“It’s horrible and it’s emotional”. In March, nearly all of Pacific Seafood’s, one of the US’ largest seafood companies, business abruptly stopped.
The Catholic Sentinel reports that Oregon, US-based, Pacific Seafood has had to temporary lay off 20 per cent of its workforce, 500 out of 2500.
The company, which is one of the US’ largest seafood companies, processes a wide assortment of species including its own wild and farmed salmon range.
In May, Pacific Seafoods had to temporarily close a plant in Warrenton, Oregon, after a worker tested positive for COVID-19. In March, it lost 90 per cent of all its business due to the closure of restaurants and hotels.
President and CEO Frank Dulcich confessed the Catholic faith publication about the difficulties the business has had to contend with, saying that: “It’s horrible and it’s emotional”.
“These people who come to your teams are essentially saying they like you and they trust you to make good decisions for their livelihoods. It took 35 years to build this company up and six weeks to dismantle part of it,” he said. Dulcich’s grandfather started Pacific Seafood as a small retail store in 1941. According to the data insight business Dun & Bradstreet, has an annual revenue in the region of USD 188 million.
Looking ahead, Dulcich told the publication that he expected at 40 per cent of all US restaurants to close for good, potentially causing major issues for the seafood industry.
