0:03 After every broken fish egg is
0:06 meticulously picked out, premium caviar
0:09 from this California company will cost
0:13 up to $182 for just 1 ounce.
0:15 The most expensive from this company in
0:22 And the best from Madagascar will run
0:29 These prices are fairly standard for
0:31 premium caviar, no matter where it comes
0:34 from. For most of modern history, that
0:38 was simply because caviar was rare.
0:41 Demand outweighed supply, which drove
0:44 prices up. But over the last decade or
0:47 so, that balance has started to shift as
0:50 caviar from China floods the market.
0:52 >> The small purveyors and the small
0:55 producers can't survive. It's too hard
0:59 to compete with China with these other
1:01 imports. So, if we're talking simple
1:03 supply and demand, caviar should be
1:06 cheaper for consumers, right?
1:09 Not quite. Caviar seems to be everywhere
1:12 these days. But the prices consumers pay
1:15 haven't moved much. So, how did China
1:19 come to dominate the caviar industry?
1:21 And if there's more caviar on the market
1:31 Caviar wasn't always a luxury. To
1:34 American fishermen in the early 1800s,
1:37 it was literally garbage.
1:40 Demand here was nearly non-existent, and
1:44 supply, the rivers overflowed with
1:46 sturgeon. if it didn't end up in the
1:48 trash. Some bars in New York served
1:52 caviar sandwiches for free, like peanuts
1:54 as a salty snack to encourage beer
1:57 sales. Meanwhile, European diners
2:00 treated caviar as a delicacy, and paid
2:03 premium prices for it. By the 1870s and
2:06 80s, one New Jersey town aptly named
2:09 caviar, produced more caviar than any
2:12 other place in the world.
2:14 This was the golden age of American caviar.
2:16 caviar.
2:18 But it wouldn't last. Fishermen
2:21 harvested millions of pounds of sturgeon
2:24 with few restrictions and populations
2:27 plummeted. As sturgeon became less
2:30 abundant, prices climbed.
2:33 In 1885, American sturgeon row cost the
2:38 equivalent of $300 to $400 per 135 lb
2:41 keg. Just 15 years later, a keg of
2:45 caviar cost around $4,000.
2:47 Wild sturgeon continued to dwindle
2:55 Finally, in 2006, the Convention on
2:57 International Trade and Endangered
3:00 Species of Wild fauna and flora
3:01 effectively banned the trade of
3:04 wildcaugh caviar worldwide.
3:06 global supply shrank even further,
3:08 pushing prices higher and deepening
3:12 Caviar's luxury status. It's an almost
3:14 textbook example of an economic idea
3:16 called the rarity value thesis.
3:18 Basically, the less of something there
3:21 is, the more valuable it becomes.
3:24 But there has to be some supply. So,
3:26 with traditional sources strained,
3:28 producers had to figure something else
3:31 out. What happened instead was people
3:32 started to farm caviar which wasn't
3:35 really done before to this extent.
3:37 Generally farmed caviar is worth much
3:40 less than wild because of that rarity
3:43 value thing. But after the 2006 ban,
3:47 farmed caviar became a necessity.
3:49 Producers now needed to build their own
3:51 infrastructure and care for the animals
3:53 for years before they could make a
3:56 profit. At many farms, tanks have to be
3:59 constantly flushed with fresh oxygenated
4:02 water. Some are built into natural
4:04 bodies of water, like at Asipensor in
4:07 Madagascar. The team spent months
4:09 finding a lake cool enough to mimic the
4:18 Sturgeon are slow, expensive animals to
4:21 grow. Depending on the species, it can
4:23 take a decade before the fish are mature
4:26 enough to harvest their eggs, and they
4:30 need to be fed the whole time.
4:33 Asapens spends over $130,000
4:37 a month on feed alone for about 60,000 fish.
4:38 fish.
