Press Release and Media Links

Press Release and Media Links

How one Yorkshire Family are heading an Ethical Caviar Revolution

In a quiet village deep in the Yorkshire countryside, three generations of the Addey family are producing World-Class Caviar in a way that is sustainable, cruelty-free and has conservation at its heart.

Headed up by Son and Father team Mark and John Addey, KC Caviar is named after Mark’s daughter Kacey, who is learning the ropes while she studies. 

The family believe that the unique process they use is the way forward for sustainable Caviar farming. They are on a mission to revolutionise the way Sturgeon are farmed and help conserve this ancient species, whose existence hangs in the balance.

“I wanted to start breeding sturgeon myself,” explained Mark. “I knew of the conservation issues and the massive reduction in numbers since the 1970s and I wanted to do my bit to replenish stocks and support the varieties which are vanishing from our world.”

But Mark faced a Catch-22. The obvious way to fund a Farm would be to sell the Caviar. Traditionally though, Caviar is retrieved by killing the sturgeon and that was against everything he wanted to do.

So Mark and John spent 3 years looking for an alternative which produced a high quality product without hurting the mother fish, meaning that they would be able to retire them early to protected lakes and rivers.

Their research eventually led them to a process developed and patented by the AWI* in Germany - a revolutionary, no-harm method which they now use exclusively under licence.

Now in their 3rd year of production, KC Caviar is currently the UK’s only operational Caviar Farm. 

The Caviar itself is a regular feature on top restaurant and hotel menus across the UK - it’s even made its first appearance on the Great British Menu!

Best of all for Mark, their breeding programme is starting to bear fruit, meaning KC are close to being the first ever UK farm to produce wholly British Caviar from their own sturgeon.

Following a landmark partnership with ALDI which saw KC’s Caviar stocked in all 750 UK stores for Christmas 2018, they’re now looking for like-minded Farmers and investors to help them roll out the revolution.

“Through our sister company, Dariqus, we’re planning to help start 5 new Ethical Caviar Farms over the next 18 months,” says John. “We’ve put together a full training and support package based on our 8 years’ hands-on experience of setting up and running an Ethical Caviar Farm, producing Caviar from live sturgeon and promoting the end product. Right now, there’s no-one else in the World who can match our expertise in this field.” 

“We’d love to share the success we’ve had with others.”

END

 

  • The AWI is the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, based in Germany. You can find more about how KC Caviar came to use the AWI’s patented process here.

 

Notes to Editors

 For more information about KC Caviar, contact the Farm on 01977 684746, email info@kccaviar.co.uk or visit kccaviar.co.uk 

 

For more information about Dariqus and the new Ethical Caviar Farms, contact John Addey on 07523 044404, email john@dariqus.com or visit dariqus.com 

 

About Caviar, Sturgeon and Conservation

Caviar is the roe of the Sturgeon, the world’s largest freshwater fish. As a species, Sturgeon are virtually unchanged since the earliest fossil records and can live for over 100 years, but overfishing, poaching, pollution and habitat degradation have taken a terrible toll.

Despite a worldwide ban on wild caviar in 2006, the IUCN say 85% of all Sturgeon remain at risk of extinction, making them more critically endangered than any other group of species on earth. 

“Being given special protection led to major advances in fish farming methods,” says John Addey. 

“Now there are Caviar farms set up around the world - but still 3 million farmed sturgeon are needlessly killed each year to meet global demand.”

Testimonials

“Sustainability is incredibly important, but even more it is that KC Caviar is a brilliant and delicious product.”

Tommy Banks, The Black Swan at Oldstead (Michelin Star)

“This is the best Caviar I have ever tasted. Going down really well with the customers.”

Andrew Pern, The Star In at Harome (Michelin Star)

“Better than any Caviar I have ever tasted.”

James MacKenzie, The Pipe and Glass, Beverley (Michelin Star)

“Delicious!”

Rosemary Shrager

“I love the story about this place in Leeds that does this… I think it’s really important for the sustainability of the Caviar industry that there has to be a change…”

Matt Burgess, Caravan Restaurants talking to The Food Busker

 

Useful Links

kccaviar.co.uk

dariqus.com

The IUCN: 

https://www.iucn.org/content/sturgeon-more-critically-endangered-any-other-group-species 

The AWI:

https://www.awi.de/en.html

 

Media Coverage Links

Back to the Land

Woman & Home

The Food Busker

Yorkshire Post

The Guardian

Food Unwrapped