Why Our Salt Costs More

Very simply, the biggest reason our salt costs more than other brands is because the way we make it costs more.

Here’s some more reasons on why that is:

  • We use only pure Anglesey seawater to make our salt. We don’t buy in or add in salt from anywhere else. Adding cheap salt would certainly bring the cost down but it’s not something we’re going to do. Not now, not ever.
  • In order to retain the beautiful shape and structure of our salt crystals, we hand harvest every single crystal from shallow crystallisers every day. Each day’s salt is then hand finished by rinsing it in concentrated brine until it tastes and looks just right.
  • We have great people working for us and we want to make sure they are properly rewarded for that they do. We therefore pay our staff fair wages and regularly invest in the best training.
  • We are big fans of supporting our nearby businesses and companies so our ‘local business preferred’ policy means we will pay up to a 10% premium to use a local supplier. Being part of this bustling community, we are also involved in numerous community initiatives and do our bit helping run them – from farmers markets to food clusters and community groups.
  • We use ethical and fair trade suppliers wherever possible. Even if that means we sometimes have to pay a bit more.
  • For our flavoured blends, we always buy the best quality ingredients to mix in with our salt. No point mixing the world’s best sea salt with second class ingredients.
  • Having invested in getting Soil Association Organic Certification, we’re proud to say we are organically certified. This means we don’t use harsh chemicals to clean our equipment. While in some cases, using chemicals would be far easier and much cheaper, it wouldn’t be organic. And when it comes to cleaning, there’s nothing more organic than good old fashioned elbow grease.
  • Every year, we aim to reduce our carbon footprint for every kilogramme we produce. If we produce more, we reduce more. It’s a balance we’re willing to shell out for.
  • We will always pay extra to buy packaging from a sustainable source where at all possible.
  • In terms of equipment, we’ve recently invested in solar panels and use stainless steel shovels in a food safe environment (most sea salt is harvested with mechanical machinery outside. We used hand power inside specially built facilities.) We think long term when we invest in equipment, so while it is initially expensive, it means we won’t need to replace it as often.
  • We pay the Queen for our licence to have a pipeline into the sea to get our sea water.
  • Since Halen Môn operates in an area of outstanding natural beauty, our award winning building with environmental credentials costs more than the average industrial shed.
  • We’ve developed our own specialist traceability software system that lets us see at the push of a button where the million containers of sea salt went in the last 2 years and who made it with a sample kept every day for next 6 years.
  • We are not driven by grants which make our factories cheaper and mean less needs to be charged. So while we pay more out our pocket, we are more sustainable overall.
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