George Braun and his wife purchased the piece of property where Braun Seafood Company sits today in 1928 from the Methodist Church, which now resides across the street. George was a local charter boat captain, which leads to his entrance into the bait and oyster business.

 

George opened a small shack here in Cutchogue, where my father, Jim Homan, began working in 1949, the same year he and my mother were married. My father’s first years in the seafood industry were devoted to packing oysters to be shipped and sold, as well as selling bait such as squid and worms. He used to make multiple trips a day into Queens and Manhattan to pick up shipments of worms at both LaGuardia Airport and Grand Central Station.

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As the fledgling bait and oyster business grew, my father began shipping worms into Fulton Fish Market in Lower Manhattan. It was during this time period that our long history with the famous seafood hub at Fulton in South Street Seaport began. Jim (my dad) began purchasing additional seafood products on his trips into Fulton, and bringing them home to Cutchogue, where he began selling fish to local restaurants.

 

My father purchased the company from George Braun in 1961, and it was in the next few years in which Braun Seafood Company grew rapidly thanks to a North Fork favorite: Peconic Bay Scallops.

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As the local scallop industry exploded in the mid-1960s, Braun’s grew with it. About half of our current freezer capacity was erected during this time, and the wholesale building you see today was built in 1971. Braun’s sold Peconic Bay Scallops all over the East Coast, and to Jim’s knowledge, was the only business to ever export them out of the United States.

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I returned to Braun, and working with my dad after graduating college in 1979. I loved returning to Cutchogue and working with my family and the community on the North Fork. We turned our attention to expanding our wholesale distribution of seafood to local restaurants, as the Hamptons increasingly became a high-end destination. Our Cutchogue footprint further developed in 1986 to accommodate this vision, as a larger fresh fish cooler, shellfish cooler, and cutting room were constructed to help process the ever-growing amount of seafood coming through our doors. This expansion was continued with the construction of our 18,000-gallon, self-sufficient live lobster holding system, still in full operation today.

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As the wholesale portion of our company grew, my father and I foresaw the need for a new seafood market; one that could take advantage of the swelling number of fresh seafood products we offered to restaurants, and in turn, offer them directly to our local consumers. The seafood market you visit today was constructed to help make this vision a reality in 1988, which was the same year I became President of Braun Seafood Company. We continued our growing retail presence with the opening of our seafood takeout restaurant, opening Braun’s Kitchen, in 2006.

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It’s hard to believe how much the North Fork and Braun Seafood Company have grown since both their sparsely populated days as a coastal farming community and our humble bait and oyster packing days in the mid-20th century. Our company’s growth has been synonymous with the development of the North and South Fork into the popular destinations they have become today. We have grown to become Long Island’s premier seafood distributor, delivering seven days a week to over 700 restaurants, fish markets, caterers, and other food establishments throughout Suffolk County.

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We strive to always supply our customers with the freshest and best fish possible. Our dedicated team proudly works around the clock, seven days a week to fulfill this mission in our wholesale, fish market, and Braun’s Kitchen. We look forward to seeing you here at our home in Cutchogue, right in the heart of the North Fork. 

– Ken Homan
President