Nation’s oldest supplier struggles to stay afloat

NEW ORLEANS — P&J Oyster Company sits in the business district of downtown New Orleans in the historic French Quarter and has for more than a century.

The company was founded in 1876, which is the same year the first telephone call was made, when this country had only 38 states.

A lot has happened since then but nothing, not even Hurricane Katrina, has forced the family-run business to the verge of shattering until now.

BP, responsible for the Deepwater Horizon explosion April 20 killing 11 men and contaminating miles of water in the Gulf of Mexico, also shares a part in the impending demise of a 134-year-old oyster house.

In an effort to keep the oil gushing in the gulf from coming upstream, state officials flushed many inland areas with water from the Mississippi River.

This might have spared oil dispersion from heading toward P&J's oyster beds, but the changed ratio of freshwater and saltwater is killing the oysters.

Sal Sunseri, co-vice president with his brother, Al Sunseri, said this is a Catch-22 because "BP may tell you ‘well, the state did that on their own' but that's not the case."

He said it takes three to five years for oysters to come back after a freshwater diversion.

Still, other oyster beds that were known to be productive are closed, causing the company's suppliers to limit the oysters available.

Another looming problem, Al Sunseri explained, is the undersized oysters that were being sold this summer. The crop isn't quite mature yet.

"We've begun this cycle of taking the crop that should remain in the water," he said.

Brothers Al and Sal Sunseri halted its shucking and oyster distribution business in June despite being the most popular supplier in the area.

The brothers and a sister are following in the footsteps of their father Sal and grandfather Alfred Sunseri, who had a share in the company since the early 1930s. He worked alongside P&J Oyster Company founders John Popich and Joseph Jurisich.

Louisiana is the largest producer of oysters in the nation. Or it was.

"We don't have any more oysters," Al Sunseri said Aug. 16 in the now silent historic oyster house.

This summer, Al Sunseri said, the company has cut hours by half and has had to tell employees, including family members, that there isn't any work.

The brothers and co-owners are in a difficult position. "It's a family business, and we treat it that way and probably even more than other family businesses because our success is their success," he said.

He explained that he's known a couple of the employees for at least 15 years, others for well over 20 years. "If we make more money, they make more money," he said. "Their hard work is what has made us successful."

This morning, several feet away, his workers are painting and cleaning an empty work space that has seen 30,000 oysters a day.

The few oysters the Sunseris have found recently are an entirely different species and hail from the Pacific. The oysters are much smaller and taste different, he said. This is not at all what oyster-lovers have come to expect from P&J. "It's a different product," he said.

Al Sunseri said the company has proved it can make it through any natural disaster.

He said after Hurricane Katrina the company was back up and running a few weeks after the city reopened even though a lot of his employees didn't come back right away. "I came here every day," he said.

It was just Al and his son and wife, Sal and a couple of other workers who kept P&J open after the hurricane, Al Sunseri said. "But we made it through all that, and we were still able to keep our business successful."

Now five years later, the family business struggles to keep its doors open. When asked about whether the company can survive, Al Sunseri replied, "As long as I get oysters,"he said. "Yes, I'll be here every day and I'm going to probably do whatever I can."

The city's zoning laws are now a threat. The company has to operate to maintain its position in the French Quarter.

Now the company faces legal action from the city if they cannot get an exemption from the city council. "You know, it's just another little thing we have to deal with," he said.

Al Sunseri said the community's support is "huge."

"I've walked through this door almost every day of my life for the last 31 years," he said. "I'll still come here."

Sal Sunseri said for now the company will just pray that some of the areas were not affected by oil and freshwater and come back more quickly.

For more information, go to www.oysterlover.com.