Oceanpath buys Dunn’s Seafood

THE 200-year-old Irish family business, Dunn’s Seafood, has been acquired by seafood processing firm Oceanpath.

Dunn’s 30 staff will transfer to Oceanpath, which will then employ 70 people. The business will focus on producing seafood products for customers in Ireland, as well as targeting new export opportunities in Germany, France and Britain.

Managing director of Dunn’s Peter Dunn will continue to work with the new company.

Oceanpath’s annual turnover is around €10 million. This is expected to double to €20m by next year following the acquisition.

Director of Oceanpath, Ken Ecock said: “The acquisition of Dunn’s will see the new company focussing heavily on high-end, added-value seafood products with particular emphasis on organic produce.”

Oceanpath’s purchase of Dunn’s Seafare, and its widely known brand, ‘Dunns of Dublin’, strengthens our standing as a market leader in the seafood market at home and, in the near future, abroad,” he added.

Mr Dunn said: “I am very pleased that the Ecock family are going to carry on delivering the highest quality Irish seafood to the home and export market for which my own company Dunn's was renowned for almost 200 years.”

I wish Oceanpath every success with its future plans as they continue to trade in existing and new markets.”

Bord Iascaigh Mhara have welcomed Oceanpath’s decision to purchase Dunn's describing it as “an important step forward for a company so committed to delivering the best of Irish seafood.”

Market Development Manager Helen Brophy said: “Oceanpath was the first seafood processor in Ireland to be approved for BIM’s Quality Seafood Programme.

Dunn’s Seafare was made famous by James Joyce’s novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. One of the book’s charters, Mr Dedalus, bought the turkey for the Christmas dinners in Dunn’s.