Quality Seafood Market
Family-owned Austin, Texas seafood business operating since 1938, running an integrated full-service restaurant, retail fish market, and wholesale distribution arm serving approximately 200 Central Texas restaurant accounts, with catering, take-home kits, and a paid loyalty club.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1938
- HeadquartersAustin, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingServices
What Quality Seafood Market does
Quality Seafood Market is a family-owned seafood business headquartered in Austin, Texas, in continuous operation since 1938. The company is structured as a vertically integrated three-part operation: a full-service restaurant with bar, a retail fish market, and a wholesale seafood distribution arm serving approximately 200 restaurant accounts across Central Texas. Product is flown in fresh daily, and in-house fishmongers begin cutting from 6:30 AM. The restaurant operates on a limited weekly schedule (Wednesday through Saturday), with seafood platters, oysters, and entrees typically priced in the $18–$32 range. Carol Huntsberger has been sole owner since 2010, following the Huntsberger family's 2003 acquisition and expansion of the menu, oyster bar, and catering lines.
Beyond the core three segments, Quality Seafood has extended into adjacent revenue streams: a catering operation that includes a food truck, "Steamer Tin" take-home seafood boil kits sold direct-to-consumer, a paid "Seafood Club" loyalty membership, and gift cards distributed through Toast Tab online ordering. The technology stack is standard hospitality infrastructure — Toast for point-of-sale and online ordering and SpotHopper for restaurant marketing — with no proprietary technology platform disclosed.
The business model monetizes the integrated facility through four channels: on-premise restaurant and bar sales, retail fish market transactions, wholesale seafood distribution to ~200 restaurant accounts, and ancillary catering plus DTC product sales. The wholesale segment is the structural backbone, leveraging daily air-freighted supply and in-house fishmongering to deliver freshness and assortment that smaller Central Texas competitors cannot easily match. The single-facility, multi-channel model — combined with 85+ years of brand equity in Austin and a multi-decade wholesale book — generates operational density per square foot that pure-play restaurants or pure wholesalers would struggle to replicate.
Quality Seafood Market firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Quality Seafood Market
- Legal name
- Quality Seafood Market
- Website
- https://qualityseafoodmarket.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1938
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Family-owned Austin, Texas seafood business operating since 1938, running an integrated full-service restaurant, retail fish market, and wholesale distribution arm serving approximately 200 Central Texas restaurant accounts, with catering, take-home kits, and a paid loyalty club.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Quality Seafood Market industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Seafood Restaurant and Retail Fish Market
- NAICS
- Fish and Seafood Retailers (445250), Fish and Seafood Merchant Wholesalers (424460), Seafood Product Preparation and Packaging (3117)
- SIC
- Prepared Fresh Or Frozen Fish & Seafoods (2092), Retail-Food Stores (5400), Wholesale-Groceries & Related Products (5140)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Seafood Markets & Fishmongers (CRAHAHAC)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Seafood Wholesale (Fresh & Frozen) (AFAIADAD), Prepared Seafood Meals (RTE/RTH) (AFANAFAB), Seafood Meal Kits & Heat-and-Eat Entrées (Prepared Meals Featuring Seafood) (AFANALAH)
Keywords
Where Quality Seafood Market is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Austin
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Quality Seafood Market business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- Restaurant Dine-In and Takeout: On-site dining with full menu and bar (beer and wine), plus takeout orders. Kitchen open Wed-Sat 11AM-8PM.
- Retail Fish Market: Fresh and frozen seafood products sold to individual consumers for home cooking. Market open Wed-Sat 10:30AM-5PM.
- Wholesale to Restaurants: Supplies fresh seafood to approximately 200 restaurants in Austin and Central Texas. No minimum for pickup orders; $100 minimum for delivery. Fishmongers begin cutting at 6:30AM daily.
- Catering Services: Full-service catering for events including weddings, graduations, crawfish boils, shrimp boils, lobster boils, and corporate events. Also available from their food truck.
- Steamer Tin Products: Take-home seafood steaming kits with customizable seafood, corn, potatoes, sausage, and seasonings. Order online for pickup.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Full restaurant menu with appetizers, entrees, and beverages |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Happy hour pricing on oysters and drinks |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Wholesale pricing for restaurant accounts |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels6 records
Marketing channels6 records
Quality Seafood Market product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Quality Seafood Market sells fresh and prepared seafood through three integrated channels: a sit-down restaurant and bar with dine-in and takeout, a retail fish market where consumers buy fresh and frozen seafood to cook at home, and a wholesale distribution arm supplying approximately 200 Austin and Central Texas restaurants. The business also provides full-service catering for weddings, corporate events, and seafood boils, plus retail packaged products such as the Steamer Tin take-home seafood boil kit and digital gift cards.
