Heather Kelly holds up a pack of dehydrated salmon chowder in the Heather’s Choice warehouse. The meal is made with Alaska sockeye salmon, the only ingredient they’re able to source locally. Heather’s Choice makes and packages dehydrated meals, catering to the outdoor adventure market with an eye toward health and quality.
Founder Heather Kelly recently partnered with a national sales company that represents popular brands like Smartwool and LifeStraw to expand the reach of her products nationally. But Heather’s Choice was already selling 90% of its products to the Lower 48. And Kelly says as they continue to grow, she and her business partner have had to consider relocating.
And unfortunately, even though we’ve been really well supported here, whether it’s through Launch Alaska, or the Alaska Accelerator Fund, or just the startup community here, there’s definitely a tipping point at which it’s like, okay, if most of your customers are not in Alaska, it doesn’t necessarily make sense to continue to manufacture here.