Survival of the fittest

Vega Salmon is a production company mainly producing quality smoked fish. Located in Esbjerg, Denmark, Vega is a company with a long and successful history in the smoked fish production industry. With several years of experience in producing and selling smoked products Vega Salmon does business with a variety of clientele from wholesalers and retailers to catering services. While they also produce for the local market the bulk of their production is sold to the markets in Europe and their products are only sold as private label products.

Vega Salmon uses dry salting and injection salting in it’s production process; which method is used depends on what the customer prefers. To ensure a high standard of hygiene all their products are produced under strict internal controls and the HACCP system.

Pescatech was hired in as a consultant in 2010, where the primary tasks were to create flexible processing solutions together with Vega Salmon for their new planned operations in Germany. This work included overview of existing and necessary new equipment needed for the new project. Meanwhile Vega Salmon purchased several valuable high tech equipment from some of the less fortunate and now bankrupt Danish producers, which also needed to be evaluated for future use.

Chris Bjerregaard of Pescatech says about Vega Salmon: It is a pleasure working with another Esbjerg company, though it is sad to see the once proud fishing community disappear completely, leaving only a few entrepreneurs like Vega Salmon behind as a reminder of the days, when Esbjerg was among the largest fish & seafood centers of the world.
Roald Vedelgart, Managing Director and owner of Vega Salmon A/S says about Pescatech: “We work with Pescatech, because we always will get an honest answer and competent feedback from them. They are neutral and independent from the equipment suppliers, which make them very qualified as a sparring partner within factory design and selection of the right equipment for our projects.” Roald furthermore points out that Vega Salmon’s road to success rely on creating value to it’s customers and partners.

Delivery assurance, high quality raw material and finest end products are important to build the necessary trust needed for long term business relationships. Highest focus on hygiene and optimized production methods is achieved by thorough HACCP training and constant education of the staff.

Naturally competitive pricing, product development and a flexibility to meet the often changing customer demands have proven to be good investments and probably a keystone for Vega Salmon to survive and succeed in relatively rough market conditions these days.