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New directions for Kitikmeot Foods

Cambridge Bay firm launches new Arctic char product lines

Norm Poole
Northern News Services

Cambridge Bay (Apr 21/03) - A Cambridge Bay company is working to build Southern markets with a new line of packaged and canned Arctic char.

NNSL Photo

Yellowknife Direct Charge Co-op's Bob Orr shows some frozen Arctic char from Cambridge Bay. The store also sells Iqaluk brand canned and packaged char products. - Norm Poole/NNSL photo


And it is drawing national media attention for its efforts.

Kitikmeot Foods will be one of four Nunavut Development Corporation firms to be featured in a major Canadian Geographic spread this fall.

General manager Calvin Schindel hopes the coverage will be a springboard for sales of its new Iqaluk product lines in the South.

The company introduced the products in January after more than a year of product testing and development.

Kitimeot also sells five different flavours of smoked muskox jerky under the same brand name, and is currently developing a sixth.

Founded in 1990, the firm has been shipping fresh whole Arctic char to the South for some years.

That became more difficult following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre, said Schindel.

"We couldn't count on flying fresh fish out regularly, so we decided we needed a new way to merchandise our products."

The company's whole fresh char has had relatively little exposure in the South.

It has been sold primarily through distributors who in turn market it to high-end restaurants.

One reason is its relatively high cost due to air freight charges.

Schindel said he hopes to see a broad distribution for the Iqaluk brand canned and packaged char.

"The plan is that these products will be available in food stores all across the South."

Kitikmeot displayed the brand at the First Peoples pavillion at the Internation Food, Beverage, Wine and Spirits Exhibition in Montreal earlier this month.

The show drew a number of interested distributors in the U.S., including in New York, Chicago, Michigan and California, said Schindel.

Kitikmeot's smoked and canned products are processed and packaged in Vancouver.

"We fillet and smoke the fish here in Cambridge Bay, then ship it frozen to Vancouver."

Distribution is currently through distributors in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, and Yellowknife.

Kitikmeot has had a federal licence for export sales since 1999.

The company employs 13 people year-round at its Cambridge Bay plant, and contracts up to 30 fishing people during the short, four-week Arctic char season.

"We expect to buy about 50 tons this summer, up from about 40 tons last year," said Schindel.

Kitikmeot has seen its revenues increase by 35 per cent in the past two years, much of it due to the popularity of its muskox jerky.

Sales of muskox products can vary widely from year to year, however, depending on the harvest.

Schindel said the company will process only 10,000 pounds this year, down 50 per cent from 2002 due to harvest quotas. Success with its new char products would even company revenues significantly, he said.

"The canned char has a shelf life of seven years. We won't just be marketing from season to season."