Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based seafood distributor Wulf’s Fish has acquired regional distributor BerkShore Seafood, a move the company said will help it expand into western Massachusetts and the surrounding area.
The acquisition puts the seafood distributor closer to its goal of becoming a USD 100 million (EUR 96 million) company by 2025, Wulf’s Fish CEO and President Mike Moniz said in a press release.
“Not only have we survived the last two years of COVID, we’ve grown,” Moniz said.
The company’s revenue has risen 40 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019, Wulf’s Fish Director of Marketing and Communications Alisha Lumea told SeafoodSource.
The acquisition of BerkShore, which has been a seafood supplier to restaurants, retailers, and universities since 2012, makes Wulf’s the only seafood-focused distributor to serve the entire state of Massachusetts, according to Moniz.
“Wulf’s has been a supplier and partner of BerkShore for years, so bringing that business under the Wulf’s umbrella was a natural extension that lets us serve our home state of Massachusetts from the coast to the mountains,” Moniz said.
Now, customers in the western part of the state will have “greater access to the full range of premium and specialty products offered by Wulf’s, as well as the unique sustainable seafood options brought to market by CleanFish, Wulf’s sister company and importer,” the company said.
Moniz said around 70 percent of Wulf’s business is foodservice, 20 percent is retail, and 10 percent is direct-to-consumer e-commerce – a channel the company launched in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our e-commerce direct-to-consumer business continues to grow in sales and in building the Wulf's Fish brand,” Lumea said.
Wulf’s continues to add new foodservice accounts as well, according to Lumea, despite inflation and supply chain challenges.
“No one likes to pay more, and higher prices are pushing foodservice operators to look harder at what they carry and how they want to manage those costs in their own operations. We've worked hard to minimize our price increases since we understand how difficult it is for our primary customers (restaurants) to pass those costs on,” Lumea said. They added that the company has maintained “competitive pricing” on several of its brands.
Similar to Wulf’s, BerkShore experienced rapid growth over the past two years and needed to find a way to meet the growing demand of an ever-increasing customer base, according to Wulf’s.
“The strong partnership we had with Wulf's made solving this good to have problem very easy,” BerkShore Founder Wes Malzone said. “Wulf’s commitment to quality and customer service made them the only choice for us as a company, and as a place for me and my team.”
Malzone is now vice president of sales at Wulf’s, and all BerkShore staff will be staying on as part of the expanded Wulf’s Fish team.
Photo courtesy of Wulf’s Fish
