Bloke Posted July 13, 2006 Report Share Posted July 13, 2006 I never really liked Smoked Salmon until i came to Shetland and tasted the Smokehouse brand, it was incomparable. Wish i'd known about this sooner and i could've squirreled away a couple of thousand packets in my cavernous chest freezer. Bloody shame really i'm always eulogising the produce from the Smokehouse to my folks and frends back in Glesga. Me old Dad will be disappointed that there'll be no Hamper of goodies this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheesht Posted July 13, 2006 Report Share Posted July 13, 2006 Pardon the pun, or don't if you like, but there is something fishy about all this is there not? A good going business get taken over and within months its closed down? They blame it on the price of salmon when there range has a whole lot more to offer than that. They have just recently bumped the overheads by puting very highly paid managers in charge and it has just slipped awy without any fight over a very short space of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigMouth Posted July 13, 2006 Report Share Posted July 13, 2006 .........They have just recently bumped the overheads by puting very highly paid managers in charge and it has just slipped awy without any fight over a very short space of time. Mmm - interesting thoughts. Did the managers lose their jobs too, or have they been found work elsewhere? I was disappointed to see the range no longer on sale in Somerfield. The competing products didn't. I hope those that no longer in work manage to find something without too much problem. Unemployment is not a good place to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radarman Posted July 13, 2006 Report Share Posted July 13, 2006 They have just recently bumped the overheads by puting very highly paid managers in charge . Where are you getting this info from? Any figures here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted July 14, 2006 Report Share Posted July 14, 2006 Pardon the pun, or don't if you like, but there is something fishy about all this is there not? A good going business get taken over and within months its closed down? They blame it on the price of salmon when there range has a whole lot more to offer than that. They have just recently bumped the overheads by puting very highly paid managers in charge and it has just slipped awy without any fight over a very short space of time. I'd tend to agree, especially as it's not even a full two months yet since the founders and original management finally relinquished all connections with the firm. I predict, that after an appropriate period of "mourning" a Phoenix will rise, probably not a million miles from the Lerrik nort harbir, which will have copious amounts of Shetland oil money thrown at it as "a potentially immensely profitable and exciting new development". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
north Posted July 14, 2006 Report Share Posted July 14, 2006 Maybe they could build a marine smokehouse on the Norrtanic? Then they could realy maximise the investment! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frances144 Posted July 14, 2006 Report Share Posted July 14, 2006 Sad day for Skeld. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheesht Posted July 14, 2006 Report Share Posted July 14, 2006 They have just recently bumped the overheads by puting very highly paid managers in charge . Where are you getting this info from? Any figures here? Sources from within my boy. Facts. Catch bought the business when, we have to assume, it was making money, otherwise why the hell would you invest in it? Then, after a very short time, it is making huge losses and they blame it all on the price of salmon.........eh? It's a poor deal for a rural area where jobs are scarce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustMe Posted July 14, 2006 Report Share Posted July 14, 2006 shetlander wrote As to the future (and this probably applies to most parts of rural Shetland and not just the Westside) it’s a difficult one. Economics and transportation are always going to be the main drivers in determining where big commodity producing (which also tend to be big job creating) businesses decide to locate or are going to be more viable – and in a Shetland context that more than likely favours Lerwick and the surrounding area. That is why Shetland does not need "big business" especially in the rural areas. Instead we need small enterprises perhaps just providing work for one family. Locally grown food developed as a premium product.....fresher and better tasting than the supermarket stuff.......is one area where there is room for new businesses. For example with improvements in green energy over the past decade it should now be possible to have locally grown salad leaves and tomatoes with strawberries to follow every day of the year. As for the Shetland Smokehouse it seems to me that the rise in salmon costs will have hit every other firm producing a quality end product so the closure has to be due to something else. On the management side I wonder if the Hammonds were working for too little return and salaried managers getting the proper rate for the job turned the firm into a loss maker, I wonder if the new management were just no good and of course my "conspiracy theory" antenna are twitching like mad about a possible new smokehouse just north of Lerwick.....though in that case I wonder if the benefits of liquidation really win over simply relocating the Smokehouse to Lerwick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radarman Posted July 14, 2006 Report Share Posted July 14, 2006 They have just recently bumped the overheads by puting very highly paid managers in charge . Where are you getting this info from? Any figures here? Sources from within my boy. Facts. Catch bought the business when, we have to assume, it was making money, otherwise why the hell would you invest in it? Then, after a very short time, it is making huge losses and they blame it all on the price of salmon.........eh? It's a poor deal for a rural area where jobs are scarce I agree with you entirely, it's a shambles and there's definetly more to it, however you're claim that new managers were brought in is incorrect. The new management that took over from Dave & Debbie Hammond had been employees of smokehouse/catch for two years previous, to suggest that tham coming in on increased wages is nothing more that hearsay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frances144 Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 "Hans J Marter 15 July, 2006 SHETLAND Islands Council is setting up a response team to help rescue salmon processor Shetland Smokehouse, after it was put into voluntary liquidation on Thursday. Seventeen jobs are on the line at one of the few Shetland food companies with an internationally recognised brand name. Yesterday (Friday) it was announced that Michael Reid of Aberdeen legal firm Meston Reid & Co has been appointed provisional liquidator. The council's head of development Willie Shannon said: "Given the importance of secondary processing and how keen we are to promote it, it would be a great pity to let this go without doing all we can. "We are putting together a small team straight away, consisting of people with significant experience of the industry together with people with more general business experience to assess the situation over the next two to three weeks, and to come up with some options over the best way forward. "We are going to do that in co-operation with the liquidator." In January 2004, the family run Shetland Smokehouse was bought by pelagic processor Shetland Catch in a bid to gain access to a brand name and to access the company's expertise in secondary processing. Earlier this week, Shetland Catch said high salmon prices were the main reason for applying for voluntary liquidation." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Styles Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 (**MOD EDIT**) 1. You agree, through your use of the Shetlink forums, that you will not post (or hyperlink to) any material or use language which is defamatory, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, inciting of violence, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or in violation of ANY UK law. Personal attacks, inflammatory posts, harrassment, impersonation and trolling will not be tolerated. Please note the above condition. Please do not post speculation on this forum. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pooks Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 Personally I don't know the ins and outs of Shetland Catch nor Shetland Smokehouse but blaming the collapse of what must be one of Shetlands most marketable products on 'High salmon prices' has to be a joke. It costs me a fortune to fill my car with petrol but that doesn't stop me from doing it to get me to and from work and take the boy to football practise etcetera etcetera. If everybody had this attitude then they wouldn't leave home in the morning. To me it seems as though there has to be an ulterior motive. I may be wrong, and I am quite often wrong but surely to let one of Shetlands most marketable products go down the pan is a total and utter piece of hopeless mismanagement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breeksy Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 but surely to let one of Shetlands most marketable products go down the pan is a total and utter piece of hopeless mismanagement. Some might say hopless - other might think it deliberate.... I know which side of the fence I fall on, sadly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeriebryan Posted July 16, 2006 Report Share Posted July 16, 2006 A few links.... http://www.shetlandsmokehouse.co.uk/ http://www.fishupdate.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/4508 http://www.shetlandmarine.com/2006/03%20Fish%20Processing/smokehouse_turns_to_ashes.htm http://www.shetlandmarine.com/2006/03%20Fish%20Processing/sic_race_to_help_smokehouse.htm http://www.shetlandtoday.co.uk/Shetlandtimes/content_details.asp?ContentID=19682 http://www.shetlandtoday.co.uk/Shetlandtimes/content_details.asp?ContentID=19712 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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