Why This Retro Seafood Chain Is So Important For Las Vegas Casinos

People might come to Las Vegas to gamble, but they stick around to eat. The Gambling Capital of the World is chock full of restaurants, with everything from upscale celebrity chef eateries to dining spots that are Keith Lee-approved. A lot of people, though, gravitate toward the best buffets in the city, with the promise of all-you-can-eat deals on prime rib, sushi, and especially seafood. Because fish and shellfish are typically quite expensive when dining out, hungry visitors to Las Vegas load up their plates with items like shrimp, with some estimating they eat up to 60,000 pounds per day. It all begs the question: Where do casinos even find this much seafood for people to consume? Well, one of the suppliers is a retro chain whose headquarters is actually in the Midwest — it's Supreme Lobster.

It's okay if you've never heard of Supreme Lobster; it was founded in 1973, and the company operates behind the scenes, keeping casinos well-supplied with all types of sea creatures, including lobster, scallops, oysters, tuna, clams, enormous crab legs, and so much more. If you're worried about the fish being shipped in from Illinois, Supreme Lobster's headquarters, don't be — the chain maintains a 30,000 square-foot warehouse in Las Vegas, through which 12 million pounds of seafood pass through per year. It's brought in fresh, processed, and then delivered out to casino restaurants up and down the Strip for your edible enjoyment.

Supplying seafood for some of the most popular casinos in Las Vegas has to feel like the cherry on top of a very satisfying sundae for Supreme Lobster. The company is now one of the largest wholesalers of its kind in the country, but it might never have been were it not for a chance encounter by the CEO, Dominic Stramaglia. Stramaglia dipped into a bar after work one day in 1973, and overheard two men discussing their desire to start a seafood import business. However, they needed cash — which Stramaglia offered up. He would become a partner in the new company, eventually buying out the other two to take sole control, and he likely could never have imagined he would change the face of seafood in the country.

Supreme Lobster would eventually grow to include three more processing warehouses in addition to the company HQ in Chicago, including the aforementioned Las Vegas location, as well as in Indiana and Wisconsin. In total, Supreme Lobster sells an estimated 1.1 million pounds of seafood per week, and up to 250,000 pounds per any given day, including to some of the most popular restaurants in the Chicago area.

It's worth mentioning that if you don't have the buying power of a casino or a restaurant, but you do live in or near Chicago, and you want to taste what all the fuss is about, you could visit Supreme Lobster's retail store. Customers say that it sells king crab legs for the best price around.