StarKist Co. said Wednesday that it plans to increase employment at its headquarters to 115 from 70 as part of its move to the Equitable Gas Building on the North Shore.
Primarily know for its tuna products, StarKist is occupying 32,000 square feet of space -- increasing its office space. The company previously occupied 23,000 square feet Del Monte Center, also on the North Shore. The move was completed Tuesday.
StarKist was purchased in late 2008 from Del Monte Food Co. by South Korean conglomerate Dongwon Enterprises Co. Ltd. At that time, the decision was made to bring the company's headquarters back to Pittsburgh from San Francisco, where it had been moved several years previously.
The move to the West Coast in June 2008 involved 100 jobs. A skeleton staff remained in Pittsburgh, consisting of operations and research-and-development personnel.
Del Monte had acquired StarKist and other brands from H.J. Heinz Co. in 2002. Heinz relocated StarKist from Newport, Ky., outside Cincinnati, in 2000 and brought about 250 jobs here.
StarKist’s new owners plan to expand the company's product line over and above tuna by capitalizing on StarKist’s 37 percent tuna-market share in the United States, said Ingu Park, vice chairman of Dongwon.