Product overview
Quality Seafood Market is a family-owned seafood restaurant and retail fish market offering a multi-component business: a retail fish market for purchasing fresh seafood to cook at home, a full-service restaurant serving prepared seafood dishes, wholesale distribution to nearly 200 Austin restaurants, catering services for events, and the Steamer Tin take-home product line. The business operates as a unified operation centered on fresh, high-quality seafood with over 85 years of history in Austin.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Retail Fish Market
Companies that use Quality Seafood Market
Customer profileNamed customers12 records
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Quality Seafood Market technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration2 records
Quality Seafood Market partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Toast TabcoreOnline ordering and point-of-sale integration platform used for takeout orders, gift cards, and restaurant operations management. Enables customers to order online for pickup.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves10 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Quality Seafood Market competitors and assessment
Company assessmentOthers
- Red Lobster: Mass-market US seafood restaurant chain; tangential competitor for casual seafood dining occasions, not directly comparable in freshness/premium positioning but relevant for category demand context.
Broad incumbents
- Legal Sea Foods: Established national seafood restaurant chain with retail seafood counter; comparable seafood-focused brand and integrated retail/restaurant identity, though at national scale versus Quality Seafood's local institution status.
- Inland Seafood: Large regional seafood distributor serving restaurants across the Southeast US — overlaps with Quality Seafood's wholesale purveyor role but at much greater scale and broader geography.
- Sysco Corporation: Largest US broadline foodservice distributor, a competitor and counterpart for any wholesale restaurant supply relationship; relevant for evaluating the B2B wholesale segment Quality Seafood competes in.
Direct peers
- Browne Trading Company: Maine-based specialty seafood retailer and wholesaler selling fresh and frozen seafood direct to consumers and chefs, mirroring Quality Seafood's combined retail/wholesale model with a strong freshness reputation.
- Pike Place Fish Market: Iconic Seattle fish market operating a high-volume retail counter plus onsite restaurant/preparation, very similar to Quality Seafood's integrated retail-market + restaurant + fishmonger model in a major US city.
- The Lobster Place: Chelsea Market (NYC) fish market with adjoining restaurant, retail counter, and wholesale operation — a near-direct analogue of Quality Seafood's three-part integrated seafood business under one roof.
- Fulton Fish Market: Historic NYC wholesale and retail seafood market supplying restaurants and consumers with daily fresh product — directly comparable wholesale-plus-retail seafood purveyor model.
Emerging players
- Luke's Lobster: Casual seafood restaurant chain specializing in lobster and sustainable seafood — comparable in menu positioning (fresh, simple, seafood-forward) and target consumer, but multi-unit and growth-stage.
Regional players
- Santa Monica Seafood: West Coast seafood distributor and retail market — comparable vertically integrated fresh-seafood purveyor serving restaurants and consumers, but primarily California-focused rather than Texas.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Quality Seafood Market social profiles
Digital presenceQuality Seafood Market compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
Quality Seafood Market financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Quality Seafood Market leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Quality Seafood Market funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Quality Seafood Market M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Quality Seafood Market
What does Quality Seafood Market do?
Quality Seafood Market sells fresh and prepared seafood through three integrated channels: a sit-down restaurant and bar with dine-in and takeout, a retail fish market where consumers buy fresh and frozen seafood to cook at home, and a wholesale distribution arm supplying approximately 200 Austin and Central Texas restaurants. The business also provides full-service catering for weddings, corporate events, and seafood boils, plus retail packaged products such as the Steamer Tin take-home seafood boil kit and digital gift cards.
Is Quality Seafood Market a public or private company?
Quality Seafood Market is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Quality Seafood Market founded?
Quality Seafood Market was founded in 1938. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Quality Seafood Market based?
Quality Seafood Market is headquartered in Austin, United States, in the North America region.
How does Quality Seafood Market make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Restaurant Dine-In and Takeout is the primary driver. The others are retail Fish Market, wholesale to Restaurants, catering Services and steamer Tin Products.
Who are Quality Seafood Market's main competitors?
Red Lobster is listed as an others. Broad incumbents are Legal Sea Foods, Inland Seafood and Sysco Corporation. Direct peers are Browne Trading Company, Pike Place Fish Market, The Lobster Place and Fulton Fish Market. Luke's Lobster is listed as an emerging player. Santa Monica Seafood is listed as a regional player.
Does Quality Seafood Market have an API?
No public API is recorded for Quality Seafood Market.
What industry is Quality Seafood Market in?
Quality Seafood Market's product category is Seafood Restaurant and Retail Fish Market. Its primary akta.pro industry code is CRAHAHAC, Seafood Markets & Fishmongers, with a secondary code of AFAIADAD, Seafood Wholesale (Fresh & Frozen). Its NAICS code is 445250 and its SIC code is 2092.