On 28 February, Indian technology startup Captain Fresh moved into the U.S. market in a major way via the acquisition of CenSea, a third-generation, family-owned shrimp specialist based in the Chicagoland area of the U.S. Midwest.
In an interview with SeafoodSource, CenSea Co-President Nate Torch explained the rationale behind the move and what will come next for CenSea and Captain Fresh.
SeafoodSource: Why has CenSea been sold by the Feigon family after so many years of family ownership?
Torch: There's been a major consolidation in the industry, and it takes a lot more financing to run a business and be a seafood importer these days.
So, looking at the fact that third generations don't always want to remain running companies, the family is not super actively involved in the company, and Jeff and I just felt if it were our own company, we'd be selling and looking for partners. Then, we would work with them for three to five years, and hopefully, they have a good transition and keep the company going.
But, with the overseas competition coming in and the requirements of our customers in this day and age, it made sense to sell the business. We started talking about it in late 2022, and the process got underway in early 2023.
SeafoodSource: Why did it take more than a year to get the deal done?
Torch: This did take a long time, but I think sometimes sales take a long time. It’s a lot of work bringing a buyer and seller together. We were going through a process of making presentations to companies, and then you listen. There was a lot of due diligence and a lot of getting to know each other, and the family itself was not very fast in making the decision.
SeafoodSource: You and the rest of the leadership team are shareholders in the new entity, so it appears you're going to stay involved. Are you bullish about the future of the company?
Torch: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I would not have done this if I didn't think we had found a good partner to carry this company forward. We have a lot of young people here, and we want them to have a solid platform for the future.
SeafoodSource: This is a fairly unusual transaction for the U.S. seafood industry, with an Asian startup tech firm buying an old-school, family-owned U.S. seafood business. Why does this acquisition work for both parties?
Torch: Everybody's doing what they feel they need to do. With Captain Fresh, they're kind of a different type of company – more of a tech-led platform. They also have a lot of ways to track production and bring more sustainability and traceability to the entire supply chain – from the source to our customers. That’s something we weren't really strong at.
They're also vertically integrated in a multi-species expansion. They're involved in a lot of wild-caught species – both in the Indian Ocean region and the North Atlantic for salmon and whitefish, all areas of which we weren't so involved in. Additionally, they're going to be using our sales and distribution channels to get that product into the U.S.
SeafoodSource: Are there any species in particular that you're going to take a look at that you can name?
Torch: Salmon. Salmon is the second-most consumed seafood item in the United States.
SeafoodSource: Will there be any major changes in your sourcing or other aspects of CenSea’s operations?
Torch: There's not going to be any change to our day-to-day business. The change lies in what we're going to expand into. We buy from many countries in Asia, including India, and we're going to continue that. There's nothing that is going to change with how we source our seafood. It's going to be more about what their resources are, what our resources are, and what we can do to expand.
SeafoodSource: What other changes are coming to CenSea?
Torch: We're going to grow. That's one goal we share with the people who have bought the company. We have significant growth aspirations over the years ahead. You know, again, the seafood industry is rapidly changing. From the standpoint of sustainability and traceability, which is becoming more and more the norm, they're going to help us quite a bit with that.
SeafoodSource: Is there any technology from Captain Fresh in particular that you're looking to integrate?
Torch: Over time, we'll be able to offer both our suppliers and customers a lot more technology from the standpoint of traceability of our products, offering more information on the status of our products and our production. And, we will become more fully integrated from sourcing to customer.
Captain Fresh has a great factory technology platform that our suppliers will be able to get access to, which will help them run their procurement and production a lot better. That will also help the entire traceability stack that we do.
SeafoodSource: What is the integration process looking like?
Torch: They're not going to interfere with what we do at CenSea, and I think that's one of the critical things here. We're looking to make it bigger and better by combining their talents and our solid base of customers and resources.
SeafoodSource: Captain Fresh has clearly stated its goal is to become global. Are there additional plans in the works that you can talk about at all for how that's going to happen?
Torch: The plan will be for the CenSea brand to be sold in Europe, the Middle East, and potentially other markets. We will take the brand global. Of course, this is all new. There are a lot of wheels turning here, and these things don't just happen overnight. But, we've got a lot of plans, and we're still figuring out a lot of things. Our attitude is that first you get the transaction done, and then you start moving on the things you want to do.
SeafoodSource: Do you think the seafood industry needs this kind of influx of technology and fresh vision that newcomers to the industry like Captain Fresh are providing?
Torch: I definitely believe that. We've been running our company one way for all these years, but the world's changing; it's good to have some people who can come in and help us adapt and modernize technologically to the new era and the future of the seafood business. You read about what customers are asking for all the time, and this is going to be a big help in meeting the demands of our customers.
