APRIL 2024 16 with Mandy Heflin and Hogan Jamison of Chula Seafood M andy Heflin and her husband, Jon, were married at the Seattle Aquarium – a prophesy, perhaps, of their next venture: Chula Seafood, a fish-based restaurant and purveyor with three locations in the Valley. Mandy, Jon and their partner Hogan Jamison have made it a mission to bring fresh fish to the desert. So far, their efforts have been rewarding – in more ways than one. !"#$%&'%(%)*"$+%,"'-.*/%.+%0,&1(2 Mandy: We began in Arizona unofficially around 2015. My father-in- law had a commercial swordfish boat that’s been in operation for 30 years, and around 2009, he started distributing fish on his own – not under our name – to restaurants in California. That’s when we came up with the idea. I’m from Seattle, and there wasn’t a retail outfit here for people who wanted fresh fish. We got a connection through Vincent’s on Camelback and the farmer’s market they used to do on Saturdays. That was our first retail presence. We would sell swordfish, tuna, and salmon by the pound. Jon was building up the wholesale side. It grew – people were excited we had fresh fish. After that, we brought on our business partner, Hogan, who’s been friends with John since fifth grade. It’s a close, family- oriented business. In 2016, we opened our first brick-and-mortar store in south Scottsdale. We sold fish and also housed our wholesale there. We supply several chef-driven accounts – consistently around 70 restaurants – around town. The uptown location opened in 2019, and our Greyhawk location opened in 2022. 3'%$#$*/-,"45%'.&*6$7% +*.8%0(1"+.*4"(9 Hogan: Around 80 percent of it is from Baja and southern California. That’s where we started and where we want to bring most of it from. But we also know that everybody wants salmon and tuna and certain things you can’t get from those locations. We now bring in scallops from Boston, salmon from Scotland and Norway, oysters from all over the world, and fish from New Zealand. We started as a southern California- style fish company specializing in swordfish. But as we meet new people and start new relationships – being on the dock, being in the water, you get to meet all the fishermen – it just keeps opening new doors. 3-%,$1:'%-.%;<4.=%(%5&/>?%*"5,-9 Hogan: With my father-in-law’s years in the industry, we’ve garnered awesome relationships. Our boat is on the only working fisherman’s wharf left in San Diego, and it’s a small collective of people. We’re fortunate to have access to this small-knit community. We’re not just a fish broker; we have actual connections to the boat, the water, and the people. Our vision was to bring that to the desert. @,(-%"'%/.&*%.++"6"(1%-"-1$9 Mandy: [ laughs ] Co-owners? We don’t really do titles. Hogan and I oversee the whole company, but we’re mostly in the restaurant operation side of things. We’re a small company, so we wear a lot of hats. Our official title? Team Awesome [ laughs ]. Hogan: We’re still at the size where you do whatever you have to, whatever role is necessary. Some days, I wash dishes, and sometimes, I’m in a meeting with bankers. !*.="45%&:>%7"7%/.&%-,"4<% /.&A7%)$%"4%-,"'%"47&'-*/9 Mandy: I didn’t want to own a restaurant because my dad owned and operated a franchise when I was a kid, and I remember thinking, “This is the last thing I want to do.” Did I think I would own a fresh fish company in Arizona? No, I never would have thought that, but funny enough… John and I got married at the Seattle Aquarium, and we joke that it foreshadowed the rest of our lives being surrounded by fish [ laughs ]. @,.%6.8$'%&:%="-,%-,$%7"',$'9 Hogan: It’s a collaboration. Over the years, multiple people have been involved. Our original chef started with us as a part-time employee and quickly grew into the chef position. He ended up taking over on the wholesale side, and Kyle Kent came in and now runs the building and operation of new dishes. What he’s great at is getting with the team and allowing them to create. Allowing them to use what they’ve learned through past jobs – it’s an amalgamation of what we think is great and what we think others will also think is great. Mandy: I like to call our culinary team “fish magicians” because I know coming to the desert to sell fish makes people kind of hesitant. I feel like Arizonans are like, “Oh no, I don’t eat fish,” because of a bad experience they’ve had – I can understand that; the product quality wasn’t there. There are some things on our menu that people wouldn’t expect, and it opens their eyes to “Maybe