The South Humber factory operates as Five Star Fish which it acquired for £35 million from the Real Good Food Group last year. The plan is to expand the factory, which opened just over a decade ago, to meet growth needs.

Five Star is a leading supplier of added-value, prepared frozen fish to the foodservice sector. When British Seafood bought the company 12 months ago it signalled its intention to increase capacity at the site. The factory already employs over 200 people and development is expected to lead to an unspecified increase in the number of jobs. The company was founded 25 years ago by Grimsby Town Football Club supremo John Fenty who sold it to Real Good Food for an estimated £20 million four years ago.

It describes itself as a primary and secondary whitefish processor specialising in a wide range of added value and bespoke products supplying primarily the catering and foodservice market.

The news will come as a welcome boost for the Humber fish processing industry which has gone through difficult times in the past two years. The closure of the Birds Eye fish factory at Hull and Seabay at Grimsby, along with redundancies at other firms, has led to some unease. But despite high fish prices, the fish processing industry appears to be weathering the economic storm. Just this week the British Frozen Food Federation announced that frozen fish sales were soaring and Birds Eye also announced that its fish sector was growing at over seven per cent a year.

British Seafood was hailed by the Sunday Times last year as one of Britain's fastest growing companies. It also owns Seatek (UK) Ltd which has interests in Grimsby. The company says its philosophy is simple. By controlling the supply chain, it can deliver tangible benefits to customers and suppliers.

www.fishupdate.com is published by Special Publications. Special Publications also publish FISHupdate magazine, Fish Farmer, the Fish Industry Yearbook, the Scottish Seafood Processors Federation Diary, the Fish Farmer Handbook and a range of wallplanners.

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