SA seafood heroes Angelakis Bros sell whole catch to Barossa Fine Foods
IT’S more than the catch of the day — it’s the sale of the century, as an iconic South Australian family seafood business changes hands. The new owner is another beloved SA food brand.
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THE families behind one of South Australia’s best-known food brands, Angelakis Bros, have called it a day and sold their seafood business.
The company, its three prominent retail seafood, poultry and game stores and their associated business assets have been acquired by another well-known SA family-owned food business, Barossa Fine Foods.
The three Angelakis Bros family owners, Tom and Michael N (Angy) Angelakis, Peter and Michael Sperou, and high-profile public face of the company, Michael Angelakis, have sold their 58-year-old multi-generational business after being unable to secure a viable family succession plan.
It’s understood negotiations for the sale have been underway for about five months, and the handover will occur officially on May 4.
The deal joins two of the most recognisable food brand names in the state, Barossa Fine Foods chief executive Andreas Knoll said.
“We were drawn to the Angelakis company because it’s an iconic South Australian food business with a great reputation,” Mr Knoll said.
“Their company and family values align with what we do, especially in terms of quality and being at the top end of the market.”
The Angelakis Bros stores in the Adelaide Central Market, Burnside and Stirling will continue to trade under their famous name, and Barossa Fine Foods will use the Field St seafood processing plant, wholesale outlet and offices until the Knoll family decides on moving the production facilities to their centre in Edinburgh.
All Angelakis Bros staff will be retained, swelling Barossa Fine Foods’ personnel numbers from 230 to 315. The Angelakis Bros families have retained the Field St real estate for the time being.
The addition of a seafood arm adds further diversification to the Barossa Fine Foods small goods and butchery company, which also has acquired Barossa-based Schulz Butchers and the Standom Smallgoods Butchers in the past decade.
The purchase has come at a time when Australian seafood retailing, wholesale and processing industries are experiencing solid growth, Barossa Fine Foods managing director Franz Knoll said.
“The seafood industry is an exciting place, and we see a lot of opportunities in further processing and value-added seafood products,” Mr Knoll said.
The Angelakis Bros brand also adds to Barossa Fine Foods’ direct food service access into restaurants, hotels and major retailers, which had accounted for 45 per cent of the Angelakis business last year.
While the Knoll family would not reveal the sale price, it estimates its annual revenue will jump from $40 million to $70 million after the buy out.
While the sale has been a sad moment in the 58-year-old Angelakis Bros success story, director of sales and purchasing, and one of thee family group owners, Michael (Mitch) Sperou, said he was excited that their name will continue and their legacy will grow with a new injection of drive and passion for the business.
Having no succession plan, with none of the children in all the families becoming involved in the company, has been one of the biggest challenges the company has faced, Mr Sperou said.
“We’re gutted,” he said. “We’re extremely, extremely sad, but in the end we can’t keep going.”
High profile public face of the company for four decades, Michael Angelakis, who remained a third owner but relinquished his directorship after illness in 2014, said it was a sad time but the sale was a realistic move given the lack of a viable family succession.
“But we’re all really happy that the business legacy has stayed in the hands of another South Australian, family-owned company,” Mr Angelakis said.
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