Ocean Beauty Seafoods has spun off its value-added and smoked salmon business into a separate company.
Echo Falls Seafoods takes its name from Ocean Beauty’s smoked seafood brand sold into retail stores and foodservice outlets across the US. It will operate as a standalone company.
Ownership will remain in the hands of Renton, Washington-headquartered Ocean Beauty.
Alex Klein, who was appointed in January to head up the value-added and smoked division of the group business, becomes president of Echo Falls Seafoods.
Echo Falls smoked Scottish Atlantic salmon is the key brand, which also includes a range of caviar and the recently introduced Oak Smoked Yellowfin Tuna products.
The business also supplies the Lascco smoked herring and Nathan’s smoked salmon lines.
Ocean Beauty launched the Lascco brand in 1995 as its first retail listing, followed by Nathan’s in 1996 and Echo Falls in 2001 on the back of the acquisition of Circle Sea Seafoods.
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“As we look to establish ourselves as a more standalone business unit, it only makes sense that we would rebrand ourselves as Echo Falls Seafoods,” Klein said in a statement.
“Echo Falls continues to be the number-one smoked salmon brand at retail and the premium quality and authentic heritage of our products is how our customers know us best.”
Set up in 1910, Ocean Beauty will continue to supply the spin-off business with Alaska-sourced seafood. The company’s own supply and distribution operations will remain the same.
Ocean Beauty runs seven seafood distribution sites in the US. The business is part-owned by the Bristol Bay Economic Development Council, a non-profit organisation that supports the fishing community in Alaska.
Just Food has asked Ocean Beauty and Echo Falls what the rationale is behind the business spin-off and what benefits it will bring for the stand-alone entity.
Seafood publication Undercurrent News suggested the business separation has spurred speculation that ‘another acquisition effort could be imminent’.
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