Fortune Fish buys Coastal Seafoods, expands reach in Midwest US

Fortune Fish and Gourmet has continued its acquisition streak with the purchase of Minnesota-based Coastal Seafood, a supplier of restaurants and co-ops in the Midwestern United States.

Fortune Fish, headquartered in Bensenville, Illinois, is a fresh and frozen seafood and specialty food distributor serving restaurants and grocers in the Midwestern U.S. The deal for Coastal Seafoods will expand its reach into the states of Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and northern Iowa and Wisconsin.

“Originally started in 1981 as a wholesale seafood company by owner Suzanne Weinstein, Coastal Seafoods services over 300 restaurants and retail stores within a five-state area,” the company said in a press release. “Coastal also operates two retail outlets in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. The company will be rebranded with the Fortune Fish & Gourmet name, and Weinstein will serve as a consultant moving forward. The retail stores will continue to operate under the Coastal Seafoods brand name.”

Terms of the deal were not revealed. Fortune said it will continue to operate Coastal Seafoods business out of its Minneapolis, Minnesota facility, though it plans to transition Coastal Seafood onto Fortune Fish’s state-of-the-art bar-coding inventory system in the next two to three months “for uniformity and efficiency,” the company said.

Fortune handles more than 8,000 seafood and gourmet products, serving customers in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Indiana and Michigan with a fleet of refrigerated vehicles and nationally through its Flying Fish program.

The deal marks Fortune Fish’s third in the past four years, following purchases of JDY Gourmet in 2012 and Chef Martin Old World Butcher Shop Sausage in 2014.