The first time John Price ever slurped an oyster was when he visited Randy Cooke's oyster farm on Malpeque Bay on Prince Edward Island. He liked the taste so much he decided on the spot to start selling Cooke's Cove oysters. And that's pretty much how Price, the J.P. in J.P.'s Shellfish, has grown his business over the past 30 years - one grower at a time.

Today, J.P.'s Shellfish, which is based in Eliot, Maine on the Maine-New Hampshire border, sells clams, oysters, lobsters and mussels the company sources from scores of growers and fishermen from New York to the Canadian Maritimes. One big reason J.P.'s has grown to become one of the largest live shellfish suppliers in the country is the fact that Price says he can put a face behind every piece of shellfish his company sells.

"It never ceases to amaze me, how bringing a personal element to a product bolsters consumer confidence, and leads to an increase in demand. Having that personal connection with our growers allows us to source from environmentally sound producers," he says. Take Randy Cooke, for example. Price says he's "somewhat of a character. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. Randy is always ready with a smile and is never at a loss for words when a little levity should be interjected."

Because it is vertically integrated and operates its own fleet of refrigerated trucks to pick up and deliver product, J.P.'s Shellfish offers customers complete chain-of-custody as the company likes to say from "shore to door."  J.P's Shellfish has ownership of oyster, lobster, mussel and clam processing plants on Price Edward Island, Canada. The company sells mainly to distributors, however, restaurants and retailers can use the forward product details feature on FishChoice.com to send product information to their local distributor to get access to J.P.'s Shellfish products.

Click here to view JP's Shellfish's products and remember to tell them you found them on FishChoice.com.