4:41 Traditionally, sturgeon are killed to
4:43 harvest their eggs, so it's usually one
4:50 But some farms have started producing no
4:53 kill caviar where they basically induce
4:56 labor and then gently massage the eggs
4:59 out. That process can be repeated every
5:02 15 months or so.
5:04 The rise of farmed caviar, especially
5:08 from China, ultimately caused a surge in
5:12 supply, driving down wholesale prices.
5:14 The wholesale price is what producers
5:16 charge restaurants, distributors, and
5:18 other retailers to buy their products in
5:22 bulk, and it's usually lower than the
5:24 retail price. That's the one customers
5:28 pay. China now exports over 40% of the
5:30 global market. So, how has China
5:33 skyrocketed to global industry dominance
5:35 in such a short time?
5:38 In the 1990s, China began investing
5:40 heavily in sturgeon aquaculture,
5:42 building large inland farms using
5:45 recirculating water systems.
5:48 They were controlled, scalable, and
5:50 designed for long-term production.
5:52 >> They are farming mass amounts of caviar.
5:55 And that caviar is, or it can be a lot
5:59 cheaper than traditional caviar. Quality
6:02 improved quickly and by the mid2010s,
6:03 Chinese caviar was showing up in
6:11 Scale is what changed everything. UN
6:13 trade data shows China went from a
6:16 negligible exporter in 2006 to the
6:18 dominant supplier by 2019.
6:21 >> In 2024, China exported 322 tons of
6:23 caviar. That's double the amount of
6:27 caviar it exported in 2019. So why can't
6:29 other countries scale to compete?
6:32 >> The government has really invested in
6:34 that industry. So they are putting money
6:37 into the farms. There is really cheap
6:40 labor in China that is not available in
6:42 America or in Italy. And so it's really
6:44 reshaped the dynamics and the pricing of
6:47 the market. Um in addition to just a
6:49 huge boatload more of caviar entering
6:52 the market. That surge in supply had a
6:54 ripple effect across the global
6:57 industry. Wholesale prices fell in some
7:00 markets by more than 40% in less than a
7:04 decade. Between 2014 and 2020, the EU
7:05 reported that the average price of
7:10 caviar fell from about €413 per kilo to 241.
7:12 241.
7:14 But lower wholesale prices didn't drop
7:16 the prices for consumers in the way we
7:19 might expect.
7:22 What it did do was reshape the way
7:25 caviar is marketed, presented, and experienced.
7:26 experienced.
7:28 On the one hand, you have restaurants
7:31 that are buying caviar cheaper, but
7:33 selling it for roughly what they
7:35 normally would because people expect it
7:37 to be expensive. Then you have
7:39 restaurants following a new playbook.
7:42 Our restaurant has the best deal for
7:45 caviar. Using wholesale caviar as a
7:47 marketing tool, especially on social
7:51 media. In both cases, retailers rely on
7:55 customers feeling that caviar is a
7:59 luxury good. Perception, not scarcity,
8:02 is what keeps caviar so expensive.
8:04 >> It's going viral on Tik Tok and
8:06 Instagram. Caviar Talk is filled with
8:08 creators from all social stratospheres
8:12 eating and engaging with Caviar. They
8:14 create aspirational content that
8:16 leverages Caviar's luxury status while
8:19 at the same time making it feel
8:26 The modern in New York is one restaurant
8:30 fueling the trend. Chef Thomas Allen has
8:32 taken the little luxury route. Do I make
8:34 a ton of money off the caviar hot dogs? No.
8:35 No.
8:38 >> That's by design. The Modern sells two
8:41 mini hot dogs topped with caviar for
8:44 $39. Tom wouldn't tell us exactly how
8:46 much they're marked up, but he assured
8:48 us the margins were slim.
8:50 >> I want you to have the caviar hot dogs,
8:52 so I'm not going to put them at a price
8:54 that's going to intimidate you or make
8:55 you feel like you're boxed out of of
8:57 enjoying something that I think is
8:59 really unique and really special. Once
9:01 diners are in the door, Tom says the
9:03 goal is that they'll order other higher
9:05 margin items on the menu that aren't
9:07 necessarily engineered with social media
9:10 in mind. Viral or otherwise, these hot
9:12 dogs are prepared with just as much
9:14 precision as any other dish from a two
9:16 Michelin starred restaurant.
