Raz Halili, vice president of Prestige Oysters, joined Catch the Current at Seafood Expo North America in Boston last week to talk about the company's recent acquisition of Bayou Carlin Oyster Co., a value-added retail line. 

Halili talks about the growth and evolution of his family's Dickinson, Texas-based company. And how Prestige is looking to take its latest acquisition from retail to foodservice. 

Five minutes are on the clock -- but we're a little loose with the rules as we go into overtime to talk about the "Gulf of America." 

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Don't have time to listen? You're missing out! But you can also read a full transcript of the podcast interview below:

Amanda Buckle (AB): You're listening to Catch the Current. I'm Amanda Buckle.

Lorin Castiglione (LC): And I'm Lorin Castiglione.

AB: We are live in Boston for Seafood Expo North America, where we are taking the show floor by storm for an epic series we are calling "Boston 2025 in 5."

LC: That's right. We are covering as much ground as we can over the next few days, bringing you the best of the best that SENA has to offer.

AB: So, without any further ado...

AB and LC: Let's "catch the current."

AB: This is Amanda Buckle. You're listening to Catch the Current. It is day two of Seafood Expo North America and I am here with Raz Halili, the president of Prestige Oysters. How are you doing?

Raz Halili (RH): I'm well. Thank you for having me here today, Amanda.

AB: Thanks for being here and surviving day one.

RH: Right. You know, we're back in Boston and we're getting all the weather from a beautiful day to the rain. So maybe tomorrow the snow is coming.

AB: Oh, please do not say that because Tuesdays are notorious for the snow.

RH: We need to fly out tomorrow; Everybody does.

AB: So, Raz, the premise that we're doing on the show floor for SENA is "Boston 2025 in 5." But before I put five minutes on the clock, I'm going to give a couple extra minutes here because I want to talk about the first time I met you, which was actually back in 2018.

The National Fisheries Institute's Future Leaders Class of 2018 out on the water with Prestige Oysters. Photo Credit: Amanda Buckle

I was part of the Future Leaders program with the National Fisheries Institute and Prestige opened up its doors and its vessels to the class of Future Leaders for an experience out on the water to see how you're harvesting oysters. It was my first real experience with oysters, which is a shame because I live on the Jersey Shore.

But it was mind-blowing for me. And I've been chasing that high with oysters ever since. So I just wanted to say thank you.

RH: It truly was my pleasure. You know, I think the Future Leaders program is an amazing organization as well as the NFI. I think they bring a lot of value to our industry. And for me to be able to have you guys, host you guys, take you out on the water, show you my family story, our history, our passion for what we do in the gulf with oysters. It really was a pleasure for me to do that. I remember it very well. It was a nice hot day. It was beautiful.

AB: It was beautiful.

RH: And I was also in the middle of renovations at the plant. So it was interesting at the same time. But, you know, I'd love to have everybody back to see what the facility looks like now.

AB: Oh, definitely. Well, I'm going to take you up on that because that's what we're going to jump into. And now I'm going to start the clock. 

I want to talk about your growth because you're talking about your family business -- You started 30 years ago...

RH: So my father, you know, his story is he first migrated over from Kosovo. And in the late 1970s, made his way down to Louisiana, started on an oyster boat, had never been in fisheries, didn't know what an oyster was. He thought it was a bird at first. No joke. He was just like, "Oh, you can make $25 a day? I'm in."

There's a lot of guys from the Balkans doing oystering. So, you know, he jumped into it [with] hard work [and] perseverance. Met my mother. By that time, he had a boat and they started working together. And by years and years of sacrifice, they formed Prestige Oysters. 

I was born in the business. I grew up on the docks. We started out as a resource company. We started acquiring private fisheries in the gulf, private leases, vessels, landing docks. My earliest memories are unloading oyster boats, being out on the water. I was an oysterman myself through summer in college. It's a very gratifying job to do that. It's honorable work. I truly enjoyed it.

You fast-forward today and look at the company. And like you said, we've had tremendous growth. We've started from a small fishing vessel. Now we're vertically integrated into foodservice and retail nationally and we're moving into the value-added business. So it's exciting times for us.

