How I Delivered Seafood to The Masters When Everything Went Wrong

As an entrepreneur in the seafood industry, I’ve faced my fair share of challenges. But nothing quite prepared me for the ordeal of delivering seafood to The Masters in Augusta, GA.

I had been working closely with Chef and his R&D team for months to build the perfect menu, coupled with the ultimate seasonal seafood items. We’re talking about sourcing products from Tasmania, Spain, Washington, Massachusetts, and California, all getting delivered to The Masters Tournament in Augusta. Everything was going to plan, or so I thought. I put the seafood on a direct flight from LAX to ATL via Delta (Is there a more reliable airline to get to Atlanta?!), which was supposed to arrive in Augusta with plenty of time for Chef to prepare this ultra VIP dinner.

But as luck would have it, the flight from LAX got diverted to Oklahoma City due to mass illness on the plane. Literally, imagine the movie Airplane, this is what happened on the flight with my seafood.

And of course, Delta wouldn’t release the package, leaving me in a bind. I had invested countless hours, effort, and money into sourcing these specialty seafood items, and I couldn’t just let my customer down in the 4th quarter.

Instead of giving up, I knew I had to do everything in my power to make it right. I refused to accept that my chef wasn’t going to receive the product, especially with the dinner only hours away. So at 7pm the night before the dinner, I made a decision that would change everything.

I decided to drive an hour to LA, find more product, and personally get on the last red-eye out of LA to hand-deliver the product to the chef in Augusta. I mapped everything out and determined that I could pull it off if I left immediately, but just BARELY. It was a crazy plan, and it meant sacrificing sleep, time, and a lot of $$$.

But I knew that doing right by my customer would be worth it.

I shockingly made it to the airport, bought a ticket to Atlanta at the gate, and checked in my “luggage” (it was straight fish!).

After a grueling red-eye, with the child behind me screaming the whole flight, I finally landed in Atlanta. On the plane, I was staring out the window waiting and looking for reassurance that my pressure cargo had made it. Thankfully, I could finally rest easy, when I saw the package getting carried off the plane.

I rented a car, and started my 3 hour journey to Augusta — exhausted, but relieved as soon as my precious luggage (AKA all the fish) was in my possession. Once I made it to Augusta, I was greeted with smiles and handshakes from the grateful chef and his team, who were amazed that I had gone to such lengths to deliver the seafood. More than anything, they were just in shock, as I never told them that I was coming or that anything had gone awry. My job is to get the product there, and never put the burden/stress on them so long as I know I can get the job done.

Looking back, I realize that this experience taught me a valuable lesson about entrepreneurship and customer service. Shit never goes to plan. It seems rare at this point that everything goes off without a hitch. It’s SO easy to give up when faced with obstacles. I was so tempted to just stay at home, enjoy dinner with my wife, and just tell chef that he’d have to find another option. But true entrepreneurs never give up. Even when your back is up against the wall, there’s always another option.

In the end, I learned that doing right by your customer means doing whatever it takes to make them happy, even if it means traveling coast to coast to hand-deliver the goods. It may not always be easy and it rarely makes sense in the moment, but it’s always worth it.