After eating amazing seafood at coastal towns all over the world, Adrian Hoffman and Ismael Macias were frustrated by the less fresh and less pristine quality of seafood available to restaurant chefs like them in the Bay Area. They founded Four Star Seafood in 2015 to offer a more direct service, getting seafood from fishermen to restaurant kitchens within 24 hours. Now Four Star Seafood is a boutique seafood wholesaler with 23 employees serving restaurants across San Francisco.
Adrian and Ismael came to Main Street Launch for a working capital loan. Their company was growing quickly, and they wanted a plan in place in case their profits needed some time to catch up with the growing demand. Typically in their industry, a business like theirs will wait for 30 days for payment, even though they pay the fishermen same-day. This creates a cash flow challenge. Four Star Seafood shortened that window, which allowed them to grow their profits at nearly the same rate as their demand. Because of this small shift in receivables scheduling, they ended up not using their loan and repaying it early, in full. “We learned a lot really quickly,” remembers Adrian. “Having the loan available put us at ease. We got close a few times, but we never had to dip into it.”
Adrian offers advice to aspiring entrepreneurs: “This is the hardest job we’ve ever had, but it’s the most rewarding job at the same time. We’re lucky that we’ve seen our work pay-off so quickly, and it’s exciting when all the effort comes together.”
If you are in the market for fresh, pristine seafood for your San Francisco restaurant, contact Four Star Seafood or visit their website to learn more about their services.
