Catalina Offshore Products: Where Women Rule the Fish Market

Now 51% Women-Owned, Catalina Offshore Products Continues to Flourish

The sleepy lobster probably didn’t notice as a woman’s hand lifted him from his tank, but this was a first at Catalina Offshore Products. Early one wintry, Saturday morning, the new managing owner, Brittany Strangman, carried the drowsy crustacean out of the water and over to the packing table. Together, she worked with Dave Rudie, Catalina OP’s founder, to get the live shipment ready for overseas delivery. Brittany knows fish inside and out from managing San Diego Seafood, but she’s made the most of having Rudie in-house for a few months. 

Brittany grew up in the family behind San Diego Seafood, Inc. Most people in the business know her mother, Kathy Strangman, who started working there forty years ago and took over the company in 2006. While shuttling her kids between school and the business, they’d complain, “Mom, close the car, everything smells like fish. She’d counter, “No, it smells like money to me.”

Kathy confirms that her 31-year-old daughter is willing to work 80-plus hours a week to make the new Catalina OP a success. She says Brittany was headstrong from an early age. “My customer and family friend, Mike, laughed and said, “Isn’t that what you want? Don’t step on her.’ Now, she admits he was right, “It’s really neat to see what incredible, strong, smart people my kids are. They’re not afraid of working, of getting dirty.” Her lead paid off as Brittany, with brother Tanner’s help, now runs Catalina OP.

The change in ownership didn’t happen overnight. As the pandemic took its toll on restaurants and companies across San Diego, Dave Rudie and Brittany commiserated. They talked about numbers and customers and bonded as business owners. ‘It’s us against the larger corporations. We’re the small guys,’ Rudie said before he eventually confided that he was looking to retire. During a call about merging or selling to someone else, Brittany suddenly said, ‘No, let me buy you out!’ She hung up and thought, ‘What did I just do?” But the timing was right, and things moved quickly if not always easily.

“It’s been stressful. Suddenly it went from an idea to we’re here. We bought out our previous San Diego Seafood partner in January and then went into talks with Dave in March. There were so many hoops to jump through, so many legalities. We put everything that we own on the line – houses and everything.” And Brittany began plans to expand Catalina OP.

More than just Fish

Joaquin Chaco and Brittany met ten years ago when he told her about his Sonoran cattle ranch. They discussed finding a local warehouse to sell beef and seafood. When Brittany introduced him to the Catalina OP acquisition idea, they collaborated to produce a holding company, BEISH, a play on the words Beef and Fish, which continues doing business as Catalina Offshore Products, and they’ve laid plans to carve out new uses for the underutilized spaces in the vast building. 

As they incorporate all the pieces, the new partners are serious about maintaining relationships with staff and customers. Catalina OP’s Wholesale Distribution Manager, Angela Gonzalez, is in alignment, “The restaurants have put their trust in Catalina and me. The relationships I built with them have been amazing. There’s so much potential for the new company and so much Brittany is doing. I’m excited.”

Gonzalez is a fast learner who worked up from the shipping department to her current position as Wholesale Distribution and Lead Sales Manager with a team of fifteen. At each step, she had mentors, like Rudie, helping her to reach out and expand relationships with wholesalers and restaurants. Now at 26, she enjoys working with a woman boss. “Dave has done so much for me but it’s different. In the beginning at Catalina OP, I had to live up to all the guy’s expectations. It was hard to get people to listen to me but no longer.” 

What’s in the works? Brittany is plotting a full remodel. A food truck with a rotating seasonal menu is about a year out. She’s working through beer and wine license requirements and plans to host in-store events. Customers are already discovering new products each time they visit, like the beef and poultry now available. 

Catalina OP’s change in ownership doesn’t change who they are at their core. It’s still a mom-and-pop business, still owned and managed by a local family of fishmongers, and still dedicated to providing top-notch products and services.

There’s an array of Catalina OP’s seafood and beef products available. They change daily. Shop online, sign up for special sales, and visit the fish market.

Catalina Offshore Products: 5202 Lovelock Street
San Diego, CA 92110
Website

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