Our History

Lusamerica started in 1975 as immigrant Portuguese couple Ana and Fernando Frederico’s pursuit of the American Dream. Our journey began at a facility on 27th St in San Jose, California.

As initial business started to grow, Lusamerica upgraded to a larger facility located at 1325 E. Julian St. in San Jose, CA.

On Fathers Day, 2001, Lusamerica attempted an amazing logistical challenge that would be considered the biggest “Live Lobster Event on the West Coast.” Lusamerica successfully delivered 500,000 live lobsters to roughly 250 grocery stores spread throughout California and Nevada. The endeavor mean an airplane full of  live lobsters flew from New England to California. Flight attendants reported crabby passengers.

Lusamerica opens a new processing and distribution center in Los Angeles, California, in the town of Vernon, allowing for expanded distribution to San Diego, LA, and Arizona.

Lusamerica moves from San Jose just south to Morgan Hill, CA, into a 65,000 square foot facility. The building was previously a NAPA auto parts warehouse which we then retrofitted to be refrigerated for our processing needs. Morgan Hill continues to be the company’s headquarters today.

In 2010, Lusamerica expanded to the Pacific Northwest by purchasing a massive facility in Fife, Washington. This is our largest facility at 83,000 square feet. It allows to distribute to Washington, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, and beyond.

In 2018, Lusamerica implemented SAP as our new traceability and inventory system (enterprise resource planning system). This system allows for Lusamerica to track our products throughout all stages of processing, packaging, and delivery, and supports inventory control, sustainability reports, and finance.

Lusamerica shifts its scope from processing to include more direct sourcing with West Coast fishermen. In 2020, Lusamerica starts leasing a dock and office in Moss Landing Harbor located in the heart of Monterey Bay, CA. Over the next few years, Lusamerica invests in the local seafood economy by adding a new hoist, groundfish hopper, sorting line, and ice-hopper. A new groundfish fillet line is also added to the Morgan Hill facility to cut local fish by hand.

In 2024, we began a new partnership with Olympic Peninsula Seafood (formerly High Tide Seafood) based in Port Angeles, Washington. This newest collaboration has opened up crab-cooking capabilities, and new partnerships with fishermen in the Pacific Northwest, the majority of which are Native American Tribes.

2025 marks Lusamerica’s 50th anniversary. The company continues to be family-owned and operated. Read more in FoodChain Magazine.