It may not be big news to those who don't salivate over the thought of lutefisk or pickled herring, but there was a king salmon-size change atop the country's herring industry with events inside a north Minneapolis business office this week.

The president of Olsen Fish Company, Roger Dorff, announced he's stepping down Sunday.

If the company's name doesn't come right to mind here's a bit of background:

Olaf Frederick Olsen and John W. Norberg founded the company in Minneapolis in 1910 and the company has been soaking fish downtown ever since. Through the decades, the company has become the world's largest producer of lutefisk, that symbol of Minnesota's Nordic roots at the root of many a state joke.

But check this out: The company processes in excess of 500,000 pounds annually.

They process the fish under three names, Olsen, Viking and Kemps brands, and have their own secret recipe and, in the mid-1990s, began processing a precooked lutefisk dinner with mashed potatoes and peas.

Dorff has headed the company for 16 years and will be succeeded by Chris Dorff as president.

Compiled by Parker Hodges, Staff Writer