The Chefs' Warehouse acquires Foley Fish

Specialty foods distributor The Chefs' Warehouse has acquired substantially all of the assets of M.F. Foley Company (Foley Fish).

The 100-year-old New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based processor and distributor Foley Fish has been struggling since the start of the pandemic due to its heavy reliance on foodservice business.

“We lost 85 percent of our business overnight,” Foley Fish Co-owner Laura Ramsden told SeafoodSource in December.

However, with the Chefs' Warehouse acquisition, “we couldn’t hope for a better home for our valued employees, customers, and vendors that have supported us over so many years,” Ramsden said in a press release.

“The Chefs’ Warehouse focus on quality and service will preserve the essence of what makes Foley an exceptional company, while leveraging technology and infrastructure to ensure our continued growth,” she said.

Since its founding in 1985, New York City-based The Chefs’ Warehouse has been purveying high-quality, luxury, artisan, local, and specialty products for the nation’s top restaurants, the company said.

“Foley’s uncompromising dedication to quality aligns perfectly with our focus of supplying the world’s best ingredients to North America’s top chefs and will become a centerpiece of our strategy to grow the seafood category nationally,” The Chefs’ Warehouse Chairman and CEO Christopher Pappas said.

While Foley Fish lost a lot of foodservice business early in the pandemic, it focused on retail accounts such as Mansfield, Massachusetts-based Roche Bros., and a new direct-to-consumer business.

It has been selling “Protein Packs” on its website, shipping the packs of salmon, fish, and shellfish nationwide via UPS. Foley Fish also offers delivery of the Protein Packs in the local area.

“The Protein Packs helped keep the lights on,” Ramsden said.

Photo courtesy of Foley Fish