After spending his “whole life” working in restaurants, Chef Andrew Gruel teamed up with the Aquarium of the Pacific in 2009 on a project to “increase awareness for sustainable seafood amongst chefs, restaurateurs and consumers” — and two years later, his fast-casual Slapfish restaurant concept was born.

“I’ve always been into the ocean … from a chef’s perspective,” Gruel told Seafood International. “I wanted to combine my background with quality fine dining with sustainable seafood.”

So, in 2011, the Southern California-based chef “bootstrapped a food truck” and started small, buying 1,000 pounds of fish from local fishermen and creating lobster rolls and fish tacos.