Food distributor Enson Group, Inc., has finalized its acquisition of Indianapolis, Indiana-based seafood company First Choice Seafood, the firms announced on 18 October.
Since its inception in 2002, First Choice Seafood has emerged as a “go-to” vendor for frozen seafood by Indiana’s restaurant industry, and has been able to grow its profitability annually, according to its acquirer.
Through the acquisition, Cincinnati, Ohio-based Enson, which specializes in the distribution of Asian foodservice products, will be able to tap into the Central Indiana restaurant sector and First Choice Seafood’s frozen portfolio. The company said it plans to expand its existing Enson brand within the seafood category with more frozen products, as well as broaden its customer base further into the U.S. Midwest.
“The acquisition of First Choice Seafood provides us the avenue to quickly expand our market share throughout Western Ohio and a major portion of Indiana, along with expanding our product offerings with a large variety of frozen seafood,” Enson Group CEO Vivian Zheng said. “Once our customers become familiar with the Enson brand, one of our short-term goals is to penetrate the Mexican foodservice sector, further increasing our variety of products to the food service and restaurant industry.”
Through the ensuing venture into the Mexican-inspired foodservice sector and via the incorporation of “aggressive marketing and sales campaigns in the Indiana marketplace,” the merged companies expect to see First Choice increase its sales revenue by at least 60 percent in the first 12 months following the successful acquisition.