Fish & Seafood

Cooke’s Wanchese Acquisition Adds Scallops and More to Menu

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The Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick, Canada-based Cooke family has announced the signing of an agreement with the Daniels family to buy the Suffolk, Virginia, USA-headquartered Wanchese Fish Company. This deal and investment involves the creation of a new company, Cooke Seafood USA Inc. The unit will operate as a separate unit from Cooke Aquaculture, whose wholly owned subsidiaries processed and sold 115,000 metric tons (whole fish equivalent) of Atlantic salmon and 20,000 metric tons (whole fish equivalent) of sea bass and sea bream last year and rang up annual sales of nearly $1 billion.

“This purchase is an exciting venture for us as we add a well-respected, family-owned and vertically integrated fishing company to our family’s businesses,” said Glenn Cooke, chief executive officer of the newly formed Cooke Seafood USA Inc. “We have found many similarities in our corporate cultures, not only a strong focus on family values but also on investment in a well-managed and third party certified fisheries (MSC).

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Founded in 1936, the Wanchese Fish Company is a major supplier of seafood in North America and Europe. A vertically integrated shellfish and finfish harvester, processor and distributor, it is capable of landing over 4,000 tons of wild scallops, flounder and other fishery products each year. The company’s fleet of 15 vessels is able to process at sea as well as supply fresh product to the USA market.

Wanchese-scallops-imageIn the late 1990s, the Daniels family began using a new technology to produce Wanchese Scallop Medallions. In order to meet growing demand for this and other items, the company opened Suffolk Cold Storage, a state-of-the-art processing plant, refrigerated warehouse facility and corporate office for the family’s multiple operations.

Wanchese offers an extensive retail line of frozen items under its Ocean’s Choice label. They range from bacon-wrapped scallops and shrimp to bay scallops, calico scallops, East Coast shrimp, scallop medallions, scallop spring rolls, sea scallops and oysters.

“When my grandfather started the business, he never imagined his grandchildren would harvest and distribute seafood on a global level,” said Sam Daniels, president of Wanchese Fish Company. “The Lord has blessed us tremendously and we believe this deal with the Cooke family, another company built on trust and commitment to quality, will strengthen our company, provide stability for our employees, and enhance product offerings to our customers.”

The Cooke family’s strategy has been to achieve growth through acquisitions and organic growth in the seafood sector that is both sustainable and responsibly managed to meet market demand. As such, this transaction is consistent with the Cooke family’s focus on vertical integration and diversification in terms of geography, products and markets. Cooke Seafood USA Inc. will provide another platform for future growth within the capture fishery.