In 1979, we started driving fresh shrimp and oysters from New Orleans to Omaha in a refrigerated truck and selling it on the corner of 70th & Dodge, and later at 120th and Pacific.
People were understandably a little nervous at the thought of buying food off the back of a truck, but the quality was good and the price reasonable, so word got around.
The Name "Absolutely Fresh"
Our customers came up with the name of our company. When asked if the shrimp was fresh, I started answering, "It's ABSOLUTELY FRESH"; After a couple months of this, I painted it on some signs for our truck sales, then on the truck itself. It stuck.
Our loyal and knowledgeable customers saw to it that we expanded our line to include flounder, trout and red snapper... so many more kinds of fish from so many coasts that we had to get a warehouse, and then our first retail store at 18th and Leavenworth.
Wholesale to 450 Restaurants, Clubs
Then chefs from various restaurants started asking for quantities of fresh fish... orders large enough and often enough so that now we are bringing in 50-60 kinds of fresh fish each week. We are receiving 5-12 shipments every day, and we are delivering to over 450 restaurants and country clubs. We're at your service...