Finefish has formed a marketing partnership with Norwegian brown trout farmer Sirdals Ørret and Arctic char farmer Telemarkrøye.
The Fosnavåg, Norway-based vertically integrated company, which operates two fishing vessels and a processing facility, will use its marketing and sales team to sell the premium-quality farmed products from both aquaculture operations and its logistics team to get their fish to market, according to Finefish Co-Owner Gjermund Bringsvor.
“We already have fresh distribution all over Europe, so it's pretty nice for them to hitchhike,” Bringsvor told SeafoodSource. “We have a big logistics operation and we think it’s good for both us and them that we can cooperate to build volume.”
At first blush, it seems unusual that a company specializing in wild-caught, non-pelagic fish would team up with two artisanal aquaculture companies, but Bringsvor said his company’s iconoclastic approach made the partnerships a natural fit. On its website, the company describes itself as “daring to be a little different,” with a “straightforward and non-bureaucratic manner.”
“Our company culture pushes us to search out something new and different, that takes a lot of hard work. Maybe we are a little bit masochistic,” Bringsvor said.
Bringsvor said Finefish just has one rule – no salmon.
“We are an atypical Norwegian seafood company, wanting to work outside the dominance of salmon. And salmon sales are being handled by fewer and fewer companies – independent firms don’t have a very good chance to survive because they don’t have the control over the raw material,” Bringsvor said. “These partnerships worked because..."
Photo courtesy of Cliff White/SeafoodSource
