By Dominik Lobkowicz
Though the company’s new location opened for business in March, Community Shellfish LLC owner Boe Marsh is still working on some of the building’s finishing touches. (D. Lobkowicz photo) |
After an 18-month process, Bremen’s Community Shellfish LLC moved into its brand new facility on Route 32 in mid-March, according to owner Boe Marsh.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Marsh said April 16.
Marsh shared his plans for the new plant in September 2013, but postponed construction for a number of months in 2014 over concerns with the fisheries, utility
costs, and the condition of Route 32.
The company primarily deals in fresh and shucked clams, cooked crab and lobster meat, and shrimp, Marsh said. They also deal in scallops, both wholesale and frozen
for later sale, he said.
Community Shellfish was formerly located at the Bremen Lobster Pound Co-Op, which Marsh said was a great place to be.
“We’re very close to the Bremen co-op and all the members,” he said. “We’ll be doing a lot of business with them.”
The company was somewhat limited by the facility at the co-op, Marsh said, because there was only space to process one product at a time.
Products must be processed in separate spaces due to contamination risks, Marsh said. The new 2,400- square-foot building has two separate processing rooms which can
quickly be cleaned and disinfected to switch between products, he said.
Along the same lines, five Community Shellfish employees are certified in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Points system,
which deals with issues such as control temperatures and preventing cross-contamination, Marsh said.
An ultraviolet light system also sanitizes the facility’s water supply, killing all viral and bacterial pathogens without adding any chemicals to the water, Marsh
said.
Waste from the facilities is all taken off-site by area farmers and a compost maker, he said.
On any given day, Marsh said, the company has 14 or 15 processors working along with seven support staff. Eventually, as many as 20 to 30 processors and four support
staff could be working between clams and clawed shellfish, he said.
The company has stuck by its mission, Marsh said, being a community business that sells products with value added (the processing) by local employees.
Though processing is underway, Marsh said some parts of the building are still under construction. Marsh himself was busy painting trim on the loading dock at the
time of his interview with The Lincoln County News.
One space, a 12-by-12-foot room, has been set aside in the building for direct sale of the company’s products to customers, as well as convenience items, but is not
yet complete.
The well-insulated building is geared toward being as energy efficient as possible, Marsh said.
The heat is electric, and a solar system is planned for the building’s roof. The concrete slab the building sits on works as a heat sink, helping the temperature
naturally stay close to 50 degrees year-round, Marsh said.
For more information on Community Shellfish, visit www.communityshellfish.com or call 529-2700.
