Golden Valley's facility destroyed by fire
Golden Valley's facility destroyed by fire
A massive fire the afternoon of March 13 completely gutted the 40,000- square-foot facility of Golden Valley Specialty Mushrooms Ltd., one of North America's larger growers of organic specialty mushrooms in Pitt Meadows, BC, about 25 miles east of Vancouver.
Tony Chan, the firm's manager, estimated that the fire, which fortunately spared the company's offices and the family home, which are also located on the property, caused upwards of $1 million in damage to the building that housed its growing area and machinery, effectively putting the company out of commission for the foreseeable future.
"We are still waiting on our insurance and to see what options are good for us, but we do hope to rebuild," Mr. Chan told The Produce News. "Unfortunately we do not have a timeline yet; we don't know how long the insurance process is going to take. It could be a few months or it could be a few weeks. We are thinking if we rebuild, we are still going to have to rebuild the entire building itself and order machinery because we had a very complex process and everything is gone. I would say minimum a half a year."
The company, which was founded in 1994 and is owned by Mr. Chan's father, primarily shipped Oyster and baby Oyster mushrooms under the "Golden Valley" label to retailers, wholesalers and restaurants in the Vancouver area as well as to wholesalers in Edmonton and Montreal, he said.
The cause of the fire is still unknown and is being investigated by local authorities.
Tony Chan, the firm's manager, estimated that the fire, which fortunately spared the company's offices and the family home, which are also located on the property, caused upwards of $1 million in damage to the building that housed its growing area and machinery, effectively putting the company out of commission for the foreseeable future.
"We are still waiting on our insurance and to see what options are good for us, but we do hope to rebuild," Mr. Chan told The Produce News. "Unfortunately we do not have a timeline yet; we don't know how long the insurance process is going to take. It could be a few months or it could be a few weeks. We are thinking if we rebuild, we are still going to have to rebuild the entire building itself and order machinery because we had a very complex process and everything is gone. I would say minimum a half a year."
The company, which was founded in 1994 and is owned by Mr. Chan's father, primarily shipped Oyster and baby Oyster mushrooms under the "Golden Valley" label to retailers, wholesalers and restaurants in the Vancouver area as well as to wholesalers in Edmonton and Montreal, he said.
The cause of the fire is still unknown and is being investigated by local authorities.
