Smith’s Seafood Company, a local seafood distributor, has announced plans to open a carryout restaurant in March next to K May Donuts on U.S. 72 East.

Owner Danny Smith said the customers who frequented the company for fresh seafood convinced him to open the restaurant. Smith’s Seafood has been in business since 1996, mostly supplying local restaurants and markets, though Smith said they entered the Athens retail scene about five years ago.

After March 11, they’ll be able to not only sell the daily catch but also prepare some of it for the customer, too.

“It’s just a little small market,” Smith said. “We’ll have a selection of fresh seafood to come get as well as Cajun meat options.”

Having an onsite kitchen will allow Smith’s Seafood to offer fried catfish, steamed shrimp, fish tacos, crawfish and more. Smith said they send trucks to the coast every couple of days to make sure customers can get seafood that hasn’t been frozen.

“We catch a lot of stuff daily,” he said. “… We specialize in fresh. A lot of it is live when we get it. Blue crab, crawfish — sometimes you even get shrimp that’s still jumping.”

Due to limited space, the restaurant portion of the new location will be carryout only. However, Smith believes the need for more diversity in Athens eateries is enough to make up for it.

“I live in Athens,” Smith said. “I think Athens needs more of a selection, more businesses opening up to bring revenue to the city. There’s just nowhere to eat out here.”

The seafood company can be found on Facebook at @SmithSeafoodCompany or at https://www.smithsseafood.com.