Perched on the water’s edge, 500 kilometres north of Victoria, is a small company that has been pumping millions of dollars into northern Vancouver Island’s economy for 15 years.
Port Hardy-based Keltic Seafoods Ltd. is one of the region’s economic mainstays. A combination of perseverance, teamwork, diversification and creativity has kept it alive.
Keltic is a model of how to survive in a difficult and constantly changing business environment.
“This is a real tough business to be a part of and it is tougher than it ever was,” said Charles Minns, a Vancouver business consultant specializing in fisheries.
In today’s seafood-processing sector, “you’re lucky to get a penny here and a penny there.”
Wild salmon and herring were once supreme. Fishermen delivered their catch to processing plants along the coast.
But as key fisheries shrank in past decades, plants closed. Last month, Canadian Fishing Co. (Canfisco) announced it was shutting down canning operations at a Prince Rupert plant, one of that community’s main employers.
In Keltic’s case, the plant’s previous owner, Maple Leaf Foods, had decided to close the Port Hardy facility. But in 2000, a 12-member group — made up of area residents and employees who chipped in their severance pay — rallied to save the operation and craft a new business plan. Their efforts received support from industry and government.
The 25,000-square-foot plant was relaunched to take advantage of niche markets, while responding and adapting quickly to changing fisheries. Keltic offers custom offloading and custom processing for wholesalers who send their product around the globe.
The company’s attitude is to “be prepared to do anything,” Minns said.
“If you are willing to be flexible and be quick and work efficiently, you can survive — and Keltic is an example of that.”
A committed workforce, strong leadership and a team approach have combined to create a family-like atmosphere at the plant, Minns said.
Keltic has its own in-house team to manufacture specialized equipment for new customers.
No longer reliant on major fisheries, such as salmon, the plant handles everything from sea cucumbers to hake, sardines, groundfish, prawns, crabs and more, said Keltic CEO Mickey Flanagan, 62, who began working at the plant when he was 16.
Said Lynn Normoyle, spokeswoman for wholesaler North Delta Seafoods Ltd.: “We have worked with Keltic Seafoods for several years, and during that time, we have developed some very strong friendships. We consider Keltic Seafoods a big part of our NDS Team.
“They are an extremely professional group, and get the work done with extreme pride.”
Keltic also owns a 35,000-square-foot cold-storage plant.
“We process, package, store fish. We also sell bait, make ice. We are totally green. We render all of our effluent into a meal and into oil. Nothing goes into the ocean,” said Gordon Patterson, Keltic’s human resources manager.
The company uses services and buys supplies locally. Its annual payroll is $3 million, Flanagan said. He credits employees for the company’s success: “We have a fabulous team.”
From an initial skeleton workforce, it now has a base group of 75 employees, increasing to 175 workers or more six months of the year. Many workers are from First Nations communities in the region.
The plant has benefited from proximity to fishing grounds, taking in seafood from around Vancouver Island and from the mid-coast, Flanagan said.
In resource-based Port Hardy, which has about 4,000 residents, Keltic management has done a “really good job at keeping the business going,” Mayor Hank Bood said.
