kind of work together to get through this, but it is, it's a long way to go still.

I mean, if you think about St. Pete, Clearwater, Fort Myers, I mean, they're still rebuilding.

And so our, our goal right now is to support them.

I mean, obviously there's a ton of restaurants across Florida and I think, you know, there's going to be people that need support.

And I think that's where Cox kind of does their job and their role in the community to support them rebuild.

Back in May, we did a documentary, and it was, you know, I called up a friend of mine, Chef Thomas Parker, said, hey, man, I think I want to do a documentary.

Are you in?

He says, yeah, of course.

I said, all right.

I want a dish, Florida Centric.

And I want.

I want there to be a seafood on it.

I want.

I want some sort of seafood.

All right.

He gets back to me the next day.

He goes, I'm doing a handmade pasta, and it's going to be a Gulf shrimp dish.

It's going to have blueberries and corn and all Florida.

I said, that sounds terrific.

So long and short, we go off on this expedition foraging for the ingredients.

We ended up at Superior Seafood over on the Tampa dock.

Great people.

Well, we got to meet one of the shrimpers.

His name is Morris.

This guy is a diamond.

I talk about him all the time, believe it or not, probably, I don't know, every week or two, I seem to bring this guy up.

He's a character, but he's one of the realest individuals you could possibly meet.

And one of the things that he said which resonated, he's like, you know, I was just out on the boat for 45 days.

He goes, it's rough.

I don't know how people do this for a living.

It's hard work.

What Coxis does, what you do, Vinay, you're working with people who really put themselves out there, and it's sink or swim, literally.

What was the moment that you told your team your operation, we're back?

Look, I think our people, we never left.

We have loyal employees, a great staff.

We never are unwavered on our operations, and we stay trusted and reliable.

And that's what Cox is all about, right?

I mean, as a seafood company, to your point, I think what we do is we support American fisheries.

We're 100% all American.

So when you have a shrimper go out for 45 days, I mean, that touches home for us, right?

Those are the people that we support.

It's a shared family and a partnership.

And so that is the root of what we do.

And I look at my background, my old job, I used to support farmers and Now I have the privilege and the honor to support American fisheries, and that's.

And why we do everything we do at Cox.

Chemical free.

Sounds like a buzzword.

Describe what that means for you and your crew when you have shrimp coming in off the line at 3am yeah.

Look, at 3am in the morning, Chemical free is a buzzword.

Look, it's.

It's muscle memory.

It means our crews are handling shrimp straight from the nets.

No additives.

There's literally zero shortcuts in our process.

Look, every tray, everything that we pack is completely pure, and it's.

It's something that makes us unique.

Cox Seafood offers chemical free shrimp, and that's the standard we live by, I think, as a company.

You know, that's when you get Cox's shrimp.

You know exactly what you're getting, and that's shrimp directly from the ocean, nothing added.

Has there been a challenge, or is there something brewing when it comes to mislabeling?

Yeah, definitely.

I mean, I think mislabeling happens all the time when you.

And you think customers don't notice, but they do.

You know, we build our business assuming they will.

For every shipment that we.

We send out, you know, we have the exact traceability back to the dock, to the crew, back to, you know, what we actually put out on people's tables.

So, look, we.

We build our systems around honesty because we'd rather lose a sale than lose trust.

So when chefs see consistency, they don't.

They don't know or take our word for it.

They can verify it themselves.

What I find very interesting, and it just dawned on me now, it should have happened sooner.

Morris, that we met at Superior, undoubtedly, this man has caught shrimp that you've sold, which I think is amazing, because past May, I didn't know Morris, and past a few weeks ago, we didn't know each other either.

Renee, look at the small world that we live in, in the culinary space, in the agricultural space.

I think it's fascinating.

Yeah, I agree.

Look, I think chefs are so unique and so special.

Not only are they so happy to introduce you to other chefs, but I think we're all tied to one common goal, and that is really, it's creating.

