ISLE OF PALMS, S.C. (WCBD) There’s a growing movement in the Lowcountry for restaurants to be more transparent about where they source their seafood and despite higher prices, some restaurants say it’s worth it to buy 100% local.
Acme Lowcountry Kitchen on the Isle of Palms is a locally owned business just steps from the beach. They say it’s a point of pride to support Lowcountry shrimpers, even though it may cost a little more“Every year around this time to make sure we have local shrimp for when the shrimp season is not in season,” said Charles Arena, the Executive Chef and part owner of Acme. “Its local shrimp that’s frozen but its local shrimp year-round.”
The restaurant buys typically between 20,000 and 30,000 pounds of local shrimp a year, so they don’t have to rely on imported shrimp. They buy in bulk during shrimp season and freeze it to use throughout the year. This year they wrote a check for $150,000 to buy their shrimp upfront. “We buy as much local shrimp as we can in season from multiple vendors locally and then once a year, we write a big check to Carolina Seafood to make sure we have local shrimp all year round,” said Arena…