The Company

Bar Harbor Seafood started in 1986 in the garage of Jeffery Hazell, a native of Marblehead, Mass.  His father and grandfather were commercial lobstermen (picture on left). Out of his central Florida garage, Jeff started to sell live lobsters to a few restaurants.

By 1987, Jeff had moved into a small warehouse, selling thousands of lobsters to supermarkets throughout Florida.  Bar Harbor Seafood has grown to be one of the largest full-line specialty seafood distributor in Florida. 

 The Facility

Located in Orlando's Central Park, Bar Harbor Seafood operates out of a 23,000 square foot building. Approximately seventy-five percent of the building is fully refrigerated and maintained by a full time licensed HVAC engineer.  We will be breaking ground in early 2012 on a new 18,000 sq. ft. addition.

Included in our building is a full production kitchen and bakery, three fresh fish coolers, one live lobster room, one "clean room" for cutting fresh fish and four sub-zero holding freezers.

We use ozonated water to produce our ice and throughout our facility to disinfect surfaces. Studies have shown that use of this process reduces aerobic organisms by 95.5%.

Our administrative offices are located in the same building. We welcome our customers to visit us at any time to tour our facility. Sales and administration operate Monday thru Friday from 6 AM until 5 PM and on Saturday from 7 AM until 9:30 AM.

We also maintain a fleet of 22 refrigerated delivery trucks. 

 The Owner

Jeff arrived in Florida in 1983 after graduating from the University of New Haven with a degree in Hotel & Restaurant Management.  Jeff has continued his relationship with the University by serving on the Board of Governors and supporting the school’s Hospitality Program.  In addition to financial support, Jeff provides seafood to the HazelNut Café and Jeffery’s Fusion Restaurant, both restaurants run by UNH students as part of the Hospitality program.  The following are links to information about the restaurants and the Hazell Center for Hospitality Sales and Event Management: 

http://www.newhaven.edu/alumni/159580/

http://www.newhaven.edu/news-events/130043/

http://www.newhaven.edu/6534/ 

23 years after receiving his Bachelor’s Degree from the University, Jeff was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Business Administration degree in January 2010.