And I think one thing that we do at Cox's is work with a ton of chefs and kind of build our network with chefs, because you can do so much with shrimp.

It's a great protein, but there's so many different ways that you can use it, and consumption just keeps.

Keeps growing.

Obviously, you're out there building relationships in the food service sector also, obviously, there's a shortage of wild caught shrimp from the Gulf.

How are you choosing who's getting the goods?

I mean, I don't mean to put you on the spot, or maybe I do.

Yeah.

For me, partnerships are built on trust and a shared commitment to do the right thing.

So it's not just about who can buy the shrimp.

It's about who respects your product and the people behind it and the story that comes with it.

Right.

I mean, that's super important, I think, as you kind of allocate where it goes.

So whether it's chefs, distributors, or competitors, I look at those who value transparency, quality, and sustainability for what we do and who we service.

So if they're aligned with our principles and they deserve our product, then those are the ones I want to make sure they get the product on their plate.

Look, everybody knows that I love this industry, and I've worked with thousands of chefs.

I'm going to give a dirty little secret.

Chefs, okay?

Coming from distribution and sales, the chefs and fnbs and purchasers who treat the vendors well and respect them are the ones who get stuff when there's a shortage.

I don't know if I just broke the news, but I broke the news.

That's how it works, man.

People with respect, companies with respect, chefs that show respect.

All this, like this relationship building that occurs between distributors and the kitchen.

It's a real thing.

It's a real bond.

It's camaraderie.

You know, typically speaking, a chef is going to, you know, like, if it's their produce rep, they're going to talk to that.

That person every day, practically every day, twice a day.

And when there's a problem, who do they call?

They call their rep to go fix it, whatever.

And you end up making these relationships that really last the lifetime or span of careers.

I think it's also fascinating, I think this whole topic today.

And I really wish that chef was here, because I had a bunch of.

I have a ton of questions here that would bridge the conversation between a shrimp distributor and the kitchen.

We're audible ing all over the place today.

Obviously, this, like, normally, actually, this was a great day, but we were soup.

We went over, like, two hours.

Yeah.

Like.

Right.

And nothing here is like.

This is completely unplugged.

Yeah.

Vinnie, this is a great year.

It's a great year for.

For you guys at Cox's.

It's been great for us.

You know, we got this thing with the Central Florida Film Festival with our documentary I am over the top on that, we submitted some work to the, to the James Beard foundation as well for media.

Who knows what that's going to bring, if anything.

You guys.

You guys want a bunch of stuff you did personally, too?

Can tell us what.

Tell us what happened.

Yeah.

This has been a good year for Cox Seafood.

We won ACF Partner of the Year locally here in Tampa, which was a beautiful honor from.

From the chefs.

We won a partnership telly award with the Department Florida of Ag and NextGen Network Marketing Agency.

Personally, myself, I got announced as a winner for the next gen award by Progressive Grocer and one of our teammates as well, Danielle, she got awarded top women in groceries.

So just a nice recognition and very, very humbled and appreciative of the honor.

I was thrilled to get out to the facility last week just to meet you and the team, do a little filming as well.

It's a really beautiful building.

When I think of food safety, what you guys are doing is what I envision.

Food safety is a big deal with fish and seafood and shrimp, it's even a bigger deal.

You could hardly smell seafood in that building.

I'm shocked.

Yeah, look.

Food safety, quality, that is.

There's a couple of things to know.

Number one, our president has made it very clear we have to be perfect on quality.

He does not compromise, not one little bit with anything when it deals with quality.

And that, I think, is so respected for all of us and actually motivates the entire company to do your best every day.

And one thing I will point out about Cox's, which is also a very good accomplishment, we are BRC double A rated plus on food safety.

So we passed unannounced audits, which makes us on our tippy toes all, all day, every day for when these come.

But that also just speaks to the.

The staff, the employees, leadership.

I mean, they.

We work together as a team to be perfect with shrimp and also make sure our quality is the best in the industry to have.

That opens the door for you to work with the biggest and the best companies and brands out there.

