Project Overview
Sea Quester Farms seeks to design, test, and refine a pilot-scale, standardized processing system for three Alaska mariculture products: the Salmon + Kelp Burger, freeze-dried kelp fronds, and freeze-dried bull kelp rings. These products have been successfully tested through direct-to-consumer sales at the Haines Fair, Juneau Public Market, NOAA Celebration of Seafood in Washington D.C. and Sea Quester Farms’ food cart, demonstrating clear consumer demand through consistent sell-through and repeat interest. In addition,multiple restaurants have expressed interest in placing wholesale orders, and food distributors have indicated readiness to distribute once consistent volume, quality, and pricing can be achieved. However, current production methods rely on slow, labor-intensive steps—particularly dewatering, mixing, bagging, and packaging—that prevent the products from reaching profitable margins at scale. In collaboration with Barnacle Foods, this project will develop efficient, food-safe processing workflows, acquire essential small equipment (under $5,000 per unit), validate pilot production runs, and establish a cost model and KPI framework to support commercial viability. The project will conclude with commercial-ready products, 4–5 letters of support from buyers, and submission to the 2025 Symphony of Seafood competition.