Owners of Shetland Islands’ Blydoit Fish pursuing sale

Blydoit Fish, a wholesale and retail seafood supplier based in Scotland’s Shetland Islands, is up for sale.

After 20 years in business, its four owners have decided that the time is right to move on. According to James John Shearer, who helped found Blydoit in 2003 as a means of selling the catch from his whitefish fishing vessel, the Mizpah LK173, there is a “tremendous opportunity” for a new owner to further develop the business.

A keystone of the local community, Blydoit sells a full range of fresh and smoked fish and shellfish to hotels, cafes, restaurants, takeaways, the local hospital, care homes, and local shops. The company is actually the only wholesale supplier of seafood in Shetland, and Shearer is keen for the business to remain on the island.

While the Mizpah has now been sold and all of Blydoit’s product is currently purchased from third-party suppliers, the business has grown steadily over the years, both in terms of revenue and a reputation for quality, Shearer told SeafoodSource.

“We are proud of the legacy we've built over the last two decades and would like to thank our customers for their support,” Shearer said. “This is a fantastic opportunity for a new owner to continue the tradition of providing our Shetland and trade customers with fresh fish.”

Blydoit Fish obtains much of its fish from the markets in Lerwick and Scalloway, and its salmon and shellfish are obtained from local purveyors. All its wild-caught fish is inspected by independent quality assurance company SSQC Ltd., to ensure they meet the company’s standards. Blydoit’s filleters process the fish at a fully equipped unit in Scalloway, which is sold to consumers at the company’s two fishmonger outlets, and to trade customers in Shetland and Orkney. Its sales are handled by Shetland Seafood Auctions, which operates the largest computerized Dutch auction system in the U.K., and which sells approximately 60 metric tons (MT) of fresh white fish every day.

Blydoit Fish currently employs 18 people across three sites and processes around five metric tons of fish every week. Turnover in its most recent financial year was ... 

Photo courtesy of Blydoit Fish