The San Leon Oyster Festival was founded by Prestige Oyster’s very own Lisa Halili.
CEO Johnny Halili migrated from Albania to the U.S in the 1970’s. Landing in the projects of Chicago, Johnny got his first job at a local car wash. After moving from job to job, Johnny made his way down to Louisiana after hearing of work from his cousin. Having never been on a boat, Johnny began working as a deckhand. After many hard years of working as a deckhand, Johnny Halili bought his first boat – Lady Katherine.
Johnny’s best deckhand was his wife Lisa, together they weathered many cold winters oyster harvesting and hot summers shrimping to create an oyster company unlike any other. In the summer of 2010, Prestige Oysters installed the Quintus 350L high pressure processing machine and Cryo-Quick tunnel to process oysters. In 2013 Johnny acquired Joeys Oyster Company’s state of the art facility with HPP technology in Amite, Louisiana.
At present day, Prestige Oyster’s is still a family run business with Johnny, Lisa and son Raz running day to day operations. Prestige Oyster’s Inc. has two full time processing plants and provides market for over 100 boats stretching from Texas and Louisiana up to Maryland.