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Fanny Bay general manager Sharon Hadden shows some of her prized oysters.
Taylor Shellfish Farms Acquires Canadian Company
(UNITED STATES, 2/12/2007)
Taylor Shellfish Farms has acquired Fanny Bay Oyster Company, a 22 year old family-runheadquartered in Union Bay, British Columbia from Glenn and Sharon Hadden, long time friends of the Taylor family. The purchase includes the highly-regarded Fanny Bay name, a 20,000 square foot state-of-the-art processing plant, 250 acres of prime growing area in Baynes Sound north of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island and a popular retail store next to the Denman Island ferry landing. Eighty long-time employees will be retained under Taylor ownership.
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Bill Taylor
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"Fanny Bay has regarded employees as family", says Taylor president, Bill Taylor. "We will continue that relationship."
"We are excited about the future," says Sharon Hadden. "The Taylors bring a new level of professionalism to the shellfish industry in B. C."
The purchase of Fanny Bay Oysters follows the purchase of four smaller B.C. companies in the Powell River area since 2001. Fanny Bay will provide processing capability for those farms. In May of 2006 Taylor also completed a $3.5 million, 22,000 square foot processing plant at their headquarters in Shelton, Washington building in capacity for growth.
"The Hadden's business philosophies are similar to ours", adds Taylor. "We see a very good fit. With their excellent reputation in the half shell market, Fanny Bay oysters will fit nicely into our product profile. Other than shifting a few of the crops and using our resources to boost production, we don't envision any substantial changes. Our main interest is secuing a long term supply of consistent and superior quality oysters." The Fanny Bay acquisition will increase Taylor's half shell production by 20% to approximately 50 million oysters.
Taylor Shellfish Farms is a fourth generation family-owned company with nearly 500 employees farming shellfish on 9500 acres of owned and leased tideland in Puget Sound and Willapa Bay in Washington State, British Columbia and Mexico. The company has hatcheries in Kona, Hawaii and Quilcene, Washington, a pearl farm in Fiji and a distribution company in Hong Kong. Taylor produces Manila clams, Mediterranean mussels, geoduck, a variety of live, shucked and frozen oysters and shellfish seed for national and international markets.
Information of the company:
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