Tridents Seafoods is a vertically integrated harvester, processor, and huge marketer of seafood in the United States. Based in Seattle, Washington, Trident Seafoods controls a network of processing plants and fishing ships. It markets frozen, canned, smoked, and ready-to-eat Seafood products for wholesale, retail, and food server markets operating under various brand names.
This article covers basic information on ‘who owns this giant seafood company,’ how it all started, and its operations, giving all its accomplishments so far.
How Did Trident Seafoods Start?
Tridents Seafoods was founded in 1972 by a passionate fisherman Chuck Bundrant. Being a strong leader in the solidification of the Seafood industries since the 90s, trident Seafoods has made numerous achievements, expanding its operations and stronghold in the market.
In 1986, the company merged with ConAgra’s northwest pacific seafood unit but still retained the trident name, with ConAgra having a 45% stake in the new company. Later, in 1995, ConAgra sold most of its interest back to the original private owners of the company.
Who Owns Trident Seafoods?
Trident Seafoods is a multi-billion dollars company founded and owned by Chuck Bundrant. He is the majority owner of Seattle-based Trident Seafoods and is currently worth about $1.3billion. Chuck Bundrant was able to build an empire worth around $2.1billion before his passing in October last year.
With 16 processing plants and 41 fishing vessels, Trident Seafoods is undoubtedly the biggest vertically integrated Seafood Company in North America. Its market also expands across China, Japan, and even Europe.
Chuck Bundrant (1941-2021) was raised in Evansville, Ind, and attended college at Middle Tennessee state university. When he was 19, he decided to spend his summer amongst fishing crews in the Pacific Northwest. According to company lore, this summer adventure turned out to be a “12year journey across Alaska”, aboard any ship he could hop on, gaining in-depth knowledge about fishing and crabbing.
In his mid-’70s, Bundrant brought sufficient cash and associations to build the Billiken. This is a 135-foot boat that is the first to have locally available crab cookers and freezing gear, so catches could be handled immediately and offloaded to wholesalers on shore. From there, Bundrant and his associates continued to expand the company, adding commercial fisheries to the list.
Notable Achievements Of the Company
Other achievements with their associated brands include:
- Farwest fisheries (1992), as well as its Faust, Prelate, Rubinstein’s, Tulip, and Whitney canned Seafood brands.
- Acquisition of Sealegs Surimi brand in 1999 from Nichirei foods.
- Acquisition of Tyson Seafoods group in 1999 as well as its Artic ice and Pubhouse Frozen Seafoods brands.
- Acquisition of NorQuest Seafoods in 2004, as well as its NorQuest, Silver lining, and Port lock brands of frozen smoked and canned salmon.
- Acquisition of the Royal, Pride, and Sno Tip canned salmon brands in 2004 from North pacific processors.
- Acquisition of ConAgra Seafoods brands in 2006, along with Louis Kemp (Surimi) and captain Jac.
- Acquisition of Bear and Wolf Salmon Co. in 2008.
- Acquisition of Kasilof fish Co. in 2010.
That’s a whole lot of acquisitions right there.