BETHEL — What do a big-time actor from Bethel, a two-time Emmy award-winning producer from Danbury and a successful Wall Street hedge fund trader/arbitrage have in common?
Shellfish.
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Childhood friends Shea Farrell, Bob Altman and John “Boe” Marsh, all in their mid 60s, have come together to pursue second careers as operators of Community Shellfish, a shellfish processing-distribution business based in Bremen, Maine, and Community Shellfish Connecticut, LLC, a Fairfield County-New York region shellfish distribution warehouse at 23 Francis Clarke Circle in Bethel.
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The concept of the operation involves a focus on three levels — creating a shortcut in the shellfish supply chain, educate the public to show what goes into the fishing/harvesting aspect of catching the shellfish, and showing the public the vast creative ways to cook and serve shellfish.
Marsh founded Community Shellfish in Maine in 2013 and had a plan.
Marsh’s goal was to create a new distribution model for delivering the shellfish. He explained that typically fish would be sold at the docks to a small distributor. That distributor would sell the fish to a larger distributor and that distributor would sell it to an even larger distributor.
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“Locally, we could get our product to fish stores and restaurants quickly,” said Marsh, who grew up in Greenwich with Altman and Farrell. “My goal has always been to get the shellfish to customers quickly so they can enjoy a more fresh product. I wanted to do that out-of-state and that’s where Connecticut comes in.
“The Connecticut thing is our attempt to position ourselves better in the supply chain. We wanted to make a model change, become a pioneer in getting our Maine product into a broader wholesale market sea to table.”
Marsh entered the fishing industry after leaving his career on Wall Street.
“In 2003, I was doing well on Wall Street as a hedge fund trader and arbitrage,” he said. “But at that time I realized I didn’t want to die in a gray flannel suit. So, I moved to Maine where my mom and cousins were living.
“Over the years I became friendly with lobstermen in the area. They owned a lobster co-op that involved a dock, a small processing plant and 13 acres of waterfront. They were getting near retirement age and wanted to sell the co-op business to someone who would keep the operation going. They asked me to buy it in 2010 and I liked the idea.”
'Natural, fresh taste'
The Bethel operation was born through a conversation between Marsh and Altman during the height of the pandemic when the film industry was shut down.
Altman was visiting Marsh in Maine in 2021 and Marsh talked about expanding Community Shellfish to Fairfield County where they went to school and grew up. He asked Altman to be part owner of a potential Connecticut operation.
Altman was considering a career change at the time and liked the idea, especially Marsh’s fresh approach with a unique sea- to- table model. Altman had a background in food as a producer of television food shows including working with Martha Stewart for three years.
He was aware the pandemic created a spike in people cooking more at home including seafood dishes. He thought the expanded operation in Connecticut would be well received. They eventually found a suitable warehouse in Bethel and last September Community Shellfish Connecticut, LLC made its debut.
“Since the Bethel distribution started the reception by the public has gone through the roof,” Altman said. “The idea of shellfish coming direct to Connecticut the same day, the fresh taste that goes along with that, has people impressed with our product.”
Marsh explained that Maine’s pristine water on its coast produces exceptional tasting seafood.
“With other distributors, you are losing that natural, fresh taste,” Marsh said. “For example, typically a distributor here delivers a lobster to a distributor in Boston. It sits in a tank in Boston and gets sold in a few days.
“When it sits in a tank for a lengthy period, the lobster is impacted by that environment and the taste is influenced by whatever is in that tank. The original flavor is lost. We deliver our product to Connecticut in less than 24 hours.”
Altman, who is also the general manager of the Connecticut distribution company, said freshly caught lobster is loaded on a truck at 6 a.m. The lobster arrives in Connecticut by 2:30 p.m. and is in the store that same day.
Farrell is director of sales for the Bethel operation. He has been an actor for 43 years and has performed with people like Elizabeth Taylor and Bette Davis.
One of his most notable roles was playing Mark Danning in Aaron Spelling’s television series "Hotel." In 1997 he switched to production work and worked on various television shows including "Ally McBeal," "Boston Public" and "Boston Legal."
“This is something new for me and it’s been a lot fun working with Bob and Boe,” Farrell said. “We’re a relatively new company in Bethel and have been promoting ourselves primarily by word of mouth. Even with just word of mouth the Bethel company has been successful in the short time we have been operating."
Farrell showcased the Community Shellfish product at the Danbury Farmers Market on July 15.
“Now, we’re taking it to another level and promoting ourselves through the media and social media," he said. "I’m doing my part by taking our promotion phase out on the road with appearances at various farmers markets in the area.”
'Doing something you love with great friends'
The other phase of the Community Shellfish operation is educating the public in two ways. Marsh is focused on supporting the Maine fishing industry and showing the public what fishermen and harvesters go through to produce their catch. The other focus is to show the public various tasty ways to prepare the shellfish.
The past year Altman has used his expertise to produce 100 recipe videos and 50 videos of fishermen/lobstermen showing what they do for a living. The videos are posted on the company’s sister website at merroir.me. Merroir comes from the French word mer, which means sea, and terroir (place) and refers to local conditions in which seafood is raised.
Since Community Shellfish debuted, Marsh has added 150 oyster harvesting farms in Maine. The Bethel venue has also added a retail operation where the public can buy seafood at the warehouse.
Farrell, Altman and Marsh grew to be close friends in fifth and sixth grade at Brunswick School in Greenwich. Marsh and Altman plan to expand the Bethel operation further by adding a shellfish eatery at the warehouse.
“Due to the success we are having in Connecticut, we are considering a lot of different ways to expand there,” Marsh said. “One idea is to eventually open our own seafood restaurant.
“Back in Brunswick School, owning and operating a business together was the furthest thing on our minds. But we have stayed in touch and it’s been great doing something you love with great friends.”
For more information, go the company’s websites at CommunityShellfish.com.and CommunityShellfishCT.com.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that Shea Farrell lives in Bethel.
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