Fortune International announced on 18 July it has acquired New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A.-based New Orleans Fish House, a seafood wholesaler and supplier operating in the U.S. Southeast.
New Orleans Fish House was founded in 1990, and provides a variety of Gulf of Mexico-sourced seafood to chefs and restaurants in New Orleans and the surrounding area. The company has become one of the largest purchasers of yellowfin and bluefin tuna from the Gulf of Mexico, and is one of the largest purchasers of redfish in the U.S. The current owners of the business – Bill Borges, Brett Borges, and Cliff Hall – will remain with the business, Fortune said. The sale price was not disclosed.
“We are thrilled to welcome such an esteemed local company as New Orleans Fish House to our growing Fortune family,” Fortune International President and CEO Sean O’Scannlain said. “NOFH has earned a reputation for top-quality products and service to the country’s most demanding chefs, restauranteurs and retailers, and together we can use that strong foundation to further expand our operations in the Gulf [of Mexico] as well as deepen and expand our existing customer relationships.”
New Orleans Fish House President Bill Borges said the new partnership will take the company to the next level.
“We are excited to partner with Fortune, a company with a shared commitment to the highest quality in products and services,” he said. “We’d like to thank our customers and employees for helping us achieve today’s historic milestone and look forward to reaching new heights in the years ahead.”
Fortune International purchased D’Iberville, Mississippi, U.S.A.-based North Bay Seafood in May 2022, with the intent of increasing its services in the U.S. states of Mississippi and Arkansas. The acquisition of New Orleans Fish House will continue to expand the company’s reach in those states and will result in “improved service for Fortune’s customers in New Orleans and NOFH’s customers in Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida," the company said.
The purchase represents the third acquisition by Fortune this year. The company acquired Union, New Jersey, U.S.A.-based D’Artagnan Inc. in March 2022, expanding the company’s food distribution in the U.S. Northeast. According to Fortune, the acquisition marks its fifteenth since launching an acquisition strategy in 2012.
In December 2021, the company acquired Houston, Texas-based Ocean Harvest Wholesale, and in September 2021 it acquired Green Bay, Wisconsin-based Meat Processors Inc. just weeks after it announced the acquisition of Theodore, Alabama, U.S.A.-based CCT Logistics Inc. – a 68,000-square-foot cold storage facility. Earlier acquisitions include JDY Gourmet, Coastal Seafoods, and Morey’s Seafood International’s St. Louis and Kansas City operations.
