Barry Furuseth- Blu Fresh Fish Marketplace

Flavors of Northwest Arkansas

This week, we’re at Blu in Bentonville, where we’re talking fresh fish and the career of its owner/operator, Barry Furuseth.

Barry has always been in the fish business, going all the way back to his childhood cleaning fish for tourists on the Minnesota lake where he grew up.

After a few years of college, he decided to get back to work, and back to fish. He sold fish door-to-door, and as he put it, absolutely loved it.

He continued to sell fish on the west coast, first in the Bay Area, and then in LA. At both places, he was a fish wholesaler and made long-lasting contacts from the captains of the boats.

He then moved to Arkansas. He’ll tell us how he ended up here – it’s a good story.

Also, he tells stories about getting Blu off the ground, which turned into much more than he thought it would. Speaking of that, he has more restaurants with more in the works.

And those fish contacts from the boats back in the day? He still has them, and they send what they catch to Bentonville…. Fast.

And finally, Barry has some sound business advice for us.

He’s an awfully busy man, who was just getting over bronchitis when we spoke, but he powered through for us, and we’re thankful that he did. We hope that you give it a listen!