About

Dick Jennings loved his Grandfather’s land in Western North Carolina, covered with forests of oak, hickory, maple, and poplar, watered with two
rushing streams, and with 100 acres of reasonably flat land that could be cleared.

It was 1931 when Dick first walked these streams. He wasn’t barefoot, but his cheeks were tanned, and he was carrying a Prince Albert can of worms. This was unique compelling stuff for a little boy raised in Pittsburgh, compelling enough to bring the young veteran of WWII back to these mountains in 1948 to start the first commercial trout farm in the South.

This meant ignoring his deceased Father’s advice, “Don’t stay in these mountains, you’ll starve”, and it also meant dropping out of the Yale School of Engineering, where, until then, he had been an honor student. These imprudent acts were, to some extent, vindicated in the year 2001, when Dick Jennings was inducted into the Western North Carolina Agricultural Hall of Fame.

Thus, the Sunburst Trout Company was born.

Early on, supplying trout to anglers and sportsmen was okay, but the first quantum leap was to come in the late 60′s when the Eskimos in Iceland were noticed to be heart disease-free. They ate fish and developed almost no harmful blood lipids.This observation caused a lot of interest in ongoing research, and trout was to become a popular seafood. Dick had by now married Frances Clark, and had had three children. During the 70′s and early 80′s, he traveled quite a lot to learn the ins an outs and also the ups and downs, of processing and displaying trout to that new and promising market. In 1980, the Jennings Trout Farm was to become Sunburst Trout Company, LLC with the arrival of daughter, Sally, and her husband, Steve Eason.

They, along with Barbara Green, an able New Jersey transplant, moved forward. That “moving” meant years of hard work, and many disappointments. It also meant three additional well chosen production sites and a large processing facility. Dick became the in house sales rep to 8 to 10 upscale supermarket chains along the East Coast and many of the local elegant restaurants, including the renowned Biltmore Estate and the famous Grove Park Inn and Spa. By the late 20th century the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina were becoming a tourist attraction of unexpected proportions with a need for new and exciting ways to present trout.

In the late 90s, Sally’s and Steve’s sons Wes and Ben joined the family business full time to make yet another generation of Jennings and Easons to further push the envelope of creativity that young progressive folk always seem to achieve. To conitnue evolving and trying to get back to our roots in February 2011 we changed our name to Sunburst Trout Farms, and began using the logo you see today.

So the techniques of smoking, boneless fillets, processing red trout, and preparing caviar, all began to expand the horizons for commercial farming at Sunburst. Soon to follow were a pate (dip) and a trout burger (cake). Carefully portioned pieces of the largest fattest fillets and even a presentation known as “en papillote”, a French culinary concept, were also making a name for themselves.

Sunburst has perfected a cold smoked Scottish Trout using only top quality fillets for their new presentation. These preparations were practical only after adapting their production to a much larger trout. The resulting large trout are similar in look to salmon, but milder and more delicate.

Equipment to do the processing was largely purchased in Europe because of their know how. Trout farming began there during the American Civil War. A very important reason for the success of Sunburst Trout is their loyal and extremely skilled staff. Over half of the employees have worked there for 10-20 years.

The sophisticated equipment harnessed with the efficient staff lend credence to “doing it by hand with a technological twist” in the 21st century. Additionally, there is a growing network of mountain trout farms for sourcing their young but not yet full grown, fatted, and filled out. And finally, with the emergence of overnight delivery and cold packaging, their marketing has become more individualized and more widespread.

Bon Appetit!