Phillips Foods

Food producers at the first Maryland food trade show yesterday presented a taste of their wares and were rewarded with nibbles from buyers, distributors and importers."

Seafood company Phillips Foods Inc. will be closing its Baltimore manufacturing and distribution facility in July and cutting 100 jobs, about 13 percent of its Maryland workforce. The company warned state regulators of the cuts. A separate layoff warning notice to the state came from Capital One Financial Corp., which said 40 workers would be affected when it closes a credit-card operations facility in the Anne Arundel County community of Hanover during the last three months of this year.

If any food nourishes Maryland's heart and soul, it is the meat of the Atlantic blue crab.For generations, Marylanders have formed it into crab cakes and used it in soup. They have stuffed it in rockfish and served it in crab salad. It is so much a part of Maryland's identity that Callinectes sapidus, the "beautiful swimmer" of Chesapeake Bay fame, has been designated the official state crustacean.But before you order a crab cake at a local restaurant, you might want to know there's an excellent chance the meat is not from American waters and is not Atlantic blue crab.

Bill Sexton has been appointed the Executive Chef of Phillips Seafood Baltimore. Sexton, according to a news release, has served in several leadership positions with Phillips Foods and Seafood Restaurant. He started his career at Phillips Crab House in Ocean City and has been Phillips Director of research and development. "My Grandfather was a fisherman off Cobb Island, Maryland and I grew up loving the fresh seafood right from our Southern and Eastern Shores," Sexton said in the statement.

In the heart of gentrifying southern Baltimore's Locust Point, a plant that used to produce Coca-Cola will soon house a giant new assembly line where workers will mix imported crab meat and spice by hand to make 200,000 cakes a day. Unremarkable - except that city and business leaders had been expecting Locust Point to become the area's next high-tech hub, where workers would handle a computer mouse, not a hard-shell crab. During the past 1 1/2 years, developers who bought the old Fort Avenue plant unsuccessfully marketed it to telecommunications companies, among others.

Mark W. Sneed, a food-s@sun reporter/EPervice veteran who brought triple-digit sales growth as president of Phillips Foods Inc., died yesterday morning of a heart attack at his Riva home. He was 50. "He was just a great leader, and he was the real backbone of the company," Phillips' chief financial officer, Dean E. Flowers, said yesterday. Mr. Sneed grew up as the eldest of four children in Ashland, Ky., according to news reports.

By 9 a.m. the crab boats have already been coming and going from the pier for close to five hours, with migrant Burmese workers laboring to unload, sort, weigh and steam crabs that are destined for dinner plates on the other side of the world. Presiding over this assembly line are Nantanee and Somsak Choeyklin, who remember when this crustacean that made them rich was only junk and they were poor. The blue swimming crab, known in Thailand as "horse crab," mottled and bluish-green, was little more than subsistence food when their parents were fishermen.

Seafood company Phillips Foods Inc. will be closing its Baltimore manufacturing and distribution facility in July and cutting 100 jobs, about 13 percent of its Maryland workforce. The company warned state regulators of the cuts. A separate layoff warning notice to the state came from Capital One Financial Corp., which said 40 workers would be affected when it closes a credit-card operations facility in the Anne Arundel County community of Hanover during the last three months of this year.

Brice R. Phillips, the patriarch of a Maryland seafood empire that began 55 years ago with a simple crab shack in Ocean City/, died Friday at his home in the seaside resort town. Mr. Phillips, who was 90, had been in declining health. The cause of death has not yet been determined. The family business now includes 19 Phillips restaurants, along with a line of retail products sold under the Phillips Seafood name and seafood products for the food service industry. Mr. Phillips, who co-founded the restaurant business with his wife of 68 years, Shirley, remained closely associated with the company even after handing day-to-day responsibilities to a son, Stephen B. Phillips of Annapolis, in the mid-1990s.

Bill Sexton has been appointed the Executive Chef of Phillips Seafood Baltimore. Sexton, according to a news release, has served in several leadership positions with Phillips Foods and Seafood Restaurant. He started his career at Phillips Crab House in Ocean City and has been Phillips Director of research and development. "My Grandfather was a fisherman off Cobb Island, Maryland and I grew up loving the fresh seafood right from our Southern and Eastern Shores," Sexton said in the statement.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is scheduled to join Steve Phillips, president and CEO of Phillips Foods and Seafood Restaurants, and developer David Cordish at a Tuesday afternoon ribbon-cutting for the new Phillips Seafood Restaurant at the Power Plant. A media alert for the ribbon-cutting promised a "major announcement," and its timing, 18 days after Phillips opened its 15,000 square-foot restaurant in the Power Plant, suggests that the principals will have more to say then, "Look, it's open" The announcement is scheduled for 4 p.m. , which is when you would schedule something that has local evening news written all over it. The timing is perfect for local television stations (but lousy for daily newspapers.)

