A leading premium seafood supplier to restaurants and foodservice has joined the Ocean Fish Group in a move that creates one of the UK’s strongest fish sourcing partnerships This bring the Chapmans’ longstanding history of supplying premium seafood into the Greater London hospitality sector together with the extensive Ocean Fish supply chain.
The partnership offers unrivalled access to sustainably sourced fish from along the south coast of England – from Rye to Newlyn – delivering quality, variety and scale.
Chapmans works with the majority of the fishing fleets along the Kent, Sussex and Essex coasts. Supplying leading restaurants, hotels, alongside premium events such as Formula 1 and the Chelsea Flower Show, the company has built a trusted reputation for quality and precision fish preparation.
Their purpose-built, fully refrigerated 10,000 square foot facility just 30 minutes from London, ensures a fast, efficient and low food miles supply chain across south-east England, while Ocean Fish has a consolidated supply chain that encompasses, processing facilities and international procurement expertise.
‘This exciting new venture allows us to double down on supplying truly exceptional British fish. Under the continued leadership of my long-term business partner David Theze and with increased access to Group resources, we’re ready to grow, serve more customers, and strengthen our position in the market – while staying true to our values of quality, sustainability, and craftsmanship,’ said Keith Chapman, founding director at Chapman’s.
He commented that at the heart of this new partnership is a genuine commitment to, and pride in, sustainable British sourcing – with both businesses combining day boats and quota across the south-east and south-west.
This means better, faster, reliable and sustainable sourcing for existing and new premium hospitality customers; more variety for chefs looking to source low-carbon and high-quality local fish with over 50 different species of British fish represented.
The Ocean Fish Group and Chapmans also mirror a commitment to investing in people and skills, ensuring highly trained fish filleters deliver consistency and quality and securing crucial local jobs in southern coastal communities.
‘We are very excited to be entering the hospitality sector with trusted partners that we have collaborated with for several decades. The Ocean Fish Group is looking to quickly capitalise on the clear potential for growth in Chapmans, which will be built on a market leading reputation for premium quality and high-end service in London,’ said Ocean Fish Group CEO Leigh Genge.
‘The home-counties based production site has significant additional capacity to accommodate increased volume and together with the financial support of the wider Group and an integrated British fish supply chain, we believe that an unrivalled ‘sea to plate’ proposition has been created. Our global procurement expertise should allow expansion through a significantly improved customer offering covering breadth of species and competitive pricing driven from scale economies.’
