# Taylor Shellfish Company

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**Taylor Shellfish Company** is an American [seafood](/source/Seafood) company based in [Shelton, Washington](/source/Shelton,_Washington). It is the country's largest producer of [aquaculture](/source/Aquaculture) (farmed) shellfish and has locations across [Western Washington](/source/Western_Washington). The Taylor family started raising Olympia oysters in the 1920s. In the current form, the company, privately held,[1] was started in 1969[2] as Taylor United by brothers Edwin and Justin Taylor, grandsons of James Y. Waldrip, an early Washingtonian who came to Seattle to work rebuilding after the [Great Seattle Fire](/source/Great_Seattle_Fire) of 1889 before moving south and founding the Olympia Oyster Company in the 1890s.[3][4][5][6] Waldrip's company farmed the [Olympia oyster](/source/Olympia_oyster) found only in [South Puget Sound](/source/South_Puget_Sound).[7] Justin Taylor, born 1921, the oldest oyster farmer on Puget Sound in the early 2000s, died in 2011.[8][9][10]

Taylor Shellfish harvests more than 2,000,000 pounds (910,000 kg) of clams annually as of the 2010s;[11] 30% of the company's sales were in-shell oysters as of 2005.[12] As of the late 1990s the company was one of the top ten employers in [Mason County, Washington](/source/Mason_County,_Washington), and farmed oyster beds at their [Oakland Bay](/source/Oakland_Bay) headquarters and elsewhere around [Hood Canal](/source/Hood_Canal) and [Puget Sound](/source/Puget_Sound) including [Totten Inlet](/source/Totten_Inlet) ([Oyster Bay](/source/Oyster_Bay_(Puget_Sound))), [Eld Inlet](/source/Eld_Inlet), [Samish Bay](/source/Samish_Bay), [Willapa Bay](/source/Willapa_Bay), and [Whidbey Island](/source/Whidbey_Island).[5] By 2010, the company had 480 employees and annual revenue over $50 million.[6]

The company has operated [oyster bars](/source/Oyster_bar) under the Taylor Shellfish Farms brand since 2014.[2] Three are in Seattle including [Capitol Hill](/source/Capitol_Hill_(Seattle)) and [Pioneer Square](/source/Pioneer_Square,_Seattle),[13] one in [Downtown Bellevue](/source/Downtown_Bellevue) beginning late 2017;[14][15] and there are [farm stores](/source/Farm_store) on [Chuckanut Drive](/source/Chuckanut_Drive) in Skagit County,[16][17] and in Shelton.

## References

1. [Bloomberg corporate profile](https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=4541709), retrieved 2017-10-31

1. Jessica Hathaway (August 14, 2017), ["Growth spurt: Taylor Shellfish Co. shows no signs of slowing"](https://www.nationalfisherman.com/west-coast-pacific/growth-spurt-taylor-shellfish-co-shows-no-signs-of-slowing/), *National Fisherman*, [Diversified Communications](/source/Diversified_Communications)

1. Walsh 2009, p. 191.

1. Connie Adams (February 2017), ["Taylor Shellfish Farms: Ebb and flow"](http://www.seattledining.com/Current/1702/taylor_shellfish_part_1_2017.aspx), *Seattle Dining!*, [Mixed Media Publishing](/source/Mixed_Media_Publishing)

1. Shelby Gilje (March 11, 1998), ["Shell Game – Oysters Are At The Top Of The Food Chain At Taylor Shellfish In Shelton"](https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19980311/2738885/shell-game----oysters-are-at-the-top-of-the-food-chain-at-taylor-shellfish-in-shelton), *The Seattle Times*

1. Dana Neuts (December 2010), ["Family Business Awards: Large Companies"](http://seattlebusinessmag.com/article/family-business-awards-large-companies), *Seattle Business*

1. Walsh 2009, p. 193.

1. Bart Ripp (November 7, 2003), ["Oyster Mogul Has Spent 51 Years Building a Niche in Washington's Puget Sound"](https://web.archive.org/web/20171107055555/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-109985645.html), *[Tacoma News Tribune](/source/Tacoma_News_Tribune)*, archived from [the original](https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-109985645.html) on November 7, 2017, – via [HighBeam](/source/HighBeam)

1. ["Justin Taylor obituary"](http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/theolympian/obituary-preview.aspx?n=justin-e-taylor&pid=148833510), *The Daily Olympian*, February 24, 2011, retrieved 2017-10-31, – via legacy.com

1. ["Modest shellfish mogul, environmental pioneer; Justin Taylor, 1921-2011; Obituary"](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/modest-shellfish-mogul-environmental-pioneer/), *The Seattle Times*, February 23, 2011

1. [Taylor Shellfish Farms](http://www.foodnetwork.com/restaurants/wa/shelton/taylor-shellfish-farms-restaurant), [Food Network](/source/Food_Network), accessed 2017-10-31

1. Choy Leng Yeong (October 8, 2005), ["Local oyster growers get boost from Katrina"](https://www.seattletimes.com/business/local-oyster-growers-get-boost-from-katrina/), *The Seattle Times*

1. Nims 2016, p. 213.

1. Lauren Foster (January 24, 2017), ["New to Lincoln Square"](http://425magazine.com/new-lincoln-square/), *425 Magazine*

1. Rosin Saez (October 31, 2017), ["So Many New Places Are Opening in the Lincoln Square Expansion"](https://www.seattlemet.com/articles/2017/10/31/so-many-new-places-are-opening-in-the-lincoln-square-expansion), *[Seattle Met](/source/Seattle_Met)*

1. Meredith Bethune (September 12, 2014), ["Best oyster bars in America"](http://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/best-oyster-bars-in-america/7), *[Travel & Leisure](/source/Travel_%26_Leisure)*, [archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20150217174158/http://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/best-oyster-bars-in-america/7) 2015-02-17 at the Wayback Machine

1. Helen Anders (August 7, 2013), ["Aw, shucks! An oyster-lover's tour of the Northwest"](http://old.seattletimes.com/html/travel/2021551577_oystertournorthwestxml.html), *Austin American-Statesman*, – via The Seattle Times

### Book sources

- Walsh, Robb (2009). [*Sex, Death and Oysters: A Half-Shell Lover's World Tour*](https://books.google.com/books?id=LRE0En0cC5UC&pg=PA191). Counterpoint Press. ISBN 978-1-58243-555-8.
- Brewer, Karen Gaudette (2014). [*Seafood Lover's Pacific Northwest: Restaurants, Markets, Recipes & Traditions*](https://books.google.com/books?id=-qyDBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA150). Globe Pequot Press. ISBN 978-1-4930-1526-9.
- Nims, Cynthia (2016), [*Oysters: Recipes that Bring Home a Taste of the Sea*](https://books.google.com/books?id=5OysCAAAQBAJ&pg=PT213), [Sasquatch Books](/source/Sasquatch_Books), p. 213, ISBN 9781632170385

## External links

- [Official website](https://taylorshellfishfarms.com/)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Taylor Shellfish Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Shellfish_Company) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Shellfish_Company?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.