Halperns’, a meat and seafood distributor based in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A., is expanding further as it invests USD 27 million (EUR 24 million) in fresh and frozen seafood production and processing.
The distributor for foodservice operators is purchasing five acres of land adjacent to its current facility to build a 47,000-square-foot facility devoted to fresh and frozen seafood, Howard Halpern, chairman of Halpern’s, told SeafoodSource.
The company, owned by Gordon Foodservice, is also adding 10,000 square feet to its current 110,000-square-feet facility on All Welcome Road in Atlanta. The combined expansions will triple the size of its current seafood capacity in Georgia.
“Business has been great; we have been very blessed,” Halperns said. “Seafood has been our biggest driver on a percentage basis. We have really outgrown our fresh seafood capacity in our existing facility. We don’t need it now; we needed it yesterday.”
While Halperns’ is waiting on some government permits, the entire buildout should take around 10 months, according to Halpern.
Formed in 2005, Halperns’ seafood business has grown quickly because it has “been very much at the forefront of fresh seafood with traceability, sustainability, transparency, and working with so many boats directly,” Halpern said.
“That’s what the industry has gravitated to," he said. "Our national, multi-unit accounts are all interested in having the fish handled in the best and safest way, and doing it right.”
The distributor, which operates in 26 states, aims to generate USD 1 billion (EUR 898 million) in sales in 2021.
In addition to Georgia, Halperns’ has added space at its Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based facility, and plans to add a new Texas facility within the next year.
Over the last year, Halperns’ competed a 15,000-square-foot addition in Fort Lauderdale.
“Our South Florida sales have tripled over the last two years,” Halperns said. “There has been consolidation in Florida with the fresh fish companies - a lot of smaller fish companies have gone out of business - and South Florida is a big entry market for fresh fish that comes into the Americas.”
In the next few months, Halperns’ executives will make a decision on which Texas city will be home to a second facility in the state. It already operates one meat and seafood distribution facility in Arlington.
Photo courtesy of Halperns’
