US seafood group Bumble Bee Foods has announced a joint venture partnership with local firm Gathered Foods Corporation, the company behind the Good Catch plant-based seafood alternatives brand.
San Diego-based Bumble Bee said the deal makes it the “first and only” major seafood company to partner with a plant-based seafood brand, adding it would “leverage its sales, distribution and logistics expertise to ensure that consumers nationwide have access to Good Catch products at affordable prices”.
Good Catch produces and markets seafood-alternative products made from legumes including chickpeas, lentils and fava beans. CEO and co-founder Chris Kerr said he is excited by the increased reach the deal will give the start-up brand.
“Innovative, mission-driven start-ups generally enter the market with limited access,” he said. “In forming this partnership with a forward-thinking and deeply rooted company like Bumble Bee we can reach far more consumers who want fish-alternative products.”
Bumble Bee is not alone in being drawn to Pennsylvania-based Good Catch’s alternative seafood proposition. In January, Gathered Foods announced two major North American food companies, namely General Mills and Maple Leaf Foods, had invested in the company during its Series B fundraising round which had attracted a total investment of more than US$32m.
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General Mills participated through its 301 Inc. investment arm, while Maple Leaf Foods made its investment via its plant-based protein division, Greenleaf Foods.
Bumble Bee filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last November, with its North American assets being acquired by Asian seafood giant FCF last month for $928m.
