Monday, July 18, 2011

Mike and the crowd at Easy Freeze, Inc. - Valdez, Alaska

Fish Processing?  For a lot of people, when they hear those words, the first thing that comes to mind is a vision of working on the "slime line" when they were a kid. It's hard, dirty, slick but profitable work. 

There's another kind of fish processing that's provides a valid service to the general public, especially to the tourist trade in Alaska!  People come to Alaska from all over the world to catch fish and when they do and want to transport their catch back home it gets a bit slippery to do so! 

Unfamiliar with Valdez and the fishing hot spots in town, I set out to ask a couple of the locals where I should go, what the salmon counts were that day, etc.  Each time I was told to head over to Easy Freeze, Inc. to talk to the "experts".

Walking into the business, I greeted by three smiling faces...two human on one completely white and canine!  The owner Mike and his two helpers were full of current information and readily supplied local locations for Pink Salmon and Grayling fishing.  Mike had the word on the fish counts, what they were biting on and even offered to sell me some cured salmon eggs that they process right there in the shop. Mike's knowledge led me to have a very productive day fishing and I ended up just one short of my limit on Pinks!

I love it when I meet people who are sincerely compassionate about customer service, who interact with the general public and genuinely want to people to enjoy their stay and time in their local town! 

Have you every noticed that businesses owned and operated by people like that are very successful?  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand why.

Mike started Easy Freeze, Inc. over 15 years ago when he ambled into town and saw a need to support the tourists who flock to Valdez to fish.  Here's a man, who followed his heart to Alaska, found a niche market, has cut up, packaged, processed and shipped tons of fish back home for happy anglers.   

Easy Freeze, Inc. http://www.easyfreezeinc.com/index.asp is where you want to go to find out who's catching fish and where in Valdez.  Mike's right and you'll be back to see him with your catch!