All About Bumble Bee

Bumble Bee Foods was founded by a handful of dedicated fishermen in 1899. Today, privately held and headquartered in the United States, Bumble Bee Foods, LLC is North America’s largest branded shelf-stable seafood company, offering a full line of canned and pouched tuna, salmon, sardines, and specialty seafood products marketed in the U.S. under leading brands including Bumble Bee®, Brunswick®, Snow’s® and Beach Cliff®, and in Canada under the Clover Leaf® brand. The Bumble Bee brand has established significant consumer awareness and loyalty based on the quality, nutritional value and affordability of its products.

Bumble Bee is fully committed to promoting the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle and also preserving precious resources. Through its signature BeeWell For Life Program, Bumble Bee provides simple, creative ways to eat well and get active. The Company is also a founding member of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation-a first-of-kind initiative in the U.S. involving a coalition of retailers, non-profit organizations and food and beverage manufacturers with a mission to help reduce obesity, particularly childhood obesity by 2015. As North America’s leading supplier of shelf-stable seafood, sustainable fisheries and the preservation of aquatic resources is at the core of the our company’s sustainability programs and initiatives. Bumble Bee actively promotes the responsible stewardship of global fisheries resources and is a founding participant of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF)-a global partnership of scientists, tuna processors and WWF, the global conservation organization. In addition, Bumble Bee’s corporate social responsibility program reaches beyond fisheries and across all aspects of its business encompassing operations, packaging, supply chain, consumers, communities and employees. For more information about Bumble Bee or to find great tasting recipes, visit www.bumblebee.com.

We take pride in what we do – and we do it responsibly. Through sustainable fishing and innovative production practices, we strive to improve the way we do business every day here at Bumble Bee.  

Take a look back to see how Bumble Bee became a leader in the seafood industry.

1899 – A group of 7 canners in Astoria, Oregon formed Columbia River Packers Association, CRPA. Together, they set out to fish and process salmon.

1900 – CRPA purchased several sailing ships and began building a cannery on Alaska’s Bristol Bay.

1910 – The Bumble Bee Brand was born as one of many CRPA marketed labels. Albacore tuna was discovered in seasonal abundance off the Oregon coast.

1920 – CRPA began expanding its cannery in Astoria to capitalize on Albacore.

1930-1950 – Albacore surpassed Salmon as the company’s principal product. As CRPA grew into a recognized leader in the industry, Bumble Bee became one of the most respected premium labels for canned seafood.

1960 – The first Bumble Bee Seafoods, Inc. was formed as a wholly owned subsidiary of Castle & Cook, a prominent Hawaii based seafood company.

1977 – Bumble Bee continued to expand, acquiring a tuna cannery in Puerto Rico, a fishing base operation in Ecuador, and Harbor Industry cannery in San Diego.

1980 – Bumble Bee suspends canning operations in Astoria, where it all began. Starting in 1984 Bumble Bee underwent a series of ownership changes.

1997 – After International Home Foods Inc. (IHF) acquired Bumble Bee and Orleans Seafoods, Bumble Bee launched a new line of "Specialty Products" including shrimp; oysters; clams; smoked scallops; anchovies and more.

1999 – Bumble Bee purchased BC Packers – a Canadian company that canned Clover Leaf, the leading brand of tuna and salmon in Canada. Bumble Bee also began distributing the nation’s leading brand of high-quality packed Sardines, King Oscar.

2000 – Bumble Bee was acquired by Conagra Foods.

2003 – Bumble Bee became Bumble Bee Seafoods, LLC.

2004 – Bumble Bee Seafoods, LLC combined its business with Connors Bros. Income Fund to become the largest branded seafood company in North America. More…

2005 – Bumble Bee announced its name change to Bumble Bee Foods, LLC to reflect its expansion into new food categories, with the acquisition of Castleberry/Snow’s and assets of Sara Lee Shelf-Stable Meats business.

2008 – Connors Bros. sells Castleberry’s Food Company to Hannover Foods.  Bumble Bee became a privately held U.S. company upon being acquired by Centre Partners.  More…

2010 - Bumble Bee Foods is acquired by Lion Capital LLP. More…