The company was founded by the late Howard Shadbolt in 1960 and had its beginnings as a small fish and chip shop in the Christchurch suburb of Linwood in 1956. Since that time, Independent Fisheries Limited has grown into one of New Zealand's major privately-owned fish processing companies, employing approx. 400 staff and harvesting in excess of 30,000 tonnes of fish annually. 1967 saw the establishment of the present-day site on the Bamford Industrial Estate at Woolston and in 1974, the company made the decision to concentrate on the manufacture of value-added fast foods. This move led to the set-up of a network of national distributors, aimed at further developing retail and food-service markets throughout New Zealand.