Fortune Fish & Gourmet has acquired the Houston and New Orleans operating divisions of Inland Fresh Seafood Corporation, known as Inland Foods, in a deal that will close on 27 June.
In a joint press release, the two companies announced the deal, which will see Fortune expand its operations in Texas, Louisiana, and Southern Mississippi. Inland said the sale will allow it to “sharpen its focus” on its operations in the Southeast U.S.
The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“We are eager to introduce Fortune Fish & Gourmet to former Inland customers in Houston and New Orleans,” Fortune Fish Founder and CEO Sean O’Scannlain said in a release. “Our focus is on continuity, service excellence, and earning the trust of customers through reliable supply, strong local support, and a partnership-driven approach.”
Fortune said the acquisition will strengthen its presence in key growth markets and also allow it to serve former Inland customers with its portfolio of products. It said it has maintained operations in both Houston and New Orleans, and the acquisition will allow it to expand services in those locations.
"We are pleased to have completed this transaction with a company that shares our commitment to quality, service, integrity, and long-term customer relationships," Inland Foods Founder Joel Knox said in a release. "As an employee-owned company, Inland has a responsibility to make decisions that create value for our employee shareholders while ensuring the company remains strong for future generations. We are grateful to the employees who helped build these operations and are confident they will continue to thrive under Fortune's ownership."
Inland President Chris Rosenberger said that its sale of Houston and New Orleans operations represent “a commitment to growth – not a retreat from it.”
"By concentrating our resources within the markets where we are strongest, we can invest more aggressively in our people, our customers, and the capabilities that will drive Inland forward. We are excited about the opportunities ahead across our Southeast operations and value-added businesses,” he said.
The move for Fortune represents its latest foray into the U.S. Southeast, as it follows an acquisition of North Carolina-based distributor Simply Fresh in late 2025. The company also already owns a Houston-based company with its acquisition of Ocean Harvest in late 2021, and it has existing operations in New Orleans thanks to its acquisition of New Orleans Fish House in August 2022, which at the time was its third acquisition of that year.
The company also has logistics operations in Alabama thanks to its acquisition of Theodore, Alabama, U.S.A.-based CCT Logistics Inc., a 68,000-square-foot cold storage facility it acquired in August 2021.
Fortune first started its acquisitive strategy in 2012, with the acquisition of JDY Gourmet. O’Scannlain told SeafoodSource in August 2025 that the company had paused the strategy during U.S. tariff uncertainty but was planning to pursue more acquisitions after it cleared.
Inland, meanwhile, has been the subject of an employee lawsuit since 2022 after ex-employees of the firm alleged fiduciary mismanagement in the creation of its employee stock ownership plan in 2016. That case initially lost an appeal in the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, but a later decision opened the lawsuit up to an en banc hearing, which is still ongoing.