AB: Exactly. Let's talk about that with the growth -- your recent acquisition.

Prestige Oysters acquired Bayou Carlin Oyster Co. leading up to Seafood Expo North America in Boston. Photo Credit: Undercurrent News

RH: The Bayou Carlin Oyster Company acquisition was something that's... so new. I mean, we're talking two weeks old and it's completely done. You know, we're transitioning now the equipment and everything over into integrating into our systems.

My team is taking a deep dive into what it's going to take to really implement procedures and processes. But it is a great company. [Founder Boyer Derise] was a talented man. He formulated these value-added kits, grilled oyster kits. Charbroiled oysters, grilled oysters, baked oysters. These garlic parmesan, these compound butters, they're very much on trend. And it's something I've wanted to do for a long time is take our great resource, put it with something that's kitchen-ready, chef-ready, that you can take to retail. Someone can take home and cook it and impress their friends.

But also for a restaurant, for an operator to be able to break down their costs and know exactly how much that one oyster cook-ready is going to cost. And have anyone in the kitchen be able to pop that in the oven and ready in a matter of minutes, I think brings a lot of value. 

AB: Right now, with all the labor issues [they're facing], that's got to be helping so many restaurants who want to be able to bring that in but can't afford somebody who can shuck an oyster. But I mean, I know you can get some frozen that are ready to pre-shucked.

RH: Yes, absolutely. Which we do. We're a major producer of that product already. But for a true chef-ready ... so the costs are all portioned out to where they can understand exactly when they buy that item every day, how much it's going to cost them to put that on a plate. In today's world, that brings a lot of value.

AB: So now it's already in retail.

RH: Yeah, it's already in retail. It's in number of retailers along the Southeast. So we're looking to expand that nationally into retail and foodservice.

Bayou Carlin Oyster Co. was acquired by Prestige Oysters ahead of Seafood Expo North America. Photo Credit: Undercurrent News

AB: This is just the start of 2025. Is this going to be your focus moving forward or do you have anything else lined up?

RH: You know, we have a number of things lined up. We obviously just went through our recertification for Marine Stewardship Council -- the outcome was great. So we're looking at recertification in June.

With that, we're also doing a substantial amount of shell placement, rock placement. We have a $3 million order of substrate, which we're going to set out to replenish our private fishery in the Gulf Coast. So it's a large investment in those investments. We do them yearly and sometimes they range in size. This is a very big one. And this is really going to propel us to make sure we have inventory for two to three to five years down the road.

AB: I mean, that's fantastic what you're doing. Are you doing anything to tell that story? I mean, besides talking to me... I guess I'm helping to tell that story.

RH: I'm talking to the most important person...You're going to tell everyone.

AB: Exactly. I'm passing it on.

RH: You know, we do like to tell the story as much as we can. And I think when you look at oysters, they're keystone species, right? They're so important in our environment. And so much beyond just providing a good protein. They create so much life in the sea floor, so it's a compelling story to tell.

AB: And that was our timer. But I'm going to put you on the spot here. You know, you're harvesting in the Gulf of Mexico. Are you for the change of name to the Gulf of America? Does it bother you? Does it matter? Do you think it better tells the story of the oysters?

RH: You know, I don't take a position whether it bothers me or it doesn't bother me. I'm proud to be an American, and I harvest in American waters. So if we want to call it the Gulf of America, then great. If people want to call it the Gulf of Mexico ... that's great. I don't really have a position either way on what to call it.

AB: It doesn't impact any packaging for you?

RH: No, it doesn't impact any packaging because, you know, oysters are so tight on regulations...At the end of the day, I'm just extremely happy to be able to produce a product that's produced here in America and being able to provide that to Americans. 

AB: I'm very excited to look for the new retail product. I hope they make it into Jersey.

RH: Right now, they're in a number of retailers and some smaller independents all through the Southeast. But we're looking to expand that and being able to have grilled oysters for everyone across the country.

AB: That's something I can get behind. I think that's something everybody can get behind. All right, Raz, thank you very much. Enjoy the rest of Boston.