Sitka Salmon Shares is growing once again.They’re expanding their space at the Sustainable Business Center on West Main Street, adding about 6,000 sq. ft. along with three more full-time employees.
Founder and President Nic Mink says more room will let them quintuple their space for freezing and quadruple space for sealing and packing.
Sitka Salmon is bringing more of their processing and packaging to Galesburg from Alaska, for both efficiency and quality.
Up to 10,000 lbs of fish are being frozen and cut a day in Alaska but the next step, vacuum sealing and bagging, is a “hugely time consuming process” and Mink says finding more room in Alaska is expensive.
An expansion of their regional shipping program is also coming.
Mink tells WGIL that historically, orders have been delivered in one of the company’s delivery vehicles.
“But increasingly we are using UPS and Fed-Ex to distribute fish, both regionally and nationally,” Mink says. “And that’s a really fast growing part of our business and we needed a little more space to do that.”
Sitka has been in business for about five years.
The three new jobs are coming by spring but Mink says he expects that more new position openings as the business continues to progress.
The Human Links Foundation, that owns and operate the SBC, provided Sitka a low-interest loan and grant for the building upgrades.
