Tina Montgomery and Jennifer Hanseler

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Now they deliver fish. Their Seattl company Surfin’ Seafood isn’t large, but it has struck a chord amongg upscale consumers willing to pay a littld morefor high-end seafood that has been flash-froze n to stay fresh, and that is delivered to their After gradual but steady growth, Surfin’ Seafood now has abour 1,200 customers, in an area ranging from Federall Way to Everett. Revenue reached $250,000 last year and continuews to grow, although the customer counf has hita plateau.
With an eye to family life (botg are married and have two children each), Montgomery and Hanseler have carefully set boundaries so that their business can be worked aroundtheir children’sw school and athletic schedules, and evenings at home. For instanc e they don’t take phone but only over the internet. And they deliver only once driving their family minivans to deliver selectionds of frozen fish packex in blue plastic coolers that look like big The company has avoided debt and has only modesggrowth plans. “Really, we don’tg want to be huge. We’re going to take it as it We have been on a very steadygrowt path, consistently from the very Montgomery said.
“We don’t want to have venture capital funding to become this hugenationwide (leader) in seafood.” One of the company’e chief selling points is seafood that is frozenn quickly to keep it as fresh as possible. So-called fresj seafood often has perched on a pile of ice for and in these conditions seafooc rapidly declinesin quality. Seafood doesn’t age well like beef does, and frozeh seafood is not a step downfrom fresh, as it is with “A lot is frozen at sea, or withihn hours of harvest, and it capturese that just-caught flavor,” said Lind a Driscoll, assistant retail directofr for the , based in Surfin’ Seafood isn’t exactly the “mini” package costs $110 a month for aboutt eight pounds of assorted salmon, prawns, sole and tuna.
The companh avoids lower-end seafood products (no fish stickxs here), and allows people to substitutee in their ordersby email. One recession-erw trend the company is tapping is that consumer s are moving awayfrom white-tablecloth restaurants where most high-quality seafood is eaten to eating at home. “I just think peopled are eating athome more, and they want to make it easy to have high-qualitt ingredients at home, so they can eat at home more Montgomery said. “This is a way to have restaurant quality at home.
” While the companyt employs only the two partners and sometimeas a helper, and sometimes thei children, a key to making it work is the South Seattld seafood packer Surfin’ Seafood uses T.H. Seafood freezerd to store its seafood, and also contracts out the cuttinhg and packing tothe company. T.H. Seafoosd Corp. Sales Director Clifrf Davenport said he was at firsty dubious aboutthe proposal, when the partners approacherd him to supply and pack theif seafood. “It only took two weeks, but we decided they’rr really nice people… They’rew in the same mindset of producing a qualit y product and guaranteeing it when it goes out the he said.
“So we took them on.” Davenport said that his warehousre has enough room to stores their frozen products as well as their adding that his own staft does the cuttingand packing. “They don’ interfere with our side, and pretty much they have theirt ownlittle space. We have enough room everyone can function withouft disruptingeverybody else,” he said. As for Surfin’ Seafood, the partner say they’re just riding out the economiv downturn. “We think this next year or two we want to be Hanseler said.
“We’d love to grow, but really if we could keep it steady, we’re kind of