WRAL Investigates

Got to be NC? Not necessarily at State Farmers Market seafood restaurant

The N.C. Seafood Restaurant in the State Farmers Market, known for its big helpings of Calabash-style fish and shrimp, displays a big "Got To Be NC Seafood" seal. But WRAL Investigates found that to be misleading.

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By
Cullen Browder
, WRAL anchor/reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — Anyone who wanders the State Farmers Market in Raleigh usually hears the refrain that sellers are providing North Carolina-grown produce and other goods.
"I would say maybe 90 percent ask where it's from and where we grow it. They really care about where it's coming from and supporting local," said Morgan Naylor, from Naylor Family Farm in Harnett County.

The N.C. Seafood Restaurant in the State Farmers Market, known for its big helpings of Calabash-style fish and shrimp, displays a big "Got To Be NC Seafood" seal. But WRAL Investigates found that to be misleading.

After receiving a tip that the restaurant wasn't selling North Carolina seafood, a news crew checked it out. When asked if the all of the fish served there was from North Carolina, a cashier responded, "Yes, it's fresh from the coast."

But through supplier tips and surveillance of deliveries, WRAL Investigates found that's simply not the case for a lot of the seafood sold at the restaurant.

Shrimp boxes that were tossed into dumpsters were labeled "India" and "South America," and flounder and cod were from China. There were empty catfish boxes from a North Carolina catfish farm.

N.C. Seafood Restaurant owner and operator Kemp Pendergrass refused to talk with WRAL Investigates about its findings.

"I'll never do a story with WRAL – never," Pendergrass said.

Despite being given repeated opportunities to present his side, he only threatened legal action: "I would just tell you if you say anything negative, I'll sue you."

Customers said they were disappointed, noting that they assumed the seafood at the restaurant was actually from North Carolina.

"You would think it would be from here, yes," said Judy Shipp, a regular at the N.C. Seafood Restaurant, along with her husband.

Despite the expectations, imported seafood is very common in North Carolina restaurants because it's cheaper. There is no requirement to sell local in the State Farmers Market's lease with the restaurant. The lease, obtained from the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, mentions only selling "quality" products.

Some customers said they weren't concerned if seafood was foreign as long as the restaurant was transparent about it.

Several days after WRAL Investigates tried to interview Pendergrass, the restaurant posted the following message on Facebook:

"We always try our best to source local seafood, but with current conditions and to ensure we can always serve our loyal customers, we are having to source seafood outside of NC. We always want to be transparent with our customers ..."

The timing of that transparency is in question, however. The restaurant's website mentioned "local seafood" and "from the coast" until recently. The wording was changed to remove the local references after WRAL Investigates approached the owner.

Locals Seafood, which is also located at the State Farmer's Market, isn't affiliated with the restaurant. In a previous WRAL Investigates story about where seafood comes from at area markets, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study endorsed Locals Seafood as a seller of local seafood based on DNA testing of fish samples.

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