It's not everyday that a family-owned and operated business celebrates a 100th year anniversary. First opened in 1910 on Atlantic Avenue in the heart of what was once Boston's industrial waterfront, Pier Fish expanded to the New Bedford waterfront in 2001.
But other than their size and number of employees, not much has changed in for the company, a major seafood processor.
Third generation president Richard Barry and his four brothers — Jim, Michael, Kevin and John are all still part of the business, as they have been since the 1970's. And Richard's daughter Jessica, 22, representing the family's fourth generation, joined the business six months ago.
"The initial idea of my grandfather was to service restaurants and local restaurants and we are still doing that," said Barry of Pier Fish, originally started as a small fish market.
As with any business open for 10 decades, the Barrys have faced their share of changes, both disruptions and opportunities.
From Boston's shifting waterfront landscape which forced the company to move in 1968, to the 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Act that opened up new opportunities by restricting coastal fishing to U.S. vessels, things have never been dull, said Richard Barry.
In the 1990s, sweeping regulation changes to the fishing industry began shrinking profit margins and Pier Fish was forced to look at new markets. Always counting on local retail locations, the company saw an opportunity in supplying supermarket chains.
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