Gorton's of Gloucester

Gorton's, Inc.

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Food processing
Founded	1849
Headquarters	Gloucester, Massachusetts, United States
Key people	Judson Reis, CEO
Products	Frozen seafood
Parent	Nippon Suisan Kaisha
Website	http://www.gortons.com/

128 Rogers Street
Gloucester, Massachusetts

Gorton’s of Gloucester is a subsidiary of the Japanese seafood conglomerate Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd., producing fishsticks and other frozen seafood for the retail market in the United States. Gorton’s also has a North American foodservice business which sells to fast-food restaurants such as McDonald’s, and an industrial coating ingredients operation. It has been headquartered in Gloucester, Massachusetts, since 1849.

History

The company traces its roots to a fishery called John Pew & Sons. William Pew, son of John Pew, picked up fishing after serving as a Colonial soldier in the French and Indian War. While most people moved West after the war, Pew turned eastward and arrived in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1755. The father-and-son fishery business emerged as an official commercial company, John Pew & Sons, in 1849.

When nearby Rockport’s chief industry, the Annisquam Cotton Mill, burned down, Slade Gorton, the mill’s superintendent, was out of a job. At his wife’s urging, he began a fishing business in 1874 known as the Slade Gorton & Company, and began to pack and sell salt codfish and mackerel in small kegs. This company was the first to package salt-dried fish in barrels. In 1899, the company patented the “Original Gorton Fish Cake.” In 1905, the Slade Gorton Company adopted the fisherman at the helm of a schooner (the “Man at the Wheel”) as the company trademark. Today, he is known as the Gorton’s Fisherman.

In 1906, Slade Gorton & Company and John Pew & Sons and two other Gloucester fisheries merged into the Gorton-Pew Fisheries. They made Gorton’s codfish cakes a household name in New England. The company offices were located at 372 Main Street, Gloucester, in the same building where Gorton’s Main Office is located today.

The company went into the fish-freezing business in the early 1930’s. In 1949, Gorton-Pew made headlines when it drove the first refrigerator trailer truck shipment of frozen fish from Gloucester, Massachusetts, to San Francisco, California – a trip that took eight days. In 1953, the company was the first to introduce a frozen ready-to-cook fish stick, Gorton’s Fish Sticks, which won the Parents Magazine Seal of Approval.

In 1957, Gorton-Pew Fisheries name was changed to Gorton’s of Gloucester; in 1965, it became The Gorton Corporation, and it is now known as Gorton’s. In 1968, Gorton’s merged with General Mills, Inc., as a wholly owned subsidiary.

In May 1995, Unilever bought Gorton’s from General Mills. In August 2001, Unilever sold Gorton’s and BlueWater Seafoods to Nippon Suisan (USA), Inc., a subsidiary of Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd., for US$175 million in cash.

In 2005, Gorton's acquired King & Prince Seafood of Brunswick, Georgia.

Gorton's History At-A-Glance

• 1849 – John Pew & Sons emerges as an official company
• 1874 – Slade Gorton & Company is founded
• 1875 – “Gorton’s” becomes a registered trademark
• 1889 – Gorton’s codfish becomes the first record of nationally advertised fish and Gorton’s codfish becomes a household word. Gorton’s billboards line railroads and roads across the United States
• 1899 – Slade Gorton & Company patents the Original Gorton Fish Cake
• 1906 – Gorton-Pew Fisheries is founded
• 1926 – Gorton-Pew introduces Gorton’s Ready-to-Use Codfish in a can
• Late 1950’s - Gorton’s Research Laboratory achieved a revolutionary new frozen process, exclusive under the brand name of Gorton’s of Gloucester, Inc., known as the Fresh-Lock Process. The “Fresh Lock” process was patented in 1963
• 1957 – Gorton-Pew Fisheries name changes to Gorton’s of Gloucester
• 1963 – Gorton’s acquires BlueWater Sea Foods, a Canadian brand
• 1964 – The Gorton’s Fisherman first appears on a Gorton’s box
• 1965 – Gorton’s of Gloucester becomes The Gorton Corporation
• 1968 – Gorton’s merges with General Mills as a wholly owned subsidiary
• 1978 – First production of the Gorton’s jingle “Trust the Gorton’s Fisherman, Gorton’s of Gloucester”
• 1995 – Unilever purchases Gorton’s from General Mills
• 2001 – Unilever sells Gorton’s and BlueWater Seafoods to Nippon Suisan (USA), Inc.
• 2005 – Gorton's removed trans fat from its entire line of products one year ahead of the January 1, 2006 U.S. federal deadline

Seafood Sustainability

Gorton’s purchases a wide variety of seafood raw materials, of which Alaska Pollock, a fish native to the Bering Sea, is the most important and primary source of supply. This resource is managed under provisions of United States federal law that require rigorous scientific assessment of the condition of the fishery and conservative catch allowances. The quota each season is only a small fraction of the total available resource, and all players (whether vessel operators or legislators) take an active role to see that the rules governing the harvest are followed. These conservative management practices have resulted in this fishery being recognized as the world’s best managed sustainable seafood resource.

