How This Student-Turned Fisherman Went From Owning $80 To Being A Billionaire
In 1961, pre-veterinary college freshman Chuck Bundrant decided to take a break from his studies and drove from Tennessee to Seattle after hearing there was money to be made there fishing. With no more than 80 bucks in his pocket, Bundrant ventured to Bristol Bay, Alaska, where he slept on the docks and did odd jobs while getting valuable fishing experience.
Today, that same man is now the proud owner of one of the largest and most influential seafood companies in the country: Trident Seafoods. And according to Bloomberg, he just became the United States’ newest billionaire after over 50 years in the business.
Bundrant made his fortune after purchasing his first boat with a couple of crab fishermen in 1973. While they had success at first, crab populations began to dwindle by the 1980s. To make up for this loss, Bundrant decided to take a huge risk and began catching pollock.
At the time, this white fish was wildly popular in Asia, but that wasn’t the case in the United States. However, Bundrant bet on its clean taste, firm texture, and relatively cheap cost to turn it into something he could sell regularly to restaurants in the United States. His first contract was with Long John Silver’s, and from that point on, pollock exploded across the country.
Bundrant’s business of Trident Seafoods grew into a major force in the food industry that now sells everything from whole and processed fish to canned salmon and fish sticks. Trident has also pressed its influence upon the government, limiting foreign competition to help fishermen across the country continue to thrive in their businesses.
Today, Trident is a company making $2.4 billion in revenue with contracts to businesses including Subway, McDonald’s, Burger King, Costco, and Safeway. And they have Chuck Bundrant, who got into the industry on a whim, to thank for that success.
