Dirk De Pandelaere, chief executive officer of Erpe-Mere, Belgium-based Diversi Foods NV, will assume the helm of the Shore Group as CEO on November 1. He is replacing Dirk Belmans, who joined the Bencis Capital Partners-owned shrimp company as commercial director in January of 2018.
While this is De Pandelaere’s first executive position in the seafood sector, he brings to the table extensive background on the European retail and foodservice fronts. His frozen food industry credentials include more than eight years heading up baked goods maker Diversi Foods, which was acquired in 2017 by the Bielefeld, Germany-headquartered Oetker Group, and 10 years at Proven, Belgium-based Eurofreez, a value added potato and snack foods manufacturer now owned by Steenderen, Netherlands-headquartered Aviko BV.
“We are confident that Shore can continue to grow as a leading shrimp company in the European and American markets under the leadership of the new chief executive officer,” stated a press release issued by Amsterdam-headquartered Bencis Capital Partners.
De Pandelaere’s responsibilities at Shore will involve directly managing the group’s commercial department as well as providing leadership for the entire operation, which includes Belgian seafood company Morubel, Germany-based shrimp specialist Ristic, 50% of Telson in the Netherlands, plus Rainbow Seafoods and Terranova in Costa Rica.
Reporting to the new boss will be CFO Bart Verstichel, COO Alain Bockstaele, quality officer Ralph Sanders, and purchasing officer Geert Coucke.
Belmans, a well known veteran of the international seafood business, logged 16 years from 2000 to 2016 building the surimi sales, marketing and distribution platform in Western Europe for the Plunge, Lithuania-headquartered Viciunai Group as its Brugge, Belgium-based managing director. Prior to that he was employed by Oostende-based Morubel, a frozen seafood company that is today owned by Shore. He also worked briefly with Aqua4C, a bass fish farm startup operation in Kruishoutem, Belgium.
Meanwhile, Belmans has started a sales, marketing and distribution company doing business as Novel G.C.V. and specializing in food in general and seafood in particular. Headquartered in Brugge, it offers export management services and helps clients find new markets, develop business relationships, and introduce new products.