9:18 >> We're going to make the bread. We're
9:19 going to make the sauce. We're going to
9:20 make our mustard. We're going to pickle
9:22 our shallots. We're going to do all the
9:24 things we can do to to perfect in a
9:26 consistent way the things that we have
9:28 control over. We toast it on both sides
9:31 so it's warm and crispy. First goes a
9:33 sauce made with fried eggs and mustard.
9:36 And then we put our hot dog right on top
9:38 and a big spoonful of caviar.
9:41 >> The modern uses Chinese caviar on its dogs.
9:41 dogs.
9:43 >> When people say Chinese caviar, the
9:44 assumption is that it's cheaper or it's
9:47 lesser quality. Caviar is still
9:49 expensive for me.
9:51 >> For Tom, the goal isn't to cheapen
9:55 caviar. It's to reframe luxury. Keep the
9:58 prestige. remove the intimidation.
10:00 To see how the dish plays with everyday
10:02 diners, we sent two Business Insider
10:05 reporters to the modern.
10:07 >> I have had caviar, I think, once in my life.
10:08 life.
10:09 >> I had it once at a wedding, but I don't
10:10 remember it.
10:12 >> Dishes like this are meant to be an
10:15 entry point for the diner and their followers.
10:16 followers.
10:17 >> Oh my god, the brininess that I was kind
10:20 of scared of. So good.
10:22 The saltiness of the caviar cuts the
10:25 smokiness of the hot dog.
10:27 It works really well. It's such an
10:29 interesting combination.
10:32 I feel like my brain is saying no, but
10:33 then like my taste buds are like I want more.
10:33 more.
10:35 >> Have you seen the thing of people
10:37 putting caviar on like Pringles and
10:39 things like that? Like I love the kind
10:40 of high low.
10:41 >> That's what I'm saying. It feels
10:43 counterintuitive in a kind of funny way.
10:45 >> Can I have like 12 more
10:47 >> to go? Perhaps
10:50 >> those who are uh concerned about caviar
10:53 losing its status uh because I put it on
10:55 a hot dog haven't tried the caviar hot dog.
10:55 dog.
10:58 >> Chef Tom's strategy only works as long
11:01 as caviar still feels special.
11:03 >> Working in fine dining, especially New
11:05 York City, caviar is a pretty essential
11:08 part of who we are. It's a luxury
11:11 ingredient and a restaurant like ours
11:14 needs to have luxury ingredients. While
11:15 many restaurants have adapted to the
11:18 changing caviar landscape, some small
11:22 producers face a much tougher path. With
11:24 more caviar on the market, they're
11:26 feeling pressure to lower their
11:28 wholesale prices to compete. But small
11:31 farms like California Caviar Company say
11:33 they can't afford to lower their prices
11:35 because running a sturgeon farm is
11:38 simply too expensive.
11:44 We are a artisal caviar reaching a very
11:46 elite group of people. So we don't play
11:49 the price game. California Caviar
11:51 Company can't compete with volume.
11:54 Instead, it focuses on quality. The
11:56 process of getting premium caviar from
11:59 the farm to your mother of pearl spoon
12:02 is labor intensive, meticulous, and expensive.
12:04 expensive.
12:08 So, the eggs come in on ice. Each bag is
12:11 labeled to match the fish. This is a
12:14 sturgeon's ovary. To separate it from
12:18 its eggs, Deb rubs it through a screen.
12:21 Every single egg is taken off by hand.
12:24 This step may look simple, but it takes
12:26 a bit of finesse.
12:28 She doesn't want to push too hard. The
12:32 more we push through the screen, the
12:33 more picking we're doing, the longer the
12:35 screening, and then it really breaks
12:37 down caviar.
