Innovator with stockfish

A few years ago, Halvor Hansen got a taste of the Italian cuisine's refinements over Norway's oldest export product. With that came the idea of doing something the Italians had done for hundreds of years: rehydrating the stockfish.

Four years ago the company Halvors Tradisjonsfisk was born in Tromsø.

The main product is rehydrated, ready-to-cook stockfish for the restaurant market, but the product portfolio also contains desalted clipfish, semi-dried fish ("boknafisk") and cod treated with lye ("lutefisk"). Food with history and traditions.

After seven days in water, the stockfish is ready for its final round in the production process. All bones and skin are removed manually. No machines can do the job. A true craft.

Increasing demand

During the year, Hansen will be hiring two new employees to cover more of a steadily increasing demand. But mass production is not a goal in itself. It has always been important to increase production carefully to ensure protection of the quality.

"Development of a new product and building up of the market demand both time and money. Among other things, I have invested considerably in samples for the restaurants, giving the chefs opportunities to test the products," says Hansen, who also has added his competence in several stockfish projects at Fiskeriforskning.

"To succeed, one must educate the customers, e.g. about how the product is produced, what its properties are, and possible applications. The marketing work has been necessary to get the stockfish moving up and onward. Here, too, Fiskeriforskning has been a good partner and source of inspiration on the way. This is true for both marketing issues and problems with product quality, such as shelf life", says Hansen.

The market is a challenge

He has vast experience from the fishing industry, with education as a Fisheries Economist and time of service as a fisherman. Hansen has many years behind him in various types of marketing work in organisations and companies.

He believes in stockfish as a product in the future, both in Norway and Italy. Stockfish is a very special product, with a distinctive production process, traditions and history. A product we can assert ourselves with in an increasingly globalised market. But this requires focus on product development and marketing work.

"Italy is an old and long-established market for stockfish, but the world and the food culture is changing. The challenge for us in Norway is to develop stockfish with a basis in the needs of the consumers. Without a solid focus on marketing work, I believe stockfish will become history in Italy."