Capitaine Cook currently turns over €20 million ($26.1 million) and is 100-percent owned by Les Mousequetaires, which is also the parent group of the €38 billion ($49.7 billion) Intermarche supermarket chain .

The company neither confirmed details of the scope of the investment nor its surimi production capacity but the official did say 30 more staff are being hired to support the move at its Keranna site.

Led by President Bruno Potier, Capitaine Cook was founded in 1948.

Capitaine Cook, which has a separate site at Plozevet, produces terrines, mousses, sauces, butters and soups in addition to ethnic dips such as guacamole and tzatziki.

Les Mousquetaires also owns Lorient-based €120 million ($157 million) frozen fish and cooked/frozen shrimp subsidiary Capitaine Houat.

Private label smoked salmon and trout are processed at the group's €34 million ($44.4 million) turnover Moulin de la Marche subsidiary, while around 9,000 tons of shellfish supplies are purified at the €30 million ($39.2 million) turnover Les Viviers de Meloine plant in northern Brittany.

Les Mousqetaires-owned fisheries company Scapeche, owned by supermarket chain Intermarche, is at the forefront of a campaign by French producers to force a change in European Union fisheries policy.

In addition to Scapeche’s 22-vessel fleet, the company also targets Patagonian toothfish.

The vessels provide work for about 300 fishermen, supplying 40 percent of the supermarket’s fresh fish needs; the rest of its catches go to European wholesalers.

Scapeche sells over 30,000 tons of fish worth €180 million ($235.4 million).

The division was set up to help the supermarket chain attempt to skirt around some of the supply difficulties thrown up by European Union imposed quotas.

For its private-label sales, Intermarche stamps the Petrel mark on its wild and Gulfstream on its farmed products. Non-European species are sourced from a network of global suppliers.

Capitaine Cook targets 25% surimi sales boost