Morrisons has acquired Falfish, a family-owned wholesaler of sustainably sourced seafood based in Cornwall.
Falfish has been a trusted supplier of fresh fish and shellfish to Morrisons for over 16 years and approximately 50% of Falfish’s c. £40 million turnover is with Bradford-headquartered Morrisons.
“For customers, the acquisition will mean further improvements to the range, quality and availability of fresh fish and shellfish at our Market Street counters and represents another significant investment in fresh food and foodmaking when others are retreating from counters,” Morrisons said in a statement.
Following the deal over 80% of Morrisons fish and shellfish – both in its 497 stores and its online business – will come from Morrisons wholly owned seafood operations.
Falfish operates from two sites in Redruth and Falmouth docks on the south Cornish coast and is owned by the founder Ian Greet and his son Mark who is the Managing Director.
The business has long-term relationships with the owners and skippers of over 70 partner boats in the South West who land their total catch direct to Falfish. Falfish’s buyers also buy direct from the three key South West fish markets in Newlyn, Plymouth and Brixham.
As the company also owns its own trawler, Morrisons says that it believes it will become the first British supermarket ever to own a fishing boat.
Andrew Thornber, Morrisons Manufacturing Director said: “Bringing Falfish into Morrisons further strengthens our position as Britain’s biggest foodmaker.
“Our manufacturing operations employ c. 9,000 people at 19 sites throughout Britain, providing around 25 per cent of everything that Morrisons sells.
“The acquisition of Falfish means that over 80 percent of our fish and shellfish will now come from our own operations.”
