Slapfish brings California seafood flavor to Lehi
Ashley Lim, center, chews her food as she shares a laugh with Amanda Duong, right, and Paul Park, foreground, Saturday, March 11, 2017, at SlapFish in Lehi. ISAAC HALE, Daily Herald
Andrew Gruel, founder of SlapFish and chef, poses for a portrait Saturday, March 11, 2017, in front of SlapFish in Lehi. ISAAC HALE, Daily Herald
Beth Hubler, left, of Lehi, talks with her husband Brian as her son Miles checks out a menu while they wait in line with other customers Saturday, March 11, 2017, at SlapFish in Lehi. The first 100 customers on Friday and Saturday received a free lobster roll. ISAAC HALE, Daily Herald
Michael Hamilton, marketing director at SlapFish, takes a Snapchat of customers as he opens the doors to the restaurant Saturday, March 11, 2017 at SlapFish in Lehi. ISAAC HALE, Daily Herald
Isabela Maldonado, 5, laughs with her father Mike Maldonado as he steals a fry from her while her mother Andrea Lopez watches Saturday, March 11, 2017, at SlapFish in Lehi. ISAAC HALE, Daily Herald
Michael Hamilton, marketing director at SlapFish, hands out coupons for a free lobster roll Saturday, March 11, 2017, at SlapFish in Lehi. The first 100 customers on Friday and Saturday received a free lobster roll. ISAAC HALE, Daily Herald
Kristalynn Appiah, of Provo, gives her sister a questioning thumbs-up as she bites into a lobster roll Saturday, March 11, 2017 at SlapFish in Lehi. ISAAC HALE, Daily Herald
Andrew Gruel, founder of SlapFish and chef, poses for a portrait Saturday, March 11, 2017 in front of SlapFish in Lehi. ISAAC HALE, Daily Herald
Though the name evokes some sort of painful action reminiscent of a kids’ show, Slapfish in Lehi is anything but.
Slapfish is a fast casual fresh seafood restaurant focused on “boat-to-plate” service. Chef Andrew Gruel founded Slapfish in 2011 as a food truck in Orange County, California, after starting a sustainable seafood nonprofit program. He worked directly with fishing boats to create a direct supply chain for seafood.
“We cut out the middleman, and got as close to the fishermen as possible,” he said of the program.
That push inspired him to first create a restaurant model based on this supply chain. He started with a food truck, but quickly expanded to seven restaurant locations within Southern California. Each time, the goal of expansion was to bring people closer to truly fresh and healthy seafood.
“With all of our seafood, we can tell you the fishing method and fishing vessel used to catch it,” Gruel said. “All of our fish also has a very low mercury count. There’s a lot of science that goes into how we choose our food.”
Gruel works with almost 50 different docks to manage a continuous supply of flash-frozen-at-sea fish. The fish served daily in Slapfish’s new Lehi restaurant is the same used in California.
“The irony is that none of the seafood sold in California comes from California. But knowing the fishermen and the fish stock leads to its freshness,” he added.
When Gruel was looking to expand the restaurant chain outside of Southern California, oddly enough, he thought of Utah. Lehi is the first out-of-state restaurant for the Slapfish chain, and Gruel hinted that he’s looking at a second location somewhere in Salt Lake County.
Expanding to Utah made sense, Gruel said, because almost 40 percent of his spring and summer California customer base hails from Utah, “so everyone already knows about it.” He also partnered with HN Capital in Salt Lake City, a development group locally known for bringing the Five Guys hamburger franchise to Utah. Gruel says Slapfish is simply the seafood version of Five Guys’ fast casual fresh food concept.
“We were looking for similar fresh concepts and our director of development heard of Slapfish,” said Michael Hamilton, associate director at HN. “They went out and tried it, and fell in love with the concept immediately.”
The Slapfish menu consists of standard signature offerings and a rotating round of fresh catches. For those, customers choose their fish of choice and their service option — a bowl, salad or sandwich. Almost everything is handmade, even down to the pickles. Those are made daily, using a special 24-hour recipe.
“We like to take dishes that people already know and are approachable, and do our own spin on them,” Gruel said. “The goal is to get people to eat more of the right types of seafood.”
Slapfish is a family-run operation — his first employee who drove the original food truck still works with him, now managing operations in Orange County. Gruel was on hand for the Slapfish Lehi grand opening Saturday, after months spent training the Utah crew. He is heading back to California soon to manage his other locations, but is confident in the Lehi location because of HN’s help, he said. He also intends to keep the family feel of the restaurant as he continues to expand this year into South Korea and the United Kingdom.
“We’re growing together, and we’re learning a lot from them,” Gruel said of the HN Capital partnership and his expansion plans.
Slapfish is located on Digital Drive near Thanksgiving Point, and currently is one of the few seafood eateries in the Lehi area.
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