Absolutely.

And we do.

We work with a handful of major, major retailers.

We work quite a bit with folks in food service, from national accounts to commercial accounts and the military.

So we, we are broadly scoped quite a bit.

And we're.

To me, I always tell the story to my team, especially when I got there two years ago, is we're on a new beginning.

Like, paint the picture of what Cox can look like in the next 10 years.

Like, where do we want to be and imagine that and let's go do it.

And I think the vision's there, the strategy's there.

I mean, we're very committed to what this is going to look like in the next few years.

You seem to be very progressive for a seafood company.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

I mean, we're forward thinking.

I'm telling you right now, the way I look at the business and the way we look at it today together as a team is what's next?

What are people not doing?

And let's try a bunch of things.

We are, we're okay to fail.

We're okay to take risk.

And we're going to.

And that's exactly what we're doing.

We're, we're pretty, pretty excited about where we're headed.

And you, you're, you're big on events.

You like doing different venues and, and supporting charities and whatnot.

Talk about that a little bit.

Absolutely.

I think we, we do a lot with charities and we do a lot with partnerships.

So good example, we did the Taste of NFL that is partnered with Gen Youth, which gives back fighting student hunger.

And that's a great cause.

I mean, we're in the Super Bowl.

We've done festivals locally here in, in, in Florida, the Soy Festival.

We're doing the Seafood Festival in Miami coming up here next month.

So there's, there's a handful of different partnerships and events that we want to be a part of.

But like I said, when you do something at a scale of the NFL, I mean, that, that just tells you that, look, we're, we're trying to, we're trying to play big, and we are playing big.

And that's, that's the kind of partnerships I think you'll see going forward with, with our business.

Don't ask me how it happened, but last year, Pooch Rivera, who is, you know, team walk and talk, he was on the red carpet over there in New Orleans for the Super Bowl.

Really cool.

Super cool.

He was representing and he was, you know, they had all the celebrity chefs on this row of this, like, media row for food for the, for the Super Bowl.

Super awesome.

I don't, I mean, how do you.

I don't know.

I feel like that's a, that's a, that's a major pinnacle moment.

Look, it could have been the Taste of NFL.

It could have been that specific event.

I mean, it's one of the biggest events in The super bowl that they have every year.

I probably.

I mean, I'm.

I'm pretty sure that's the one he was at, because you're surrounded by celebrities and ex NFL players and there's so many celebrity chefs who are walking by.

I mean, that was.

That was such a monumental moment for COXIFU to be part of that and just, you know, just be represented there.

And I, again, I think that that stepping stone for us was a vision of how big we can become, how big we can make this business look like.

And I think by doing that, there was partnerships with the Florida Department of Ag.

I mean, they're.

They're a big reason we did all the things that we did for that super bowl event.

So kudos to them.

Well, you know, a lot of this stems back from this food safety part.

A lot of it comes back from the scaling.

Like, what can you actually produce?

Who can you work?

How fast can you deliver and get it across the country?

And that.

That really opens the doors to everything.

What I think would be really great is if we get together with Pooch and put together some, you know, Gulf coast, some seafood events.

You know, he's out in New Orleans.

I think we can do some real bangers.

Yeah, look, I'm.

I'm all in to try.

Try new ideas and do.

Create new partnerships.

Yeah, let's do it.

All we're doing is pushing Gulf coast shrimp, seafood and the beautifulness that is this industry.

Vinay, sincerely, I appreciate you coming out today.

We appreciate you coming out today.

It was great having you.

Yeah.

Thank you so much for having me.

This has been amazing.

How do people find you?

So you can find us on our website, www.coxseafood.com.

we also have four social channels with LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and Apple X.

And that is Cox, by the way.

Yes.

All right, listen, I appreciate you very much, John.

I mean, stop it.

Would you stop with this.

With this amazing photography?

You know what we need to do?

We need a cookbook.

That's what I think we should do.

What do you.

No.

Yeah.

All right.

All right, y', all, we are out.

Sam.