Cooke Inc. continues expansion with purchase of seafood distributor
Cooke Inc. has bought another company, a seafood distributor in California, as it continues its expansion into other markets.
All Seas Wholesale, Inc., based in San Francisco, distributes up to 40 species of fresh seafood, live shellfish and frozen seafood products to that city's hotels, restaurants and retail markets.
"We actually closed on the acquisition in mid-February but we just announced it today," Cooke vice-president Joel Richardson said when reached at Seafood Expo North America in Boston.
"All of our global sales team is here, so it was a great time to announce a couple of acquisitions."
The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed because both companies are private family-owned businesses.
On Sunday, the company announced it had purchased Farallon Aquaculture de Nicaragua SA, a shrimp supplier with markets in Asia, Europe and the U.S. A month earlier, Cooke bought Seajoy Seafood, an organic shrimp company based in Honduras and Nicaragua.
"Those companies produce organic antibiotic free shrimp, Pacific white shrimp, and we're going to be selling that product to markets around the world," Richardson said.
Expansion continues
Richardson said Cooke Inc. is expanding its product line and plans to grow the company even more.
"We're not just a salmon company any longer. Salmon is an incredible part of our business, but we're offering 17 different species of seafood to our customers all around the world. "
With its most recent purchases, Richardson said, Cooke Inc., based in Saint John and Blacks Harbour, now has 9,384 employees around the world.
"A few thousand of those employees are located in Atlantic Canada and throughout the rest of the country, and we're going to continue to add employees in New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada," he said.
