Young's Seafood facts for kids
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| Private | |
| Industry | food |
| Founded | 1805 |
| Headquarters | Ross House, Wickham Road, Grimsby, England |
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Key people
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Simon Smith, CEO |
| Products | food |
| Owner | Sofina Foods as of 2022 |
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Number of employees
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3,000 |
| Subsidiaries | Young's Retail, Young's Foodservice |
Young's Seafood Ltd. is a big company in the United Kingdom that provides lots of seafood. They sell frozen, fresh, and chilled fish and other seafood. In fact, they supply about 40% of all the fish eaten in the UK each year! Their main office is in Grimsby, England. The company you see today was created in 1999 when two companies, Young's and Bluecrest, joined together. It's owned by a company called Sofina Foods since 2022. Young's is a very important company in the European seafood world.
Contents
The Story of Young's Seafood
Young's Seafood has a long and interesting history. Before it joined with Bluecrest, Young's itself had grown through many changes and new owners.
How Young's Started
The story of Young's began way back in 1805. That's when a woman named Elizabeth Martha started selling fish on the docks in Greenwich. In 1811, she married William Timothy Young. His family had been fishing on the River Thames since the mid-1700s. By combining their businesses, they grew stronger. Later, they moved their business to Leigh-on-Sea.
By the late 1800s, the business was run by William Joseph Young. It became a well-known company that bought and sold fish. They even had their own small boats to catch fish like whitebait and shrimp. In 1890, the company moved its main office to London. This helped them supply fish to restaurants and caterers in the big city.
Young's kept growing in the 1920s. They were one of the first companies in England to bring in salmon from other places. They also introduced a very popular product: potted shrimps.
The next generation of the Young family took over in the late 1930s. These were brothers Gordon, Stanley, Douglas, and Malcolm. They created a new part of the company just for selling fish to other businesses. Another part of the company started buying and processing fish right at the docks in Grimsby. Grimsby later became the busiest fishing port in the UK. By the 1950s, Young's had five factories just for making their potted shrimp.
New Owners and Growth
In 1959, Young's became part of a bigger company called the Ross Group. But Young's kept its own operations and its famous brand name. Members of the Young family still helped guide the company.
Young's and Ross's frozen food businesses grew a lot in the 1960s. They set up new places to deliver their products. They also bought many smaller fish sellers across the country. By the mid-1960s, their frozen food sales were very high in UK stores and restaurants.
However, the Ross Group's fishing boat business was losing money. So, in 1969, a company called Imperial Tobacco bought the Ross Group. The fishing boat part of Ross was separated into a new company. Ross was renamed Imperial Foods, but the Young's name continued as its own division.
As part of Imperial, Young's invested money to make more products. They also created a new way to deliver everything from one central place. By the mid-1970s, Young's sales had more than doubled! They were operating 18 factories.
More Changes in Ownership
In the mid-1980s, Imperial Tobacco faced many attempts by other companies to buy it. One company was United Biscuits Plc (UB). But another big company called Hanson bought Imperial instead. Hanson was only interested in Imperial's tobacco business. So, in 1988, Hanson sold Ross Young's to United Biscuits. Under United Biscuits, Young's became its own separate division again. But by the late 1990s, United Biscuits decided to focus on its main cookie and snack brands.
The Bluecrest Story
Bluecrest was another British company that made and processed fish products. It started in 1975 in Grimsby. In 1990, it was bought by Booker Plc. Booker also owned the Ross fish division from Hanson. These two companies joined to become Booker's Fish Division. Then, in 1999, Booker sold Bluecrest to the management team of Young's Seafood. This deal was supported by a company called Legal & General Ventures (LGV).
When Young's and Bluecrest combined, they became Young's Bluecrest. This new company was the leading specialist fish business in the UK.
Growing Through New Deals
In 2000, Young's Bluecrest brought back the Young's brand products. They also invested in making more products. The company was making over £320 million and started to expand. They wanted to bring more British fish companies together.
However, LGV didn't want to support this expansion. So, in 2002, they sold Young's Bluecrest to a new management team. This time, a European investment firm called CapVest supported the deal. The new company started buying other businesses. In 2003, they bought the chilled seafood part of Albert Fisher. Later that year, they bought the Pinegain Group. In 2004, Young's bought a part of Macrae Food Group, which made ready-to-eat seafood in Scotland. They also improved their factories in Humber, Grimsby, and Edinburgh in 2005 and 2006.
In 2006, Young's bought the UK operations of Findus. This made Young's total sales reach about £1 billion. It confirmed Young's as the leader in the UK frozen fish market. They had now passed rivals like Bird's Eye.
In 2019, Young's was bought by CapVest Partners LLP. This company also owned Karro Food Group, which specializes in pork. Together, Karro and Young's employ about 5,000 people across the UK and Ireland. In October 2020, Young's also bought a German company called AliSa International GmbH, which is known as Greenland Seafood.
What Young's Seafood Sells
Most of Young's sales come from its own Young's brand. This includes frozen and chilled fish, shrimp, and shellfish. The company also owns Macrae in Scotland.
- Young's Foodservice is a part of the company that focuses on selling seafood to restaurants and catering businesses.
- Polarfrost Seafoods specializes in fish that is frozen right on the fishing boat.
- Their sister company, The Seafood Company, now focuses on chilled fish for UK stores' own brands.
Sponsoring Sports
Young's was the official sponsor of Grimsby Town F.C., a football club. They started sponsoring the team's jerseys in 2004. For the 2004–2005 season, the team's yellow away uniform had the logo for "Youngs Mariners Pie." This was a fun way to connect with Grimsby Town's nickname, "The Mariners." After 18 years, Young's ended its sponsorship deal with the club at the end of the 2021–22 season.
Other Seafood Companies
Young's Seafood has several competitors in the seafood market. Some of these include Alpesca S.A., Orkla ASA, Aker ASA, Maruha Corporation, Unilever Deutschland GmbH, Icelandic Group Seachill, hf, Perkins Foods Holdings Ltd., and Green Isle Food Group Ltd.
See also
In Spanish: Young's Seafood para niños
