What should I check before buying a seafood processing plant?

A seafood plant depends on product coming in, cold space to hold it, people to handle it and buyers to take it away. A retail fish shop depends on the counter and the neighbourhood. A plant depends on relationships up and down the supply chain. Ask about those along with the building and the books.

Raw supply and season

Ask where the product comes from, and who delivers it. Are there written supply arrangements, or only handshakes and habit? Will those harvesters keep delivering to a new owner? Ask for the plant’s landings or intake records over several seasons, and for an honest account of the slow months. A plant that runs hard for a short season has different cash needs from one that runs year-round.

Cold storage and equipment

Walk the plant with someone who knows the equipment. Freezers, ice machines, refrigeration, filleting and packing lines all wear out. Ask for maintenance records and any quotes for repairs or replacements. Find out how much cold storage the plant has at its busiest, because that limits what it can handle. Ask what is owned outright and what is leased.

People, buyers and by-products

Many plants rely on a seasonal crew, sometimes with housing arranged by the owner. Ask how the crew is found and kept, and what the housing arrangement involves. Then look at the buyers. If one or two customers take most of the product, find out how firm those relationships are. Ask how wastewater and by-products are handled, and who collects them.

Licences and inspection records are for your lawyer and the regulators to confirm. See also how to find a seafood or fish processing plant for sale and our guide to meat processing due diligence, which covers many of the same questions for another kind of plant.