Shark Fin Soup in St. Louis

Hi everyone, I have been a member on other divers' forums for quite some time, and am a new member here. I found out that a local restaurant to me is serving shark fin soup. The restaurant is 'Asia' and is at a local casino that just opened a many-million dollar facility in St. Louis.

I of course have voiced my displeasure to the casino and through their online forum. I'm trying to drum up the local media to bring some exposure to this as well. The other diving forums pointed me to wetpixel because of your successful efforts in the past to stop the sale of this soup.

If you're interested and able, I ask you to voice your displeasure to 'Asia' and its parent company. The link above (near the bottom right of the page) has a "Contact Us" link. I don't have a direct e-mail account or URL (that is a Flash page), but it does at least allow some communication. I know some local divers that I've asked to campaign as well; however I thought some more national attention might be more persuasive.

I'll keep you updated in case the local media does anything with this. Thank you for your support.

Thank you for posting this bpro. Could you arrange to have an online petition set up that folks could sign. Also, as this is a local issue, have you considered gathering local signatures directly as well to show this restaurant how inappropriate this practice is?

Here is the link to the Asia PDF menu http://www.lumierecasino.com/uploadedFiles...5_Asia_Menu.pdf

As Bpro pointed out, here is the link to the restaurant http://www.lumierecasino.com/Asia.aspx

I have already sent an email to voice my displeasure regarding the serving of shark fin soup for $59.95

Thanks for bringing this to our attention Bpro!

Thank you both for taking the time to write to Pinnacle.

I am going to call our local dive shops and see if we can get divers to e-mail or call corporate headquarters to voice our displeasure as we have already done. An online petition might help as well (and may be part of the 'next step'), but individual e-mails may seem stronger, particularly coming from the very conservation-aware diving community.

A friend of mine works as a news producer at a local network affiliate; he is going to suggest this story, maybe as part of a larger feature. As a side note, another restaurant at this property serves the 'other' controversial dish, foie gras, as a hamburger topping

There is no 'high roller' Asian population in St. Louis (there is a $500 "loss limit" at MO casinos), making this even more senseless IMO, a 'trophy dish' for someone who hits a jackpot and wants to drop $60 on a bowl of soup.

If I can get a direct e-mail address to the CEO, I'll post it here. It is Daniel R. Lee, but I haven't been able to make contact with a human at his office yet. The general e-mail address for the company is contactus@pnkmail.com. Pinnacle has properties in St. Louis, MO; Lake Charles, LA; Cincinnati/Louisvile; New Orleans, LA; Shreveport, LA; Reno, NV; the Bahamas; Argentina; and Atlantic City, NJ. There is definitely a lot of opportunity for pressure from wetpixel members as well as divers around the country.

There appears to be some good news on this development:

In an e-mail I received from Lumiere:

We strive to provide excellent quality service to our guests and your feedback provides important information to us. Please know shark fin soup is being removed from the menu at Asia . We appreciate your comments and take them seriously.

I will verify if and when it actually comes off the menu as well as off the "off-menu" selection at Asia. But this appears to be very good. THANK YOU to everyone who continues to support this effort!

There appears to be some good news on this development:

 

In an e-mail I received from Lumiere:

I will verify if and when it actually comes off the menu as well as off the "off-menu" selection at Asia. But this appears to be very good. THANK YOU to everyone who continues to support this effort!

For the folks that wrote - send a follow up note thanking them for doing this. Follow up communication is just as important as the initial letter of concern. I had a great interaction with CEO of Disney when they opened their park in Asia and planned to serve soup.

Speaking of shark fin soup - this summer I bet a lot is going to be served during the Olympics - I would make my next letter to your national Olympic head voicing a concern.

For the folks that wrote - send a follow up note thanking them for doing this. Follow up communication is just as important as the initial letter of concern.

I very much agree. I'm going to monitor and wait until it actually comes off the menu, and it isn't available as an "unadvertised special" before following up. When it does come off, I will bring my group of 10 or so co-workers to lunch there and tell the property manager we're there thanks to the company's actions.

Any news - did the soup come off the menu?

If one were to go to menupages.com, and search for "shark" in just about any city they live, they can find many such places selling shark fin soup.