FREE SHIPPING ON ALL ORDERS OVER $125!

0

Your Cart is Empty

Our Story

The North Coast Seafood story starts and ends with freshness.

The North Coast Seafoods story starts off exactly how you'd imagine — with a family that had a deep love of seafood.

Norm Stavis holding a bluefish in North Coast Seafoods facility in Boston

Norm Stavis (1948-2018) holds a Bluefish in our Boston facility

A Note from our captains

Greetings from Boston!

Anchored with Integrity is more than just a vision: it embodies our steadfast commitment to excellence. When we say that our seafood is the freshest and most wholesome on the market, we mean it. When we commit to supplying our customers the very best seafood, we follow through. And if ever something isn’t exactly right, we hold ourselves accountable.

My colleagues and I have inherited a one-of-a-kind company from our founder Mel Stavis and his sons Norm and Jim. As stewards of the North Coast legacy, we invite you to get to know us and what we stand for. In the fish business, integrity is something you can taste.

Sincerely,

Jim Stavis & Rich Polins

North Coast is a third generation, family-owned American company.

North Coast Seafoods facility on Fargo Street in Boston on fire

A fire destroys North Coast Seafood's original location on Fargo Street, Boston

Humble beginnings

Seafood is in our blood. Abe Stavis grew up in the shellfish business, delivering steamer clams before school in Revere and Quincy, Massachusetts.

Abe’s son, Mel Stavis, founded North Coast Seafoods in 1957 in Boston’s Long Wharf district.

When his original location burned to the ground, Mel picked up and moved across town to Fargo St., the site of today’s Boston Convention Center. Mel kept a photo of the inferno engulfing his first plant on his desk for the rest of his career.

Building the business through deep relationships, solid trust, absolute dependability, and unwavering integrity.

Jim Stavis, Mel Stavis, and Norm Stavis

(Left to RIght) Jim Stavis, Mel Stavis, and Norm Stavis - 3 Generations

Bringing the kids on board

Mel’s sons, Norm and Jim, had high aspirations for North Coast Seafoods, joining the family business in 1971 and 1975. As the business grew, they began to work closely with Rich Polins, their childhood friend and a fellow fish fanatic.

Together, they aspired to build a company focused foremost on quality, trust, and reliability, not just profit.

Keeping things Fresh, from Shore to Door.

Norm Stavis and his father, Mel Stavis

Norm Stavis (left) and his father, Mel (right)

Integration and Reinvention

Mel retired in 1988 and passed the torch to Norm and Jim. Working tirelessly, often sleeping on their office desks and making early morning deliveries to customers themselves, the Stavis brothers reimagined North Coast as a vertically integrated first receiver, processor, and distributor, one with the scale and reach to get the best fish even when supply is tight.

Looking to expand, yet unwilling to compromise their standards, they sought to vertically integrate and thereby control every step of the supply chain from dock to plate. They purchased directly from the most reputable and dedicated fishermen and women, processed in their own custom-built facilities, and distributed to their valued customers with their own fleet of temperature-controlled trucks.

Anchored in Boston, New Bedford, and Cape Cod.

North Coast team members and Big Y team posing on the Boston Fish Pier

North Coast and Team Big Y on the Boston Fish Pier

Developing relationships

As North Coast grew into one of the largest seafood companies in the Northeast, Norm, Jim, Rich, and the entire North Coast crew focused on keeping things personal.

North Coast distinguished itself as the big fish with a small fish attitude by cultivating deep, durable relationships with customers and suppliers.

By adding a dedicated shellfish house in Chatham on Cape Cod and a new state of the art facility in New Bedford, North Coast now had roots in three of New England’s most famous seafood cities - Boston, New Bedford, and Cape Cod.

Looking Towards the future of North Coast Seafoods.

oUR Home in Boston

In 2000, North Coast Seafoods moved into its state-of-the-art facility on Dry Dock Ave in the Boston Seaport District, our home to this day.

From an antibacterial ozonation system, to an in-house quality control laboratory, to a shellfish purification system, to a roof covered in solar panels, North Coast had done for its plant what it had already done for its people: invest in the very best.

North Coast Seafoods headquarters in the Boston Seaport District

Our Headquarters in the Boston Seaport District

Just a few of our 600+ North Coast team members

oUR mODERN fAMILY

Although we lost our beloved Norm in 2018, he’d be proud, and not at all surprised, to see our sales office today: 30-year veterans work alongside young guns all dedicated to bringing our vision to life.

And that vision is hardly stagnant: our commitments to quality, but also to environmental and social responsibility, are stronger than ever. The future of seafood won’t safeguard itself, which is why Seafood with Integrity matters more than ever.

Our Seafood Tastes Better
Because Fresher Fish Tastes Better.