Netherlands-based seafood companies Cornelis Vrolijk and Krijn Verwijs have formed a new joint partnership, through which the companies plan to create economies of scale to achieve market growth targets.
The two family-owned businesses, both founded in 1880, signed a letter of intent, with Ijmuiden-based fishing firm Cornelis Vrolijk taking a participating interest in the seafood and shellfish activities of Yerske-headquartered Krijn Verwijs. The companies feature products like ready-to-eat mussels, prawns machine-shelled in the Netherlands, and other seafood.
“With Cornelis Vrolijk as a complementary partner, we are joining forces and adding value to our business. This will improve our regional and international position, strengthen our product portfolio and intensify our innovation pathways as well our role within the protein transition,” Krijn Verwijs Yerseke Director Caroline Verwijs said in a press release. “We will remain Krijn Verwijs, a family firm dedicated to the shellfish sector and emphasizing the importance of a healthy mussel and oyster sector in the Netherlands. We will also retain our premier brand and slogan, ‘Seafarmers by Nature,’ under which we sell our products.”
The companies said that the new joint strategy will allow them to achieve growth targets through a joint-sales strategy in fish, seafood, and shellfish.
“In Krijn Verwijs, we have found a partner which, like us, places great store by family values such as artisan production, trust, loyalty, and sustainable relationships,” Cornelis Vrolijk Managing Director Annerieke Vrolijk said.
Cornelis Vrolijk has made multiple acquisitions in the last five years, including two fish processing companies in 2020, a North Sea shrimp peeler and packager in August 2018, and a fish processing company in February 2018.
Photo by Jennifer Finn/SeafoodSource
