Atlanta-based Inland Seafood is a purveyor of much more than fresh seafood.   Inland is dedicated to providing center-of-the-plate proteins with integrity to their customers under the watchful eye of Joel Knox, founder of CEO of the 33 year old company.  Integrity, to Joel Knox, means all products sold by Inland are antibiotic free, hormone free and all natural.

Often described by leaders in the seafood industry as a visionary, Joel Knox has the uncanny ability to predict future trends in, not only the seafood business, but the food business in general.  Knox touted the virtues of organic foods long before they became well known.  When Knox opened his doors to non-water breathing products he also declared war on food products that were produced with elements he felt may turn out to be harmful to consumers.  Knox’s legacy of advocacy in the emerging market of safe, sustainable products began in the mid-90’s.  Knox’s “protective of the consumer” approach is now common in the food industry.

Chief Operating Officer Bill Demmond said, “Given the option, chefs at leading dining establishments simply won’t serve anything to their customers that is not natural and hormone-free.  Not only do the products taste better and fresher, they are also healthier for the diner.”

Inland Seafood was founded by Knox in 1977 to fill a huge void in the Atlanta market for fresh seafood products.  Inland quickly became known for carrying seafood products that could not be purchased anywhere else.  The company achieved success through product quality and exceptional service to their customers.  Today, Inland Seafood continues to carry the best and the freshest seafood and specialty food products available anywhere.

Inland Seafood moved into a new state-of-the-art facility in 2008 that was custom designed for their vast variety of proteins.  The facility is the result of years of planning and dreaming to achieve the ultimate seafood/specialty food processing and distribution plant.  The company outgrew its old plant to the point that the worsening economy did not discourage its management team from moving on with their plans for the new facility.  “Our former facility was threatening to limit our processing capabilities.  Since we were projecting strong growth for the foreseeable future, we were compelled to add capacity,” says Joel Knox, owner, founder and CEO of Atlanta based Inland Seafood.

Custom Designed Pescatorium

Inland’s new facility is three times as large as the former facility at 120,000 square feet or 2,000,000 cubic feet since product is stored up to the ceiling in some zones.  The plant is completely refrigerated including its 16 loading docks.  The entire plant has 24-foot-ceilings with temperature monitoring by telemetry for the 48 refrigeration units that control different zones at specified temperatures for optimum product refrigeration.  Designated rooms are custom designed for proper storage of products with the correct temperature for the items.  Separate rooms hold fresh fish, fresh shellfish, poultry, meat, cheese, mushrooms, deli products and caviar.  There is even a designated kosher room.  The plant also has a 4,000 square-foot-high freezer that is kept at -10 degrees.

The new 48,000 gallon lobster tank doubled Inland’s capacity to hold lobsters.  The continuous recirculating system moves 42,000 gallons per hour.  Inland Seafood is vertically integrated with lobster pounds in Maine.  The lobsters are transported by one of Inland’s 18-wheeler to the headquarters in Atlanta.  From Atlanta, the crustaceans travel on to their satellite facilities so live lobsters are always available at all locations.

The new facility also features a 2,000 square foot Culinary Center to host customers and chefs’ organizations for food presentations and meetings.

The world comes through Inland Seafood.

Inland Seafood receives product seven days a week from the over 100 countries around amounting to 400,000 to 500,000 pounds of fresh and frozen seafood and specialty products per week.  Inland processes and packs over 300,000 pounds of fresh fish per week, about 50,000 of that amount is salmon.  Inland Seafood’s field locations purchase seafood indigenous to their area on a daily basis.

A visual inspection of the contents received at Inland Seafood read like a geographic “Who’s Who” of fish.  A single day may see deliveries of more than 60 different species to the Inland Seafood receiving dock.  A day’s deliveries may feature cobia from Belize; loupe de mer and Dover sole from Belgium; salmon from Alaska, Norway, Scotland and Chile, mahi mahi and marlin from Costa Rica; wolffish from Nova Scotia, pompano and yellowfin grouper from Florida; scallops from the Georges Bank and crawfish from Louisiana.

Keeping it cold.

The ice machines at Inland Seafood produce 80,000 tons of soft ice per day to accommodate Inland’s needs for storing and shipping fresh product.  With over 3,000 codes for product on the inventory list that is not as much ice as it sounds for the large facility.  Inland is the highest volume fresh seafood distributor in the U. S. servicing the largest distribution area of seven states.

Quality Control Lab

The temperatures in 48 specially designated zones of the Inland Seafood plant are monitored continuously with Critical Control Point monitoring on telemetry.  Emails are received by the six-member HACCP management team whenever the CCPs are first crossed and every hour after the first alarm until corrective actions are taken.

Inland Market Premium Foods fills a niche and grows exponentially.

In 1995, Inland Seafood purchased Bimini Island Seafood, a small company producing seafood fritter batters.  Chris Rosenberger, General Manager of Inland Seafood, was tapped to develop Bimini Island Seafood into a value-added seafood line in 2004.  Rosenberger, with his characteristic can-do attitude rebranded the company with the Inland Market Premium Foods name.  Rosenberger developed Inland Market into a full line of handmade, restaurant quality, gourmet food from chef-inspired recipes.  Rosenberger hired Certified Master Chef Michael Robins to create on-trend recipes that work well for contemporary lifestyles.

Inland Market has grown to become an industry leader in gourmet-quality, value-added foods.  The company’s business has doubled in the last 18 months despite the recent economic downturn.  Their products are now on the shelves of over 8,000 retail shelves across the country.    Inland Market continues to work on new recipes that will debut soon.

Chris Rosenberger was promoted to the position of President of Inland Seafood in August 2008.  Rosenberger had completed the rebranding of Inland Market Premium Foods so he accepted the new challenge to lead Inland Seafood into the global food market.  Chef Robins was tapped to lead Inland Market Premium Foods as President.

With the new facility and the proven leadership of President Chris Rosenberger, the new Inland Seafood is ready to meet the challenge of keeping the Southeast in the best quality and freshest products available anywhere.