I’ll try that.” Our daily chef features rotate every day of the week, and that’s where each store’s creativity lives. And we do something completely new every Saturday. A lot of our menu comes from a sustainability mentality of using the whole fish, the pieces we’re butchering that customers might not want. We’ve got scrap, and we turn it into edible awesomeness. @,$*$%7"7%-,$%4(8$%6.8$%+*.89 Mandy: My husband’s family grew up with property in Baja, Mexico. One of their family friends had a beautiful white Labrador named Chula. A lot of people tie us to Chula Vista because San Diego is so close to there, but there’s no connection. Chula kind of means “pretty little thing,” so we thought that translated nicely – beautiful seafood; Chula Seafood. B.%-,$%$8:1./$$'%,(#$%-.%,(#$% :*".*%<4.=1$75$%.+%+"',9 Mandy: The hardest thing about doing what we do here is finding people who know how to cut fish at the warehouse. We’re pulling from a collective of people who have never really dealt with fish before. It’s a plus but not a requirement. Hogan: If it were required, we would have no one working for us [ laughs ]. People come in with general knowledge, but we basically teach them from scratch. There’s so much to learn. We’re constantly in a growth mindset, so we can teach, teach, teach. Mandy: We also do a session once a quarter called Chula University. It starts with a PowerPoint presentation of the history of the company, goes over our top species, and then we show them live cut demos of a whole swordfish, a whole tuna, etc. It ends with an optional initiation shot of swordfish marrow. It’s a jelly disk – it’s a little salty. It’s out there, but it’s fun to see who will take the challenge. It’s more the texture that people struggle with. But it’s good for 100 E. Camelback Road, Phoenix chulaseafood.com In the Kitchen Hogan Jamison, Mandy Heflin and Jon Heflin. PHOTO COURTESY OF MANDY HEFLIN

17 APRIL 2024 you [ laughs ]! Chula U really helps the newcomers feel more acclimated. !"#$"%&'($)"'*$&+'$,""-'.$."&/&'0 Mandy: We fill it fresh daily. The species changes seasonally, so, for example, we’ve got a couple of whitefish that are in season. Tuna, salmon, scallops and shrimp are things you’ll always see. We like to throw in a few things like trout or branzino every once in a while. Our goal is ‘What is the freshest fish we can find?’ Our catalog is much grander – if you’re looking for something that’s not in the case, there’s a 90 percent chance we have it or can special order it. We also have a variety of smoked fish in there, like our Kyle’s Candy. 1+/&$2*$34-'5*$6/()40 Mandy: It’s this delicious glazed, dried and smoked salmon candy that comes from salmon bellies. In the wholesale and restaurant industry, most people want the belly removed. We had all this excess, and Chef Kyle started playing with it, and it turned into this incredible salmon jerky that has been a staple in the case since we opened. It’s got some soy and some sesame. I think it’s cured in coffee… it’s good. 7"8$#"($9'*&$2($:+"#$/&$&+'$;<;=$ >'?"8.$68-2(/.4$6-/**2,@$>2)$4"8$ A"$%".$&+'$A"-)$/A/2($&+2*$4'/.0 Mandy: We sure did – and we won another gold medal for our smoked fish dish! I’m honestly just so proud of our team. Our three chefs – brand chef Kyle Kent and our execs of Grayhawk (Kevin) and Uptown (Monique) collaborated on the dish. It was so awesome to see their heads come together and win another gold for the team. 1+/&5*$('B&$%".$&+'$6+8-/$ :'/%"")$%/C2-40 Hogan: We’re going to continue providing the best possible fish the Valley has ever seen. We want to keep going and keep growing. We don’t have that next chess move yet, but we are definitely always looking for the next opportunity. I’ve had a couple of prospects for opening stores out of state pass by my desk, and we discuss it every day. It’s a possibility, but I don’t think it will happen quickly. There’s still a lot more to do in Arizona. We want to get to Tucson, more up north, maybe the East Valley. Arcadia’s been an area that I’ve had my eye on for the past seven years. We’re looking for spots that have all the things we want, but we’re patiently waiting. In the meantime, we’ll continue to make ourselves great and focus on being great. ARCADIANEWSARCHIVES.COM !"#$%"&'()#*$&*$+),-$./&"/&,0$1&*(#)23)4#*$%'3,,$ 34$!353*$6'#7#*43)8$9%"::'$"35#$;3)4&%&;34#($&*$3$ ,;)&*2$</44#)='8$;):>#%4$=:)$4"#$;3,4$?@$8#3),- A!"#$%"&'()#*$':5#$'#3)*&*2$3<:/4$'&=#%8%'#,$34$ ,%"::'BC$+),-$./&"/&,$,3&(-$AD#$3)#$)#3(8&*2$:/)$ %'3,,)::7$4:$)#%#&5#$%34#);&''3),$,::*EC