Darden moving ahead with lobster farm
The Malaysian joint venture project is estimated to cost a total of US$600 million (~€471.5 million), with Darden providing half of it. Through its subsidiaries like Red Lobster and LongHorn Steakhouse, Darden serves about 400 million meals a year from 2,000 restaurants with sales of US$8 billion(~€6.3 billion) a year. The company recently signed the joint venture agreement with its partners- Ever Nexus and Inno Fisheries. Present were Darden Restaurant Senior Vice President for Purchasing and Supply Chain Innovation, Bill Herzig who is also the President of Darden Aquafarm Inc, Ever Nexus Chairman, Rizal Faris, Ever Nexus Managing Director, Shahridan Falez and Innoprise Corporation Chairman, Tan Sri Khalil Jamalul.
News about the proposed lobster aquaculture park came from the Malaysian Investment Development Authority;
Darden Aquasciences Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Darden Restaurants Inc, the world's largest full- service restaurant group, will invest US$300 million (~€235.7 million) in technology and infrastructure to develop the world's first integrated lobster aquaculture park (ILAP), in Sabah under a US$600 million joint venture with two Malaysian companies- Ever Nexus Sustainable Seafood Sdn Bhd, a unit of aquaculture specialist Ever Nexus Sdn Bhd and Inno Fisheries Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Yayasan Sabah Group.
The balance of the investment will be from small- and medium-sized enterprises and contract growers, who will farm the panulirus ornatus or King lobsters in ILAP under a guaranteed buyback scheme with Darden, which will absorb all the produce. The project will positioned Malaysia as an important player in the growth of the global market for lobsters, presently valued at US$4 billion (~€3.1 billion) with China accounting for some 75% of the market. The joint venture farm over a sea space of 9,300 ha with three lobster hatcheries, has the capacity to produce 40 million pounds of lobsters, generating sales of some US$1billion(~€786 million) a year by 2030.
The project will also create 14,000 jobs by 2022, including for scientists, engineers, aquaculture specialists and skilled aquaculture technicians. The initial stage of commercial hatchery is scheduled to commence in June 2013 while the first batch of lobsters for commercial consumption is expected to be ready by June 2015 with the ILAP beginning to achieve significant production in eight years time, Bill Herzig said.
Meanwhile, Darden is set to make Malaysia its Asia Pacific restaurant development hub with plans to set up its Red Lobster restaurants in Malaysia and other parts of Asia, as the company sees vast potential in this region. Currently, its restaurant chains are mainly in North America but the company has expanded to the Middle East and Mexico, Darden Inc. chairman and chief executive officer Clarence Ortis Jr said. “The global demand for seafood is increasing, particularly for shrimp, fin fishes and lobster”.
