SEATTLE, Sept. 22, 2009 -- There is one industry the
recession hasn't hurt: gourmet salt. In fact, natural
gourmet sea salt is in such high demand, SaltWorks Inc.
(http://www.seasalt.com) has just doubled the size of its
warehouse and factory - from 35,000 square feet to 70,000.

What's driving the company's growth at a time when economic
recovery is moving slowly at best? SaltWorks founder and
president Mark Zoske attributes his company's
record-breaking year - sales for 2009 are already higher
than in years past by a healthy margin - to two factors:
consumer demand and newly expanded manufacturing capacity.

"Most natural and gourmet food manufacturing companies have
already made the switch to sea salt. Now the rest of the
food manufacturers and restaurant chains are moving in that
direction as well," Zoske explained. "They're responding to
the rapidly growing consumer demand for healthy, natural,
sustainable foods that taste good. People today are much
more aware of the health benefits and superior taste of sea
salt."

On the supply side, SaltWorks has the unique distinction of
being the only gourmet salt company that stocks millions of
pounds of salt for immediate delivery - up to four million
pounds with the recently added warehouse space. That's an
attractive feature to the ingredients and manufacturing
markets, which don't have the luxury of waiting for their
orders to be filled in small batches.

The SaltWorks expansion has also allowed the company to
install additional state-of-the-art packaging and processing
equipment, an in-house product testing lab and large-volume
blending systems. The additional space and equipment enable
SaltWorks employees to fill and label 20,000 jars of gourmet
salt per eight-hour shift. And because SaltWorks packages
sea salt under its own label and also for other companies
under the SaltWorks private-label program, the company has
added custom equipment, including sifters and color sorters,
that will consistently produce the highest-quality gourmet
sea salts available.

"I founded SaltWorks seven years ago to share my love of
gourmet sea salt with the world, and the world seems to
agree that ordinary table salt just can't measure up to sea
salt," Zoske commented. "With this expansion, SaltWorks will
continue to meet the growing demand for gourmet sea salt."