Brice Phillips Sr., the founder of Phillips Seafood, died today at age 90. Phillips Foods Inc., and Seafood  Restaurants announced Phillips's death to the media in an emailed press release shortly after 3 p.m. today. Brice and his wife, Shirley Phillips, opened their first Ocean City crab house in 1956. The Phillips  restaurant group now includes 19 Phillips restaurants and a line of retail products under the Phillips Seafood brand name and seafood products for the foodservice industry.

Brice R. Phillips, the patriarch of a Maryland seafood empire that began 55 years ago with a simple crab shack in Ocean City/, died Friday at his home in the seaside resort town. Mr. Phillips, who was 90, had been in declining health. The cause of death has not yet been determined. The family business now includes 19 Phillips restaurants, along with a line of retail products sold under the Phillips Seafood name and seafood products for the food service industry. Mr. Phillips, who co-founded the restaurant business with his wife of 68 years, Shirley, remained closely associated with the company even after handing day-to-day responsibilities to a son, Stephen B. Phillips of Annapolis, in the mid-1990s.

In the two decades that Baltimore's Phillips Foods has been importing crabmeat from Asia, fishermen in countries such as Indonesia have had to work harder for each catch and their harvests have yielded increasingly smaller blue swimming crabs. Now Phillips and other major U.S. crab importers, all competitors, are joining forces to reverse the trend that they played a major part in causing. The importers say they're taking steps to protect the future of what has become a key global fishery and prevent the type of overfishing that led to declines in Chesapeake Bay blue crabs.

Mark W. Sneed, a food-s@sun reporter/EPervice veteran who brought triple-digit sales growth as president of Phillips Foods Inc., died yesterday morning of a heart attack at his Riva home. He was 50. "He was just a great leader, and he was the real backbone of the company," Phillips' chief financial officer, Dean E. Flowers, said yesterday. Mr. Sneed grew up as the eldest of four children in Ashland, Ky., according to news reports.

By 9 a.m. the crab boats have already been coming and going from the pier for close to five hours, with migrant Burmese workers laboring to unload, sort, weigh and steam crabs that are destined for dinner plates on the other side of the world. Presiding over this assembly line are Nantanee and Somsak Choeyklin, who remember when this crustacean that made them rich was only junk and they were poor. The blue swimming crab, known in Thailand as "horse crab," mottled and bluish-green, was little more than subsistence food when their parents were fishermen.

CLARIFICATION -- Officials at Phillips Foods Inc. clarified information that appeared in an article yesterday about casualties among employees at the company's plants in Southeast Asia affected by the tsunamis. The officials said that 12 employees in Thailand had lost family members and that the company had not been able to account for 40 people affiliated with the company in India. The company said it was continuing to try to get information amid chaotic conditions. In devastated villages of southeast India yesterday, the head of Phillips Foods Inc.'s India division spent the day on a truck, delivering rice and water.

Brice Phillips Sr., the founder of Phillips Seafood, died today at age 90. Phillips Foods Inc., and Seafood  Restaurants announced Phillips's death to the media in an emailed press release shortly after 3 p.m. today. Brice and his wife, Shirley Phillips, opened their first Ocean City crab house in 1956. The Phillips  restaurant group now includes 19 Phillips restaurants and a line of retail products under the Phillips Seafood brand name and seafood products for the foodservice industry.

New line of snacks for little mouths Summer's approaching and the kids soon will be raiding the refrigerator and freezer for easy-to-make afternoon snacks. Asian Sensations by Pagoda gives them something new and interesting to snack on. The line is available in 18 varieties, including the latest: Southwest Chicken Egg Rolls, Thai Style Chicken Mini Crisps, Crab Rangoon and Pizza Mini Egg Rolls. They are available in grocery stores nationwide and have a suggested retail price of $2.89.

CLARIFICATION -- Officials at Phillips Foods Inc. clarified information that appeared in an article yesterday about casualties among employees at the company's plants in Southeast Asia affected by the tsunamis. The officials said that 12 employees in Thailand had lost family members and that the company had not been able to account for 40 people affiliated with the company in India. The company said it was continuing to try to get information amid chaotic conditions. In devastated villages of southeast India yesterday, the head of Phillips Foods Inc.'s India division spent the day on a truck, delivering rice and water.