Portland, Maine’s Ocean Approved Seaweed Products begins further expansion

Posted On: August 16, 2010

Like so many entrepreneurial ventures with food products, Ocean Approved frozen seaweed started with a pot simmering on a kitchen stove. Now, with a $95,000 NOAA Small Business Innovation Research Program Phase I Grant and an experimental lease to raise seaweed near Little Chebeague Island, the first lease of its kind in the U.S., the company, which has grown steadily since its inception, is poised to move towards large-scale commercial production of seaweed.

In the first year of business, Tolleff Olson, the company’s founder, did all the work, gathering, processing and marketing. Two years ago, he was joined by business partner Paul Dobbins, who runs the office. According to Dobbins, Olsen is “the visionary” and does everything else. They now have 10 part-time employees.

During the past year, sales have more than doubled. At first, Olsen sold the seaweed products to four Portland stores; that has increased to 17 Whole Foods Markets and 72 specialty and natural foods stores, including two venues in Los Angeles. In June, as a result of contacts made while serving their seaweed at the NOAA Fish Fry for NOAA employees and guests in Washington, D.C., Ocean Approved gained orders from a chain of natural food stores in the D.C. area.

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