the short version
- 2019Idea at Bayfront Park. First pop-ups at Collective Arts.
- 2020Go Shuck Yourself kits. The truck opens on Locke Street.
- 2024Weddings, corporate events and parties across southern Ontario.
- 2026The truck is sold. Catering only, by choice.
How it started
On a sunny afternoon in March 2019, a chef friend of ours was walking through Bayfront Park in Hamilton and thought the city's seafood scene was seriously lacking. The next day he said to us, "Imagine someone pulled up with a wagon and some oysters?" Light bulbs went off for Raffi and Ramsen. That was the day The Shuck Truck was conceived.
We dove into the world of oysters and all things seafood. Restaurants weren't taking it seriously, and for the few that were, it was an afterthought. All Hamilton had to offer at the time was mussels in white wine or cod at the local Portuguese spot.
A few months later we held our first pop-up at Collective Arts Brewing. The first turned into a second and a third, and the success was unimaginable. Then we drove right into COVID, literally.
The truck years
COVID hit the food industry hard and we had to think on our feet. We came up with the now beloved Go Shuck Yourself kit: unshucked oysters, hot sauce, lemon and horseradish, with a shucking tutorial on Instagram. People loved it. We went from trying to pay off the Visa to saving a few dollars to get ourselves up and running.
In May 2020 we pulled up at Bayfront Park to see how people felt about eating seafood outside. Raffi remembers opening the concession window to over 20 people lined up. What we thought might be an uphill battle turned out to be what people had been waiting for. A few weeks later, with one Instagram post and no reservations, we filled an 80-person patio on Locke Street on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday. In August 2020, thanks to Ray at the Bar on Locke, 175 Locke Street South became The Shuck Truck's first permanent home.
2020 to 2026. Sold, not forgotten.
Where we are now
Somewhere in the middle of all those truck years, something else kept happening. People asked us to bring the oysters to them. A wedding cocktail hour here, a corporate night there, a backyard birthday. The live shucking station, the wooden board, a crowd gathered around it. That became the part of the job we loved most.
So in 2026 we sold the truck and moved on. The Shuck Truck is now a catering company, full stop. No window, no line on Locke Street. We bring the live oyster bar to weddings, corporate events and private parties across Hamilton, Toronto and southern Ontario, and every oyster is still shucked to order in front of your guests. Same two guys, same oysters, better venue: yours.
