Phillips Foods, Inc. and Seafood Restaurants is a family owned and operated

seafood Seafood is any form of Marine life, sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including Fish as food, fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of Mollusca, molluscs (e.g., bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters, and mussel ...

company in the mid-Atlantic region, United States. Phillips Foods, Inc., seafood manufacturers as well as restaurateurs, specializes in crab meat and

crab cake A crab cake is a variety of fishcake popular in the United States. It is composed of crab meat and various other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, mayonnaise, mustard (condiment), mustard (typically prepared mustard, but sometimes mustard powde ...

s, and produces a line of fish and shrimp products. The company is headquartered in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. Phillips Seafood Restaurants have casual dining, buffet service and carryout.

History

In 1914, Augustus E. Phillips established the company's first seafood processing plant on Hooper's Island in Maryland's

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...

. The A.E. Phillips packing plant processed seafood from many of the watermen in the region. In 1956, after a surplus season of crabs, son Brice Phillips and wife Shirley opened the first “crab shack” in

Ocean City, Maryland Ocean City, officially the Town of Ocean City, is an Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic resort city in Worcester County, Maryland, Worcester County, Maryland, along the East Coast of the United States. The population was 6,844 at the 2020 United States c ...

. Brice and Shirley began building a new dining room each year at Phillips Crab House until it finally seated 1400 people. In 2002, the company was sued for violating the

Lanham Act The Lanham (Trademark) Act (, codified at et seq. () is the primary federal statute governing trademark law in the United States. The Lanham Act establishes a national system of trademark registration and grants owners of federally registe ...

, a statute that provides consumer protection against false advertising. The plaintiff's claimed that Phillips was deceiving its customers after it said that it was following the original recipe while it used Asian crab meat instead of Maryland blue crab. Phillips Seafood Restaurants currently has 5 company-owned restaurants along the eastern coast of the United States, as well as a network of franchise locations in airports, travel plazas, casinos and sporting arenas.

Crab manufacturing

Phillips is a leading global manufacturer of crab meat, and employs over 2,000 people worldwide. The company's crab processing facilities are found in the United States and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

. Ten plants are located worldwide. In 1990, Phillips opened crab processing facilities in Southeast Asia to ensure a year-round supply of swimming crab meat for their restaurants. Phillips Foods has global sales offices in Baltimore, MD and Bangkok, Thailand. While most of the seafood production goes to the United States, the company has a growing market in Asia, Europe, and Australia "Phillips Foods outlines plans for new acility in Thailand," Seafax, Retrieved: January 15, 2008

Products

Known primarily for their

crab cakes A crab cake is a variety of fishcake popular in the United States. It is composed of crab meat and various other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, mayonnaise, mustard (typically prepared mustard, but sometimes mustard powder), eggs, and seasoni ...

, the company has an array of other products available to the retail and

foodservice The foodservice (US English) or catering (British and Commonwealth English) industry includes the businesses, institutions, and companies which prepare meals outside the home. It includes restaurants, grocery stores, school and hospital cafet ...

markets, such as

crab meat Crab meat, also known as crab marrow, is the edible meat found in a crab, or more specifically in its legs and claws. It is widely used in global cuisines for its soft, delicate and sweet flavor. Crab meat is low in fat, and provides about o ...

, appetizers, fish, seafood cakes, soups, entrées, spices and sauces. Although the company's reputation was built on its origins as a producer of Maryland blue crab, it now markets primarily crab from Southeast Asia.

References

{{reflist 1916 establishments in Maryland American companies established in 1916 Companies based in Baltimore Hoopers Island Regional restaurant chains in the United States Restaurants established in 1916 Restaurants in Maryland Seafood companies of the United States Seafood restaurants in the United States Family-owned companies of the United States Fish processing companies

History

Crab manufacturing

Products

See also

References