National Post (National Edition)
Cooke joins Irving, Mccain as big global players based in New Brunswick.
Cooke follows in footsteps of Irvings, Mccains
FREDERICTON • For the Irvings, it was Bouctouche. For the Mccains, Florenceville.
Now, in tiny Black’s Harbour, in between an Irving gas bar and the local Freshmart, is a small, two-storey brick building that is head office for New Brunswick’s newest family-owned multinational.
Cooke Aquaculture Inc. is the world’s largest independent seafood company, with billions of dollars in annual revenue, shipping one billion pounds of fresh seafood annually to 67 countries.
And it is about to get bigger. Founded 33 years ago, the firm is set to complete its latest acquisition, growing its global workforce to some 9,000 employees.
Cooke is in the final stages of buying one of the largest shrimp-farming companies in Latin America, although exact details are being withheld until the deal is complete in the next few weeks.
“Cooke Aquaculture started in 1985 by Gifford Cooke and his two sons Michael and Glenn. They started with farming 5,000 salmon in a pen,” said Joel Richardson, vice-president public relations for Cooke Aquaculture.
“That grew over the years through approximately 100 acquisitions since 1985 globally. We have now become the largest independent seafood company in the world. We are independently, family-owned, right here, and Black’s Harbour is our head office,” he said.
Company revenues are expected to be $2.4 billion for 2018. Cooke operates 657 vessels and 25 processing facilities. It operates under a number of brands including True North Seafood Co., Icicle Seafoods and Wanchese Fish Co..
Last month, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce named Cooke its Top Private Business Growth Award winner in Canada for 2018.
Growth started quite naturally for the Cookes. Four years after opening their first salmon cage, they needed a supply of eggs and smolt, so they bought a hatchery.
The corporate website details the subsequent purchases, including feed plants, distributors, processing plants and other aquaculture and wild fish operations.
“We have farmed-salmon operations in Chile, Scotland, Maine, Washington state and we also do sea bass and sea bream in Spain. We have wild cod operations in the United States and down in Latin America as well,” Richardson said.
About 40 per cent of Cooke’s seafood business is wild-caught.
Despite the growth around the world, the firm has kept its roots in rural New Brunswick and has about 2,000 employees here.
“Entrepreneurs and families in New Brunswick have a special connection to where we’re from,” said Richardson.
Observers liken them to dynasties like the Irvings and Mccains, local family businesses that have made their mark on the North American stage.
Donald Savoie, an expert in economic development at the Université de Moncton, said there’s a common mindset to the family-run, resource businesses that have their roots in rural New Brunswick.
“When you start in natural resources you don’t need much start-up capital. You don’t need venture capital, you don’t need the stock market. You need opportunities and an entrepreneur with a single-minded purpose,” he said.
“Harrison and Wallace Mccain, when they started, they had a handful of employees. Today they’re in China, they’re in Europe. Cooke has followed the same pattern. The Irvings started off in Bouctouche with two or three people working there. That’s the pattern,” he said.
However, Savoie said the rules of the playing field are changing and new environmental requirements, consultations with First Nations and other regulations are making it harder for companies to get a start in rural areas.
“It calls on government to look at rural development and to see how we can make it easier for entrepreneurs to start a business in rural New Brunswick in the natural resources sector,” he said. “New Brunswick remains largely rural. We are just crossing the line now at 50-per-cent urban and rural. Ontario crossed that line 100 years ago.”
But the aquaculture industry has faced its share of controversy. In a report this year, federal environment commissioner Julie Gelfand warned of the disease risk that farmed fish pose to wild salmon, finding that Fisheries and Oceans Canada had not adequately balanced the industry’s risks with its mandate to protect wild fish.
The report pointed to the under-studied effect of pesticides and the risk of salmon escapes, which can lead to genetic defects in wild populations.
Cooke Aquaculture itself has faced pushback on its operations in multiple jurisdictions, including Newfoundland and Labrador and Washington state after salmon escapes.
On Monday, Ottawa announced a new approach to the aquaculture sector, including creating a single set of regulations to clarify how it is run in Canada.
Richardson said Cooke operates in “a safe and environmentally sustainable manner,” and the public understands that fish escapes can occur if major storms cause damage to the pens.
“Our company follows global best practices and all government regulations by responding immediately following severe storms — just like land-based farmers do,” he said. “We invest heavily in world-class environmental monitoring and feeding systems, using the best technology and expertise from around the world.”
Small business owners dedicate most of their life to their business. In many ways, it’s like their baby. They put all their savings and energy into it for years on end so it can thrive and truly succeed. They experience their share of ups and downs, but press ahead because they believe in the business and want it to grow.
But what happens when it comes time to hand over their business and let someone else take care of what they built with their sweat and tears? Doing so means accepting that they no longer make key decisions for its future.
But who is there to take over? Finding the right person can be the biggest challenge for owners looking to exit their business.
Nearly three-quarters of small business owners in Canada will be faced with this challenge in the next 10 years, leading to a transfer of business assets potentially worth more than $1.5 trillion, new research by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business found. And many don’t even know where to begin. If they want their children or a member of their family to take over, they will find the choice has not been made easy for them.
Current tax rules stipulate that entrepreneurs have to pay more taxes if they sell their business to a family member than were they to sell to a third party. Many entrepreneurs count on selling their business to fund their retirement, so these tax rules are discouraging for a number of business owners.
Additionally, their children have to be interested in running the show, especially given that labour shortages, administration and a growing tax burden are just a few of the many challenges. In fact, 48 per cent of business owners say they wouldn’t recommend that their children go into business for themselves. There is still the option of handing the business over to an outside party, but even then, finding someone who will look after their life’s work as well as they do isn’t easy.
There’s a lot of talk now about how important it is to keep head offices in Canada and to empower local