Cameron's Seafood Market facts for kids

The original location, and current main office, of Cameron's Seafood Market in Rockville, Maryland
Quick facts for kids Restaurant information
Established	1985
Current owner(s)	Allen and Bijan Manesh
Food type	Seafood
Street address	875 Hungerford Drive (main office)
City	Rockville, Maryland
County	Montgomery
State	Maryland
Postal/ZIP code	20850
Country	United States
Multiple locations in Maryland, Pennsylvania

Cameron's Seafood Market is a popular company that sells yummy seafood! It started in Rockville, Maryland, and now has restaurants and even delivers seafood to homes. It began in 1985 as one small family shop. Over the years, it grew a lot! Now, it has many locations in Maryland and Pennsylvania, plus food trucks and a service that ships seafood all over the United States.

Cameron's is super famous for its Maryland Blue Crabs and crab cakes. They sell huge amounts every year: over 150,000 crab cakes, 500,000 pounds of shrimp, and 75,000 bushels of live blue crabs! More than a million customers have enjoyed their seafood. In 2017, Forbes magazine even called Cameron's seafood one of the "Best Food Gifts"!

How Cameron's Seafood Started

Cameron's Seafood was founded in 1985 by Allen Manesh. He came to the United States from Iran in 1975. Allen first worked in real estate, buying and selling properties. But he wanted to try something new and sell food too.

He bought some land in Rockville and first thought about starting a fruit stand with his brother Bijan. After learning more and getting advice from a sea captain, Allen decided to open a seafood market instead. He named it after his first son, Cameron.

Growing the Business

Over the years, the business grew a lot! It added more restaurant locations and several food trucks. They also started delivering seafood to other businesses. By 2017, Cameron's had about twelve locations in Maryland and Pennsylvania, including four food trucks.

Cameron's works directly with crabbers (people who catch crabs) and seafood suppliers. Crabs are usually caught in the Chesapeake Bay area of Maryland. Each morning, they are shipped to the Rockville location. There, the crabs are sorted and cooked, mostly by steaming.

The company has a special "True Blue Maryland Crab Meat" ranking from the Maryland Department of Agriculture. This means their crab meat is truly from Maryland. During Maryland's off-season (from December to March), the crabs they serve are either flash-frozen from earlier in the year or shipped from warmer places like North Carolina, Florida, Texas, or Louisiana.

The Cameron's location in Capital Heights sells the most seafood. It's right across from the football stadium FedExField. When the Washington Redskins (now Washington Commanders) play, business at this store goes up by 50%! Fans often buy a bushel of crabs to enjoy during the game.

Seafood Online Store

In June 2017, Allen's son Cameron (who was 37) and his cousin Peymon (who was 28) started a new part of the business. They launched an online store to sell seafood across the United States. Their goal was to take orders online and ship seafood directly to people's homes.

You can buy both raw and cooked seafood from their online store. They also offer ingredients and recipes. Cameron, who is also in charge of the family's real estate business, studied business at the University of Maryland.

The online sales for Cameron's Seafood were expected to be over $2 million in 2018. The internet business has eight full-time employees. They also work with many teams of fishermen and have their own place to prepare food. They ship seafood to all 50 states!

Their online seafood is very popular with people who used to live in Maryland but moved away. Athletes and people who eat a lot of protein also love their seafood. For example, former NBA basketball star Gilbert Arenas regularly orders about $2,000 worth of crab meat from Cameron's each month! In 2017, Forbes magazine again listed Cameron's on its "Best Food Gifts" list.

See also

• List of seafood restaurants