OUR STORY

Santa Monica Seafood is owned by the Cigliano’s, a family tracing its California roots back to the end of the 19th century. At the time, their great-grandfather, John Deluca, arrived from Naples, Italy, settling in San Pedro and starting life there as a fisherman. John's oldest son, Jack, began assisting his father in the family business at age nine, and by sixteen, he owned his own fishing boat. He left fishing five years later to start a new venture, a wholesale fish business called State Fish. Jack started this company with his friend Gerald Cigliano, who would later become his brother-in-law and the grandfather of the current generation of Cigliano’s running the Company.

Jack and Gerald continued working together at State Fish for several years. However, the business could financially support only one family, so Jack left to work for L.A. Fish & Oyster. He stayed there over the next ten years, but yearned to run his own shop again. Finally in 1939, along with younger brother, Frank, he founded Santa Monica Seafood Company. Over the next 42 years, brothers Jack and Frank built Santa Monica Seafood into one of Southern California’s top seafood distributors. At their first location on the Santa Monica Pier, they sold halibut, shark, white sea bass, tuna, sardines, anchovies and live spiny lobsters. They also served up the "catch of the day" (from whatever the local fishermen brought in) as well as cooked lobsters to the many hungry tourists visiting the pier.

Due to increased vehicular traffic on the pier, the city of Santa Monica asked Jack and Frank to move in the late 1960’s. So, in 1969, the Company relocated twelve blocks east to the corner of Colorado Boulevard and 12th Street. This site serves as its principle processing facility and corporate headquarter until April, 2003 when the entire operation was consolidated to a state-of-the-art processing facility in Rancho Dominguez. Twenty-two years earlier in 1981, Anthony Cigliano, Gerald’s oldest son along with his seven children, purchased the Company from Uncles Jack and Frank. Anthony had already spent his entire career in the seafood business working at State Fish while his 7 children had, independently, set-up their own retail side-businesses on the docks of San Pedro where they worked from dawn until dusk each weekend.

As each child reached adulthood and stepped forward to join the business, a new opportunity presented itself to expand the Company. This led to the construction and opening of a second distribution and processing center in Orange County in 1985 serving not only the immediate area but also reaching into the Palm Springs, San Diego and eventually, Las Vegas markets. The set-up of the facilities in both Santa Monica and Orange were similar with each location focused primarily on servicing wholesale customers (restaurants, hotels, retail stores, etc.) while maintaining a retail presence of its own with an in-house store fronting each facility. In 1997, the Company opened its first retail-only site in Costa Mesa. This store combined an extensive display of seafood with a full kitchen in which hot meals are prepared for patio eating or take-out. As mentioned, more recently, Santa Monica Seafood consolidated its processing and distribution facilities into a 60,000 square foot, state-of-the-art complex in Rancho Dominguez which houses our entire wholesale staff, the corporate and sales offices as well as a commissary which prepares special salads, soups, sauces as well as signature recipe menu items sold in the Company’s retail stores. This site is completely temperature controlled ensuring only the most fresh and healthful fish and seafood products.

The Cigliano’s have carried on the tradition of their great Uncles Jack & Frank which has assured their continued success: hard work, business savvy, and a strong philosophy with which to guide the company: “Provide the highest quality product at a fair and reasonable price.” This simple principle continues to be at the heart of Santa Monica Seafood’s mission. So, it’s no surprise that as a true family business, Santa Monica Seafood takes a long-term view, both in terms of the investment in makes in its business relationships as well as it’s commitment to ensuring the continued viability of the natural resources which come from the world’s oceans and seas. In addition, food safety and technological innovation are key priorities, allowing Santa Monica Seafood to continually improve its business practices. Clearly, much has changed since John Deluca and his family arrived from Italy in 1898. However, one thing clearly remains cast in stone with the current generation running the business today: its commitment to our customers, suppliers and family of workers. This loyalty differentiates Santa Monica Seafood from other seafood distributors and is the benchmark for our company's continued success.

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