Kona Blue moves headquarters to Calif.
STORY SUMMARY »
Kona Blue Water Farms LLC is moving its Honolulu headquarters to California as it also looks to double its cage capacity in Kona.
The company said yesterday that it is moving its administrative functions to California by the end of next month to have better oversight of its supply chain and be more responsive to customer demands. The change affects seven employees.
The company is also looking to boost production of its Kona Kampachi-brand Hawaiian yellowtail by increasing the size of its eight submersible net pens off the Big Island from 3,000 cubic meters to 6,200 cubic meters.
FULL STORY »
By Jennifer Sudick
jsudick@starbulletin.com
Aquaculture company Kona Blue Water Farms LLC is moving its Honolulu headquarters to San Francisco, even as it looks to double its capacity here.
The company, which farms sushi-grade Kona Kampachi-brand Hawaiian yellowtail in pens off the Big Island, said yesterday that it is moving all administrative offices to California by the end of next month to be more responsive to customer demands.
"About 80 percent of our total sales are to the mainland, and about 20 percent are here in Hawaii," said Kelly Coleman, vice president of marketing. "We felt that that would give us better oversight of our supply chain. It would also make it a bit easier to raise capital because we are going into a new period of raising funds."
The company is currently conducting a draft environmental assessment on a project that would more than double its cage capacity in Kona from 3,000 cubic meters to 6,200 cubic meters.
Coleman said the company is also looking at long-term expansion plans into Mexico's Sea of Cortez.
"We are just in a researching and fact-finding mode for future growth and future expansion," she said. "It's several years off."
The new headquarters, at 155 Montgomery St. in San Francisco, will open on Dec. 1 with four employees. Up to seven of the company's 45 employees, including CEO Michael Wink, will move to the office by the end of the year, Coleman said.