It was about three years ago Trufresh began planning a move to diversify its business out of strictly foodservice and into retail – and the effort is now coming to fruition.
The company started primarily as a supplier of salmon to restaurants and other foodservice customers before venturing into shrimp, and last year expanded its business by starting a retail shrimp line now selling in Northeast supermarket chains such as Hannaford Bros., Price Chopper, ShopRite and Kings Supermarkets.
The company announced this week it is partnering with Pescanova USA to expand its retail penetration into other parts of the United States, and CEO Kevin VanderVoort told IntraFish on Tuesday the company is launching a line of retail salmon products to go with its line of 41-50-count shrimp offerings.
By partnering with Pescanova USA, VanderVoort says Trufresh will get access to year-round availability of shrimp from Pescanova’s growing operations in Guatelmala and Pescanova’s deep retail distribution network. In return, Pescanova gets greater distribution access to the foodservice sector through Trufresh.
Before it came together with Pescanova USA, VanderVoort said Trufresh was getting its shrimp through Miami-based Ladex Corp., but the firm was only able to supply shrimp from its Guatemala farms for a few months of the year.
“They had good production, high-quality shrimp, but it was limited amounts a couple of months of the year because of weather,” he said.
Ladex was purchased last year by Pescanova USA as part of its efforts to expand shrimp growing capacity in Central America, and those moves then allowed Trufresh to link with a supplier who could offer 12-month access to shrimp, allowing it to expand its retail horizons, said VanderVoort.
“We know each other many, many years, over 15 years. We have close ties with these folks,” said VanderVoort, who left open the possibility about further collaboration between the two Florida-based companies.
“It takes a long time because it really comes down to making sure have control of the raw material,” he said. “The logistics are serious. We need an uninterrupted flow of product, and it takes lots of planning, too, most of the time on packaging and design.”
The plan to grow retail will begin by moving into stores along the Atlantic seaboard into Florida, then along the Gulf Coast into Texas, all of which VanderVoort says will be done by the end of 2009. Expansion into supermarkets in the western United States will take about two years.
There also are plans to introduce additional species, but VanderVoort said he couldn't speak about those moves at this time.
Copyright 2005 IntraFish Media AS - All rights reserved.
