High Liner Foods' products may be frozen, but its business is red hot. The Nova Scotia-based company, with its U.S. headquarters in Portsmouth, has seen revenue from its U.S. operations explode from $100 million in 2007 to $712 million in 2012. A large part of that is due to two key acquisitions that made High Liner Foods the largest seafood supplier on the Eastern Seaboard and fifth in the country, according to seafoodsource.com.
We went from a relatively small retail-focused seafood company to being the largest food service value-added supplier in the United States, says Keith Decker, president and COO of High Liner's U.S. operations. The NH plant employs 166 full-time employees and 55 seasonal employees who cut, season, cook and package the fish according to individual client's needs. The company runs three shifts a day- two production shifts and one cleaning shift.
High Liner products, many of which are privately labeled, are sent to the country's largest retail and food service companies, including Walmart, Target, Sysco, McDonalds, TGI Friday's and Arby's. Products are sold under names such as Fisher Boy and Sea Cuisine, and include Mahi Mahi, cod and tilapia. In 2011 the company acquired Icelandic in Virginia, a major rival with $256 million in annual sales. In 2010, it acquired Viking Seafoods in Massachusetts, with $40 million in annual sales.
Decker says acquisitions are a critical way to get ahead in a fragmented industry. While Decker notes the poultry market has four main suppliers, no one seafood supplier accounts for more than 5 percent of the market. High Liner's $712 million is less than 2 percent of what he says is a $50 billion industry in the United States.
The biggest challenge for High Liner is keeping on top of availability, consistency and quality when each fish species is caught during its specific eight-week period, but must be provided to clients over a 52-week period. You can't be out of stock. You have to ship it on a specific schedule at the same size and price, Decker says. Fish is sourced from 30 countries and Decker says cod and haddock populations worldwide are up 30 to 40 percent from five years ago. High Liner requires its suppliers to flash freeze the fish within two hours of catching it. High Liner has 80,000 square feet of frozen storage kept at a chilly -5 degrees Fahrenheit at its 270,000-square-foot facility.
Decker says Portsmouth production will increase about 10 percent in the coming year as the company is closing its Danvers plant and moving those operations to NH. We are only as good as our cheapest competition, Decker says of the need to innovate and keep costs low. At the same time, clients want sustainable products and require the company to track all fish and show when, where and how all fish were caught. By 2013, Decker says all of High Liner's fish will be sourced from sustainable markets.
To learn more about High Liner Foods, visit highlinerfoods.com.