12:39 By picking, she means picking out the
12:42 duds. Bad eggs are removed at every
12:44 stage of processing, but the goal is to
12:47 retain as many as possible. We want to
12:50 save the eggs cuz each egg is, you know,
12:54 $3 a piece. After separating the eggs
12:56 from the ovary, they get washed. It
12:59 still has a lot of ovarium fluid, but
13:02 the minute we rinse it, the clock starts
13:06 ticking and it starts to break down.
13:08 Rinsing removes all the gunk that
13:10 reminds you that caviar is an animal product.
13:11 product.
13:14 >> Sometimes the water will be gray, white,
13:17 pink, red, and we want the water to be
13:21 completely clear by the time we're done.
13:23 So, after we've gone through the
13:26 screening and the ro washing and
13:28 rinsing, this is where we dry them a
13:32 little bit, get off the excess water and
13:35 pull out any of the broken eggs
13:39 or any tissues that snuck through. It
13:41 looks like a little shell. And so now
13:45 we'll salt her.
13:48 And I continue to pick as I go. You want
13:50 to salt it evenly so you don't have one
13:54 hot spot with too much salt
13:58 in in one area.
14:00 And you just want to fold it in.
14:03 Some people use their hands.
14:06 I find that it just warms the caviar too much.
14:07 much.
14:10 Caviar hates temperature.
14:12 She'll fold until all the salt is
14:15 dissolved and her instincts kick in.
14:16 Just feel it. you know, when it's done,
14:20 it's not done.
14:23 And the caviar tends to
14:25 almost push back. Right now, they're
14:28 like little beads against my
14:31 uh spoon. And now it's be it starts to
14:33 move like one.
14:40 It's really shiny, though. It looks
14:44 great. She's happy. After a taste test
14:46 to check the salt level, Deb lets the
14:49 caviar dry for a spell before packaging.
14:51 So, you want to pack it down, get the
14:59 and then at the end to make sure the air
15:01 is out,
15:03 you can tap it. And then they'll clean these,
15:10 clean the tins, label the tins, and have every
15:12 every jar
15:13 jar
15:17 in tin that will match the paperwork
15:19 back to the fish to the farm in the day
15:22 of the harvest.
15:26 And so we wonder why is it so expensive?
15:30 It's because it's a lot of work. With
15:33 small producers in the market alongside
15:36 bigger ones, a tiered caviar system has emerged.
15:37 emerged.
15:39 >> It's like the wine world. It caviar is
15:41 here to stay. Take champagne for example.
15:44 example.
15:48 Luxury champagne can start around $150,
15:50 but mid and low tier sparkling wines
15:53 have expanded the market without eroding
15:56 champagne status as a luxury good. Small
15:58 batch Americanmade caviar will likely
16:01 always command a premium, the same way
16:03 sparkling wine from the champagne region
16:06 of France will. Has champagne lost its prestige?
16:08 prestige?
16:10 And the answer is no. You're going to
16:13 have the thousand dollar bottles of
16:16 champagne for those very special events
16:18 and then you're going to have sparkling
16:21 wine. Caviar at scale dominates the
16:23 middle of the market while smaller
16:26 producers survive by leaning harder into
16:29 that top tier. That's California caviar
16:32 company's bread and butter. But it also
16:34 engages with the entry-level market by
16:37 offering fish egg products that aren't
16:40 technically caviar. An ounce of row
16:42 starts at $8.
16:45 >> Yes. Are we still indulging on $100
16:48 jars, 1 oz jars of cavi? Yes. But what
16:50 you're starting to see are more rows
16:53 popping up in different ways to
16:54 integrate it.
16:56 >> Deb doesn't expect every producer will
16:58 be able to find a way to engage with the
16:59 changing market.
17:02 >> You will see a consolidation because the
17:04 small purveyors and the small producers
17:08 can't survive. It's too hard to compete
17:11 with China, with these other imports.
