Utah-based food storage company still going strong

SALT LAKE CITY — After Y2K, the food storage industry was hurting because there was no disaster and people had already stocked up on food storage, said Craig Fairclough, founder, sales director and former owner of Everest Mountain Freeze Dried Foods

The Y2K scare had a lot of people buying food storage. But after the potential disaster had come and gone, food storage companies had something else to worry about, said Fairclough. But his company didn't.

Fairclough started the food storage company in 1993 while he was working in the spice industry. A man asked Fairclough to help him with his food storage business. When the man stopped doing business with Fairclough, he left him unpaid for his services, said Fairclough. But Fiarclough had gotten a taste of the food storage industry and he wanted more. He then started attending food storage seminars and quickly started Everest Mountain Freeze Dried Foods.

Fairclough said the company was able to survive the food storage industry's dramatic decline because the company markets to people who go camping and backpacking in addition to those preparing for emergencies. The company sells long-term food storage in cans that can last upwards of 20 years, but it also sells individual pouches for campers that last about seven years.

Since the company's birth in 1993, it now has about 25 employees, sells products across the U.S. and does humanitarian work across the globe, said Fairclough.

EMAIL: bbullock@desnews.com