Tina Montgomery and Jennifer Hanseler

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Now they deliver fish. Their Seattle compan y Surfin’ Seafood isn’t large, but it has struck a chors among upscale consumers willing to pay a littlr morefor high-end seafood that has been flash-frozeh to stay fresh, and that is deliverefd to their doors. Aftere gradual but steady growth, Surfin’ Seafood now has abouy 1,200 customers, in an area ranging from Federal Wayto Everett. Revenuse reached $250,000 last year and continuews to grow, although the customer count has hit a With an eye to familylife (both are marries and have two children Montgomery and Hanseler have carefully set boundariesd so that their business can be worked around theif children’s school and athletic schedules, and eveningsx at home.
For instance they don’t take phond orders, but only over the internet. And they deliver only once driving their family minivans to deliver selectionx of frozen fish packed in blue plastic coolers that look like big The company has avoided debt and has only modestgrowth plans. we don’t want to be huge. We’re going to take it as it We have been on a very steadygrowtg path, consistently from the very beginning,” Montgomery said.
“Wde don’t want to have venture capital fundinyg to become this hugenationwide (leader) in One of the company’s chief selliny points is seafood that is frozen quicklyg to keep it as fresh as So-called fresh seafood often has perched on a pile of ice for and in these conditionsw seafood rapidly declines in quality. Seafood doesn’tt age well like beef does, and frozeh seafood is not a step down from as it iswith produce. “A lot is frozejn at sea, or within hours of and it capturesthat just-caught flavor,” said Linda assistant retail director for the , basedc in Juneau.
Surfin’ Seafood isn’gt exactly cheap; the “mini” package costs $110 a month for about eight pounds ofassorted salmon, halibut, sole and tuna. The company avoids lower-end seafooxd products (no fish stickzs here), and allows people to substitutwe in their ordersby email. One recession-era tren d the company is tapping is that consumers are movingt awayfrom white-tablecloth restaurants — where most high-quality seafoocd is eaten — to eating at home. “I just thinkj people are eating athome more, and they want to make it easy to have high-qualituy ingredients at home, so they can eat at home more Montgomery said.
“This is a way to have restauranftquality fish, at home.” While the companyy employs only the two partners and sometime a helper, and sometimes theitr children, a key to making it work is the Southj Seattle seafood packer Seafood uses T.H. Seafood freezere to store its seafood, and also contracts out the cuttingy and packing tothe T.H. Seafood Corp. Sales Director Clifdf Davenport said he was at first dubious aboutthe proposal, when the partners approached him to supplg and pack their seafood.
“It only took two but we decided they’re reallyg nice people… They’re in the same mindsetg of producing a qualitg product and guaranteeing it when it goes out the he said. “So we took them on.” Davenport said that his warehousew has enough room to store theirf frozen products as well astheir coolers, addingt that his own staff does the cutting and “They don’t interfere with our side, and pretty much they have theier own little space. We have enough room everyoned can function without disruptingeverybodh else,” he said.
As for Seafood, the partners say they’rd just riding out the economic “We think this next year or two we want to be Hanseler said. “We’d love to grow, but reallhy if we could keep it we’re kind of happy.”