Anchorage Daily News

No, he doesn't watch "The Deadliest Catch." No, he's not a former Bering Sea crab fisherman. No, he doesn't live in Alaska, he lives in Las Vegas. But he does move about 600,000 pounds of Alaska red crab a year.

And he does it with gusto.

So much so that in June in Soldotna he was given an award from Global Food Alaska, an independent, private initiative of individuals, companies and organizations that collaborate to enhance the food and related businesses in the state. The award, Alaska Champion, recognizes an individual who has brought an Alaska product into the world's spotlight.

That, Rob George has done. In fact, you could say he has single-handedly put Alaska crab into restaurants and onto plates nationwide long before captains Sig Hansen or Keith Colburn became reality TV stars.

"I don't think there's anyone in the industry that would disagree when I say I'm the one with the most passion in this business," George said. "It's my whole thing, my big baby."

It's a marketing miracle that has brought him riches he never imagined, but success came with an unwavering vision of product quality and personal relationships with his customers.

"We monitor the total chain of custody," he said. "We have traceability; we know which boat caught it and where it's going."

Unlike other crab brokers, George only does crab clusters, not cut-up, single-leg claw packs.

"The crab goes to the butchering station and it's butchered in half, the hard carapace shell comes off, then there's gilling and cleaning, it's packed raw and goes through cooking, then pre-chilling then pre-chilling again, but it's never frozen," he said, referring to the fresh-cooked crab he ships during the season.

During the various crab seasons he also has frozen cooked crab produced in order to keep his customers supplied when the season closes.

"I have 400,000 pounds of frozen cooked crab from Dutch on a container ship to sell over the course of the next six to seven months," he said. "Hopefully, it'll run out by the next season."

During the various Alaska crab seasons he ships gift packs of fresh crab to individuals throughout the U.S.

"I love turning people on to such great crab," he said.

Red king crab season starts Oct. 15, as does opilio snow crab, bairdi snow crab, Bristol Bay red king crab, Pribilof blue king crab, St. Matthew blue king crab and Pribilof red king crab.

October is when the crab season goes into full press and Dutch Harbor teems with crabbers.

For that month, he's developed the Crab Connoisseur Tour, where his customers come up to Dutch Harbor, and while they pay for their air fare and hotel, he takes them through the processing plants and out on a crab boat. They get to talk to Alaska Fish and Game staff and the Coast Guard, and have a crab dinner at the Grand Aleutian Hotel. There is complimentary Crab Broker gear.

"We go out beyond the blue buoy and dump some gear not out in rough seas, but just to meet the captain and crew," he said. "It's great marketing, and people really love it."

They bring home bragging rights and the ability to say to friends and family, "Oh yeah, I went out on one of those 'Deadliest Catch' crab boats."

The number of clients attending has jumped from three to five to 30, he said.

The tour has even been used as a fundraiser for a hospital in Florida, with the package tour selling for $20,000 for a ticket for two people everything included.

He hasn't gone all the way out to sea on a crab boat, but says he wants to in the next couple of years -- it's one part of the supply chain that he hasn't experienced. The desire to experience everything that affects his business is another factor that has broadened his vision and approach to his business.

And much of the success he owes to his own drive and the warm partnership with the late Richard Osterman of Dutch Harbor.

"Richard called and he said 'king and snow crab.' I listened, and for some reason we just clicked," he said. "We talked over the next few days and crazy me gets on a plane and flies up to Dutch Harbor and met Richard, who at that time was with Royal Aleutians Fisheries. It opened my eyes to fresh-cooked crab."

Then Osterman went his own way, but Royal Aleutians wanted George to work with them.

"I wouldn't go around Richard, but he called and said he had no problem with it," George said. "I'm very ethical."

He said that sometimes he just sits back and thinks of all the poundage and all the money and just murmurs "Wow, I'm selling a lot of crab."

But the $8 million in annual revenue isn't what drives him, he said, and greed is a word he hopes is never applied to him.

"Greed never plays a part in what I do," he said. "If you let greed play a part in this, you'll make bad decisions."

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