Gorton’s Product Line

Gorton’s line of products includes the following:

• Shrimp
  • Shrimp Scampi
  • Lemon Shrimp Scampi
  • Butterfly Shrimp
  • Beer Batter Shrimp
  • Classic Grilled Shrimp
  • Scampi Grilled Shrimp
  • Popcorn Shrimp
• Premium Fillets
  • Premium Tilapia
  • Premium Haddock
  • Premium Flounder
• Beer Batter Fillets
• Potato Crunch Fillets and Sticks
• Shrimp Bowls
  • Fried Rice Shrimp Bowls
  • Garlic Butter Shrimp Bowls
  • Alfredo Shrimp Bowls
• Grilled Fillets
  • Lemon Pepper Grilled Fillets
  • Garlic Butter Grilled Fillets
  • Cajun Blackened Grilled Fillets
  • Lemon Butter Grilled Fillets
  • Italian Herb Grilled Fillets
• Grilled Salmon
  • Classic Grilled Salmon
  • Lemon Butter Grilled Salmon
• Grilled Tilapia
  • Roasted Garlic & Butter Grilled Tilapia
  • Signature Grilled Tilapia
• Popcorn Fish
• Tenders
  • Original Batter Tenders
  • Extra Crunchy Tenders
  • Beer Batter Tenders
• Fish Sticks
  • Available in quantities of 12, 18, 30, 44 & 115 Fish Sticks
  • Mini Fish Sticks
  • Tilapia Fish Sticks
  • Haddock Fish Sticks
• Traditional Fillets
  • Crispy Battered Fillets
  • Crunchy Golden Fillets
• Flavor Fillets
  • Garlic and Herb Fillets
  • Southern Fried Fillets
  • Lemon Pepper Fillets
  • Ranch Fillets

Whaling

In 2005, Gorton’s came under attack from the Environmental Investigation Agency, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and Greenpeace, due to their parent company’s involvement in whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. These groups hope that international companies owned by Nippon Suisan Kaisha (such as Gorton’s) will persuade their parent company to stop supporting whaling if they are put under enough pressure.

Gorton’s is on record stating that the company has never engaged in any whaling activities, never killed a single whale in its entire 156 year history and never will. Gorton’s has always been opposed to whaling and has a long history and recognized commitment to environmental sustainability. Eventually, Nippon Suisan Kaisha agreed to divest its ownership in the company that owned the whaling fleet. Greenpeace hailed this as a victory and the boycott of Gorton’s ended.

The Gorton's Fisherman in Popular Culture

The iconic slogan, "Trust the Gorton's Fisherman," produced in 1978, and the familiar yellow slicker and beard has made the Gorton's Fisherman a recognizable pop culture icon. In particular the Gorton’s Fisherman, has been featured on the "Late Show with David Letterman" numerous times:

• On the January 12, 2007 show and again on the January 7, 2008 show David Letterman sported a yellow slicker, hat and beard and acted out an improvised Gorton’s Fish Stick commercial as the Gorton’s Fisherman complete with a box of Gorton's Fish Sticks.
• The Gorton’s Fisherman made the number seven spot on the “Top 10 Answers to the Question How Rainy Is It?” on April 16, 2007, which read “Number 7. It’s so rainy Regis’s guest host today was the Gorton’s Fisherman.”
• The Gorton's Fisherman also made the number five spot on the "Top 10 Surprises in 'Titantic'" list on January 8, 1998, which read, "Number 5. Graphic love scene between Kate Winslet and the Gorton Fisherman."

Other notable pop culture appearances include:

• In the 2006 Halloween edition of the popular cartoon website, Homestar Runner, The King of Town is dressed as the fisherman in the Gorton’s logo.
• On February 6, 2005, during Super Bowl XXXIX, the Gorton's Fisherman appeared in a Mastercard commercial featuring 10 legendary advertising characters from various food and household products.
• In the movie remake of the classic TV series "Bewitched" (2005), Nicole Kidman's character, Samantha Stephens, encounters the Gorton's Fisherman during a trip to the supermarket. The image of the Gorton's Fisherman on the box comes to life and speaks to her when she picks up a Gorton's package from the frozen food section.
• Fans of the New York Rangers of the NHL often taunt their rival team, the New York Islanders and its fans. In the mid-1990s, the Islanders briefly changed their uniform from their traditional logo to a more new-age logo that featured a fisherman that many thought resembled the Gorton’s logo. Rangers fans have been known to chant, “We want fishsticks!” at both Madison Square Garden and the Nassau Coliseum during games between the teams.
• In an edition of WWE Magazine, the feature “Would You Buy This?” was a parody of Gorton’s, calling it, “Orton’s and replacing the fisherman with wrestler Randy Orton.
• The Gorton’s Fisherman has been the answers to questions/ puzzles on "Jeopardy!" and the "Wheel of Fortune" game shows.

External links

• Official retail website
• BlueWater Seafoods, Gorton's subsidiary in Canada
• See Food Differently, an August 2004 trade magazine story about Gorton's
• Unilever sells seafood business, an August 2001 article
• Gorton's on Protecting their Resources
• America's Oldest Seaport, a short film about Gorton's and Gloucester

Whaling

• Environmental Investigation Agency's report on Gorton's link to Japan's whale hunt.