The Old-School Seafood Chain That Supplies Many Of Las Vegas' Casinos

While Las Vegas is hundreds of miles away from the Pacific Ocean, and even farther from the Atlantic, many people find that no trip to the Vegas Strip is complete without eating some seafood. From a classic, fancy-feeling shrimp cocktail appetizer for just $2 at Circus Circus, to unlimited crab and lobster at Vegas' largest spread, the Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars Palace, there's something about seafood and Sin City that just makes sense. But where does all this seafood, even the bits eventually tossed to pigs, come from? One major supplier of Las Vegas casinos' seafood is an old-school Midwestern chain called Supreme Lobster.

Founded in Illinois in 1973, Supreme Lobster is a major wholesale seafood distributor, but also operates one retail store in Villa Park, Illinois — home to the company's corporate headquarters. Supreme Lobster has wholesale locations in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Nevada, with the last one providing a convenient hub for the gargantuan seafood demands of the Las Vegas casinos. Speaking to the Las Vegas Sun in 2018, Andrew Goodman, Supreme Lobster vice president, estimated that the company delivered roughly 20,000 pounds of shrimp per day to Las Vegas' Caesars properties alone. The company also supplies other major operators like MGM, Station Casinos, and Boyd Gaming with fresh seafood delivered within 12 to 24 hours of being pulled from the water.

Supreme Lobster founder Dominic Stramaglia wasn't always an expert in seafood. A pinball machine and ping pong table salesman and repairman, he decided to invest in a lobster business after hearing about the opportunity in his favorite bar. It wasn't an initial success. In fact, Stramaglia's first-ever purchase of live lobsters in 1973 was a disaster. He didn't make any mistakes when buying the lobsters, but problems arose because he stored them in a kids' wading pool. Thanks to a burned-out compressor, the crustaceans were belly-up within a day.

But Stramaglia didn't let an initial setback discourage him, and kept on trying until he succeeded. Today, Supreme Lobster is still a family-owned business in its third generation, and the owners are proud of the product. Jonathan Stramaglia, grandson of Dominic and executive vice president at Supreme Lobster, told the Digital Social Hour podcast in 2025 that Chicago and Las Vegas are his favorite places to enjoy seafood, since Supreme Lobster is supplying high-quality ingredients to these cities. While the business also supplies restaurant groups like Lettuce Entertain You and Levy, Supreme Lobster also has a devoted retail fan base in the Chicago area. Users on the r/chicagofood subreddit recommend it as "a fantastic spot to grab stuff to make at home," with one user saying that they would "happily run to Supreme" for fresh seafood.