DANVERS, Mass. — High Liner Foods, the leading value-added seafood supplier in North America, announced today that less than three months after the acquisition of Icelandic Group’s U.S. and Asian operations, the company is moving forward with a consolidated U.S. food service sales and marketing organization and a new brand architecture.
High Liner Foods has integrated its U.S. food service operations, allowing its customers to interact with a single unified sales and broker force selling High Liner Foods food service products under three core leading brands:
•Icelandic Seafood, known for its best-in-class frozen fillets and a broad array of in-demand breaded and beer-battered seafood, including some of the best known product lines in the industry like Brewer’s Choice, Big Bob’s Belly Buster and Redhook Beer Battered Seafood, along with Samband of Iceland, Seastar, and Seaside food service products.
•FPI, known for its chef-inspired premium seafood innovations, including FireRoasters flame-seared seafood, UpperCrust natural cut fillets and Pan-Sear Selects, along with classic breaded and battered products and first-class quality commodity offerings.
•Viking, known for quality seafood at a value, including flagship product lines like Nordica, Pier 17, Krispy Krunchy, and Potato Crunch.
This food service brand consolidation follows four years of strategic acquisitions by High Liner Foods, including the acquisitions of Fishery Products International, Inc. in December 2007, Viking Seafood, Inc. in December 2010, and Icelandic Group’s U.S. and Asian operations in December 2011. Employees who formerly worked for Icelandic USA, Fishery Products International, Inc. and Viking Seafoods, Inc. now work for High Liner Foods. The company operates manufacturing and cold storage facilities in Danvers, MA, Malden, MA, Portsmouth, NH, and Newport News, VA, as well as a major distribution center in Peabody, MA.
High Liner Foods also announced the appointment of Steve Prusank as Senior Vice President of Food Service Sales and Marketing, where he will lead the USA food service sales and marketing teams representing the core brands of Icelandic Seafood, FPI, and Viking in the U.S. marketplace. He was formerly Vice President of Sales for High Liner Foods Fishery Products International division. In addition, Robert Mizek was appointed Vice President of Food Service Sales. He was formerly Vice President of Food Service Distribution and Services for Icelandic USA. Christine Garvey was appointed Vice President of National Accounts, where she will lead the national account sales teams. She was previously Vice President of National Accounts for Icelandic USA.
“This new organization and brand positioning gives High Liner Foods a simpler and more efficient leadership sales and marketing platform to deliver superior service and value to our customers,” said Keith Decker, President and Chief Operating Officer of High Liner Foods (USA) Inc. “Combined, there is more than 160 years of expertise and category leadership across our Icelandic Seafood, FPI and Viking brands, and we’re proud to continue to offer these well-known brands under the overall High Liner Foods company banner.”
For more information about High Liner Foods, visit www.highlinerfoods.com.
About High Liner Foods
High Liner Foods is the leading North American processor and marketer of prepared, value-added frozen seafood. High Liner's retail branded products are sold throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico under the High Liner®, Fisher Boy®, Mirabel®, Sea Cuisine™ and Royal Sea® labels, and are available in most grocery and club stores. The Company also sells its food products under the High Liner, Icelandic Seafood, FPI, and Viking brands to restaurants and institutions, and is a major supplier of private label seafood products to North American food retailers and food service distributors. High Liner Foods is a publicly traded Canadian company, trading under the symbols HLF and HLF.A on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Source: High Liner Foods
