Business View Magazine | August 2019

37 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE AUGUST 2019 pioneered working with employees from other countries for the processing industry down here.” Five years ago, the company put in a high-pressure lobster processing machine – a multi-million- dollar investment to get it into the Japanese market because there was a demand in Japan for that high quality of product. The machine pressurizes the lobster shell, so the meat comes off much cleaner. It was a costly, but necessary, investment to get into a specialty market. Looking to the future, Belliveau says, “Down the road, we want to have more automation. We want the bulk to remain as primary processing, but I’d like to see a percentage shift to more specialty lobster products. “Our lobster facility is almost like a monument in Shediac. It’s been here since 1952. The Maillets are a great family and really good to their employees. At Shediac Lobster Shop, we’re very conscious of quality, it’s imprinted in our mentality. That’s why we deal with companies like the Red Lobsters of the world. We have a huge, 58-ton cement lobster statue right next door to our plant, and people come by the busload to get their picture taken with it. We can’t put a food truck out there – it’s a bylaw– but we do have a nice eatery nearby, ‘The Big Lobster Hut,’ which I happen to run. And we also own VIP Seafood that’s more retail- oriented for the general population; you can find those products at Costco. And Shediac, itself, is a great town. A touristy, fun area – like Cape Cod, or Muskoka, in New Brunswick. Everyone is invited to come and sample what we have to offer!” SHEDI AC LOBSTER SHOP LTD .