About Us

Welcome to San Francisco Bay Brand®, this brief history tells our story about developing the finest and most nutritious fish foods that are available today.

It all began in 1934 as the curator of the famous Steinhart Aquarium in California discovered that live brine shrimp from the sunny San Francisco Bay made an excellent fish food. The natural food value of the shrimp plus its consistent taste appeal was an unbeatable combination. At the outset, only a few gallons of the small crustacean were collected weekly by members of the San Francisco Aquarium Society and fed to the aquarium fishes. Yet this small operation would give rise to the San Francisco Bay Brand® company of today with our complete line of frozen and freeze dried diets including the original Sally’s Brine Shrimp™, Enhanced Brine Shrimp™ varieties, Sally’s Single Ingredient Fish Foods™, Natural Formulated Diets™, and Sally’s Brine Shrimp Eggs™.

In 1964, the Steinhart Aquarium and Leslie Salt formed San Francisco Fish Farms and began selling live brine shrimp to tropical fish hobbyist. In 1965 Aquarium Pacific finalized their merger with East Coast Manufacturers, which sold the GroLux, Willness, and Long Life brands among others and formed what was known as Metaframe Corporation. Metaframe Corporation also purchased West Coast Operations, which was the parent company for Pemco Manufacturing in Los Angeles who made aquariums and San Francisco Fish Farms in 1968.

In 1969 Mattel, Inc., a toy company, purchased Metaframe Corp. and San Francisco Bay Brand, Inc. Mattel® ran the Metaframe® Company for several years. The company made some great strides and even advertised in LIFE® magazine. Things went well until a dock strike changed Mattel's fortunes in the middle of the 1970's and Mattel divested all of the divisions of Metaframe by 1979 leaving San Francisco Bay Brand® under the Schmidt family ownership.

In 1955 Anton and his family emigrated from Germany to the United States. Anton having been trained as a tool and die maker found employment in a small firm in Los Altos California repairing aquariums. His wife Martha and he worked there for 2 years before opening their own business.
In 1957 Anton Schmidt opened Schmidt's aquarium and proceeded to make Stainless custom and production aquariums till the merger with the Metaframe® group in 1965.
After purchasing the company from Mattel® in 1979 Anton started to work in the aquaculture field. People he had met in the UC system of California and others were all interested in the use of Artemia in the commercial shrimp farming industry which was gaining notoriety world wide, with Companies such as Cargill®, Coca Cola®, ConAgra®, just to name a few.
In 1979 Andreas Schmidt came back to the company and operated the San Diego, Salt Lake and Salton Sea facilities which supported research and harvest support for SFBB's aquaculture business.
One thing led to another and after working in South America, China, The Middle East and other locals through out the world. By the mid eighties, Anton was instrumental in making brine shrimp a staple diet in the aquaculture industry in 38 countries.

In 1988 San Francisco Bay Brand started to develop a line of Natural Formulated Diets™ to compliment the current line of Sally’s Single Ingredient Fish Foods™. From the beginning, as the demand for brine shrimp continued to increase, research projects were initiated to develop several convenient forms of highly nutritious natural products. Throughout the 1990's, by developing a line of Natural Formulated Diets™ to meet fish's specific needs equivalent to their diets in the wild while also expanding our Sally’s Single Ingredient Fish Foods™ to include Bloodworms, Silversides, Sand Eels, Mussel, White Mosquito Larvae, Squid, and Beefheart, we have continued to improve the health, appearance, and longevity of your aquatic pets.
In 1992, Andreas Schmidt became President of San Francisco Bay Brand, Inc. Andreas has continued to be a leader in serving the Pet Industry and striving to provide the best all natural diets available for the aquatic hobbyist, zoos, hatcheries, aquariums, and aquaculture industries. Andreas has served the Pet Industry serving 17 years finishing after a term as the President of The World Wide Pet Supply Association and President of the Pet Care Trust Association from 1999 to 2003.

From our predecessor's in 1934, our goal to provide the most nutritious diets available that are closest to each species natural diet has been dramatically borne out. San Francisco Bay Brand™ All Natural Fish Foods are your fish’s favorite, savory foods from their natural environment. Equally important, each wholesome product provides all the essential nutrients that are so vital to fish growth and good health. SFBB now has worldwide distribution for our product lines of Sally’s Brine Shrimp™, Enhanced Brine Shrimp™, Sally’s Single Ingredient Fish Foods™, Natural Formulated Diets™, Sally’s Brine Shrimp Eggs™, and Seaweed Salad™. We will continue to provide research to develop new diets to enhance the lives of each aquatic pet and the hobbyist.