A family-owned smokehouse with a focus on high quality

Mikals Laks AS was established on 5 April 2000. We are a family-owned smokehouse that produces high-quality smoked and cured salmon for food-conscious customers. The family has a long-standing tradition of working in the marine industry, fishing and fish processing. Traceability is emphasised at all stages from roe to table. We only use the highest quality raw materials, along with natural products such as juniper berries, beech chippings, sea salt and sugar, to create a gourmet product.

The factory

Our factory is located in Skiftun in the Hjelmeland municipality, and satisfies all the requirements for a modern fish processing plant. We are approved exporters. Approximately 10 per cent of our sales are exported, mainly to Germany, France, Switzerland and Austria. We deliver our products as whole sides or in small packets, and in fixed or variable weights according to the customer’s wishes and needs.

Opening hours all weekdays: 08:00–15:30.

Illustrasjonskart over Ryfylke og Stavanger

THE STORY OF MIKALS LAKS AS (as told by the owner, Mikal O. Viga)

The sea has been the lifeblood of the Viga family. My father, grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather have all lived by the sea and were part of a long family tradition of smoking fish. I was two-and-a-half the first time I joined a sprat fishing trip on the Jøsenfjord, and fish became an important part of my upbringing. My family began breeding trout and salmon in the Norwegian municipality of Hjelmeland in the 1980s.

When I started working for my family’s fish farming company, Kroken Fisk As, I received my wages in salmon. The salmon was smoked in a smokehouse I had built myself. We refined the fish using old recipes and traditional craftsmanship, and packed them in the cellar. Our customers were neighbours and a few tourists. One customer who bought smoked salmon worked at a Swiss branch of what was then the Hafslund Nycomed company. The salmon must have been a big hit because one day towards the end of the 1990s, the company director rang from Switzerland and ordered 300 kg of smoked salmon. Without an export licence, the first year went really well and the orders doubled for the year after. But when the order increased to over a 1,000 kg and the fish was stopped at the Swiss border, it dawned on us that this was no longer just a hobby. This marked the start of a serious commitment to developing our business further.

Mikals Laks AS was established on 5 April 2000, and is a family-owned smokehouse that produces high-quality smoked and cured salmon for food-conscious customers. The company’s modern processing facilities are located in Skiftun in Hjelmeland municipality. Aside from our main market in Norway, we export to many countries including Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, France and Austria, and we also make deliveries to Asia.

The process itself starts with the freshest and best raw, natural materials which are traceable at all stages, such as fresh juniper and beech chips, salt and plenty of time. Our family recipes are steeped in tradition and date back to the 1870s.

Our main products today are: juniper-smoked salmon, hot-smoked salmon, juniper-smoked trout, aquavit-marinated salmon and cognac-marinated salmon.

We have received a number of prizes and distinctions for the quality of our products:

2023 Gold in the Norwegian Championship (NM) open class hot-smoked trout
2023 Silver in the Norwegian Championship (NM) for cold-smoked salmon
2023 Silver in the Norwegian Championship (NM) for hot-smoked salmon
2023 Silver in the Norwegian Championship (NM) for cold-smoked trout
2023 Bronze in the Norwegian Championship (NM) for cold-smoked trout smoked on apple shavings
2021 Gold in the Norwegian Championship (NM) for cold-smoked salmon
2021 Gold in the Norwegian Championship (NM) for cold-smoked trout smoked on apple shavings
2021 Silver in the Norwegian Championship (NM) for hot-smoked salmon
Winner – Det Norske Måltid 2019 – Absolute tradition
2019 Gold in the Norwegian Championship (NM) for Absolut Tradition
2019 Silver in the Norwegian Championship (NM) for cold-smoked wild salmon
2019 Bronze in the Norwegian Championship (NM) for hot-smoked salmon
2019 Bronze in the Norwegian Championship (NM) for cold-smoked trout
2019 Bronze in the Norwegian Championship (NM) open class
2017 Gold in the Norwegian Championship (NM) for cold-smoked salmon
2017 Silver in the Norwegian Championship (NM) for hot-smoked salmon
2017 Silver in the Norwegian Championship (NM) open class for horseradish and dill marinated salmon
2015 Gold in the Norwegian Championship (NM) for hot-smoked salmon
2015 Silver in the Norwegian Championship (NM) for cold-smoked salmon
2013 Gold in the Norwegian Championship (NM) open class for cold-smoked peppered salmon
2013 Silver in the Norwegian Championship (NM) for hot-smoked salmon
2011 Gold in the Norwegian Championship (NM) for hot-smoked salmon
2010 Winner of the Rogaland County competition, “The Norwegian Meal”
(DET NORSKE MÅLTID)
2009 Gold in the Norwegian Championship (NM) for cold-smoked salmon
2009 Silver in the Norwegian Championship (NM) for hot-smoked salmon
2009 Bronze in the Norwegian Championship (NM) for cured salmon
2008 Winner of the Coop Food Prize (Matpris)
2006 Winner of The Happy Food (GLADMAT) prize
The “Spesialitet” brand