Vernon and Lisa Lamping, co-owners

Airport Crab Pot Co.

770 S.E. 13th Place

Warrenton

503-338-0818

The Airport Crab Pot Co. is one of the North Coasts premier sources of the pots that keep the crab fleet and recreationists dipping. The company was recently featured on KGWs Grants Getaways along with Fishhawk Fisheries. It works by appointment, but its pots are also sold at the Costco in Warrenton. For more information, visit http://airportcrabpot.com

What is it you do?

Vernon: We manufacture commercial pots and sport pots for the commercial fishermen and the sport fishermen. We cover California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska. Our sport pots are 28-inch and 32-inch, and then our commercial generally runs from about 34-inch up to about 42-inch. Commercial pots weight anywhere from 50 to 120 pounds. Sport pots are about 35 to 40 (pounds).

How did you get started doing this?

Vernon: I started working for the company right after I graduated high school in 1975. I worked for the previous owners for 31 years, and they wanted to retire. We didnt know what else to do, so we bought the business

Lisa: in 2007. He was an employee here, and I had the photography studio. When this opportunity came up, we bought the business, so now we have two businesses. (We have) 15 to 20 (employees). We have our seasons. We go really crazy for August, kind of stay busy, and then it peters out and then were trying to get those fishermen to order early in August so we dont get our backs to the wall again in the fall. They tend to hang on to their money until the last minute then come in August and order everything.

Whats the volume of your business?

Lisa: Gross sales in a year, weve gone everywhere from $500,000 to $600,000 all the way up to $1.4 million. The crabbing industry is very volatile, so we had three or four years of really good business, two or three years of slower business, and it just changes all the time. (We could manufacture) anywhere from 4,000 to 7,000 (pots in a year).

How does the economy, weather or other factors affect your business?

Lisa: Its seasonal; thats the downside. And then the cost of supplies varies all the time. In this economy, its been real tough, because steel prices are fluctuating all the time. Some of our supplies we get recycled rubber are hard to find sometimes. And then good labor, finding people who will show up and put in an honest days work is hard, even with all the unemployment we have. And this is a unique skill. Not a lot of people know how to do this. Theres a training curve involved, and it takes some time to make some money, because they get paid by the piece. They get paid on volume, and thats kind of a weird concept for some people.

Vernon: Crab is kind of a luxury food, so if your economys down, you dont have the number of people buying the product, which in turn affects the fishermen, which in turn affects us. It just depends on the crab cycle, the economy, the price theyre getting for the crab.