Miami, Florida, U.S.A.-based crabmeat supplier Blue Star Foods extended its supply contracts with both Sysco and Avendra.
Blue Star signed a one-year extension to its multi-year supply contract with Houston, Texas, U.S.A.-based Sysco, the supplier said in a press release. The agreement is for purchasing Blue Star’s brands, which include Blue Star, Pacifika, and Good Stuff Mexican Crab Meat.
“We supply crab meat to some of the largest food retailers and high-end restaurant chains in the country because of our reputation of bringing safe, sustainable and fresh marine protein to the marketplace. We work hard to be known as a trusted and reliable partner for our customers, and appreciate the trust that a company as well-known as Sysco has placed in us,” Blue Star Chairman and CEO John Keeler said.
Sysco is the world's largest broadline food distributor, with more than 600,000 clients and operates approximately 330 distribution facilities worldwide.
Blue Star also recently signed a multi-year extension to its supply contract with privately-held Avendra, based in Rockville, Maryland, U.S.A.. The agreement is for the purchase of Blue Star branded crabmeat products.
Through Avendra, Blue Star products get placed into hotels and resorts, convention centers, country clubs, and airports throughout the U.S., the company said.
“We’ve been working with Avendra for close to 16 years, and are pleased that they have extended their contract with us. This multi-year renewal continues to be part of the company’s climb back to pre-pandemic levels of revenue in the platform sustainable crabmeat business,” Keeler said.
Blue Star will have the opportunity to increase production of crabmeat when it opens its soft-shell crab Atlantic crab RAS farm in Jasper County, South Carolina, U.S.A.
The company acquired the facility when it purchased Gault Seafood in December 2021. Construction on the new facility is expected to start by the end of September, and installation of the RAS will take place by the end of December, Blue Star said.
Blue Star will begin operations on the farm in the second quarter of 2023, and expects the first commercial harvest in the third quarter of 2023.
When it's fully built, the new facility will have a production capacity of 220,000 dozen soft-shell Atlantic blue crab annually, according to Keeler.
Photo courtesy of Blue Star Foods
