The History of SeaBear Smokehouse

"He came home and poured concrete over my tomato plants in the backyard. Didn't tell me he was going to do it, he just decided he was going to build a smokehouse back there. I was so angry with him!"

That's how Marie Savage, wife of Anacortes fisherman Tom Savidge, begins the story of how SeaBear -- originally Specialty Seafoods -- was born.  In her backyard ... in Anacortes, Washington ... way back in 1957.

Tom, Marie and their young daughter Joann sailed into Anacortes a few years earlier aboard their historical wooden fishing boat, The Messenger.  After Tom built his backyard smokehouse, he began smoking wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest tradition, using his family recipe, and selling it to local restaurants and taverns. Tom's smoked salmon became quite popular and word spread.

Marie shared with us how a few of the taverns Tom sold to asked if he could make the salmon last longer, particularly out of refrigeration, so they could have more flexibility in how to sell it in their establishments.  Tom was apparently a very inventive guy, and so rather than looking at typical ways to preserve the fish longer through alterations to his smoking method, he embarked on a journey to create packaging which would keep the smoked salmon fresh without refrigeration.  Ultimately he took the principles of canning and applied them to a flexible pouch material.  With that, what later became SeaBear's signature Gold Seal Pouch was created!  Tom even got a patent for this new package innovation in 1971, which the company enjoyed for years.

From Backyard to National

After Tom passed away in a fishing accident, Marie Savage sold Specialty Seafoods to Pete Cleland.  Pete had a vision for how this shelf stable smoked could make a wonderful gourmet gift.

To bring that vision to life, he worked with Alcoa Aluminum to create a beautiful gold pouch (Tom's was clear), and a Seattle designer to develop our award winning angled gift box, which remains today a part of the SeaBear signature.  Pete began selling through direct mail, and to several premier national retailers, including Bloomingdales of New York.  These moves helped the smokehouse grow, and gave people all across the country the opportunity to experience Pacific Northwest Smoked Salmon, one of the world's truly great food traditions.

A New Name, & Moving Beyond The Gift

Eventually the Harang family from Alaska and the Garvey family from Seattle became owners of Specialty Seafoods, which they renamed SeaBear in 1994. The same firm that created the Starbucks logo was used to rebrand the smokehouse.

From there, as the smokehouse grew, we expanded well beyond signature smoked salmon to introduce a wide range of artisan seafood for delicious home dining, entertaining, and gift giving:

• Premier wild salmon dinner fillets

• Our beloved Fresh & Wild program

• SeaBear's innovative Ready To Eat line of wild seafood in the TakeAnywhere Pouch.

• Partnering with our friends at Keyport, a 5-generation family operation who are the clear leaders in Alaska King crab fishing, to offer premier crab

• Partnering with a local pasta maker to develop a line of seafood pasta

• Our unique Treat The Troops program, where we've partnered with customers to send over 35,000 salmon pouches to military deployed around the world!

And, in 2008, the Gerard & Dominique line of premier smoked salmon lox became part of the SeaBear family, too.

Along the way we've been proud to be featured on Good Morning America, on Forbes.com, an episode of King of Queens, and by many other media.  But our whole smokehouse team is most proud to share the traditions of our region with customers in all 50 states.

New customers discover us every day, and we have long-time SeaBear fans who have been with us for decades!  We look forward to continuing serving all of them, and are excited for all that the future holds for this little smokehouse in Anacortes!