Tom Hutchinson isn't ready to give up on fish.
The lifelong fishmonger, 60, works 16-hour days, seven days a week, darting between the his Minneapolis home, Duluth, and Bayfield, Wisconsin. It's all in service of his third crack at the concessions business, this time with a newly launched food truck called Out of the Blue Co.
Hutchinson believes the concept—a roving destination for fresh Lake Superior-sourced fish—has never been attempted in Minnesota. (True fish-knowers might counter with North Superior Fishery in Grand Marais; true pedants know that's more of a stand.)
"There's not much out there, period, for fresh Lake Superior fish, and I don't think there's anything food truck-wise even close," he says. "We've got some of the best fish in the world in our own backyard, and nobody's selling it."
After three years of plotting and prepping, Out of the Blue hit the streets of Duluth for the first time earlier this year, and locals are raving about his whitefish creole, citrus grilled lake trout, and whitefish po'boys. Every recipe comes from Hutchinson, a veteran of restaurant kitchens; every dish gets cooked and served by him, too.
"People love it," says Hutchinson, a licensed commercial forager whose chanterelles pop up on the menu. "I'm on a busy road, and most of my customers are from that direct neighborhood, but I'm starting to see a few more tourists."
The process isn't easy on the proprietor, who secures fresh Lake Superior fish dockside at Bodin Fisheries in Bayfield, unloads the "pristine, perfect" product over three days from inside a Star Tribune delivery truck he retrofit himself, and then starts the process all over again the next week. "I've still got a lot of energy," he laughs, noting that he crashes with his Duluth-based son or at nearby campsites.
Hutchinson fell in love with seafood 40 years ago while working at a Colorado fish market. Throughout the '90s, after "basically begging" for a job, he mastered the fishmonger trade at Coastal Seafoods in Minneapolis. When a girlfriend told him about a killer blackened whitefish sandwich she'd enjoyed in Bayfield, his first light-bulb biz idea flashed. "At the time, I was a total fish snob and figured: We can do better than that," he says.
So Hutchinson started the Big Daddy Creole food truck, which eventually sputtered out. Years later he'd relaunch the truck and post some "incredible" profits working the regional festival/fair scene, but that business went under as well. Food truck culture hadn't really taken hold yet, he reasons, and business partners complicated the finances.
The idea for Out of the Blue emerged during a Boundary Waters trip with buddies a few years back. Hutchinson believes deeply in the concept, and he was willing to bet on himself for a third time.
"I realized, after coming full circle, that we have some of the best fish in the world here—whitefish, I'm all in on whitefish," he says. "I realized maybe I can do this."
This first summer on Superior Street has been a hit, Hutchinson says. While the website remains a work in progress and social media accounts tend to idle, Out of the Blue is doing "fantastic" numbers. After regrouping this winter, Hutchinson says he'll spend 2027 hitting as many festivals as possible, including South Dakota's Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. At some point he hopes to bring it all back home to Minneapolis.
"I don't ever wanna do Sysco, those types of places—I'm a believer in great food," he says. "I'm hoping to change the culture one truck at a time; becoming an iconic Minneapolis brand... that's the goal."
Out of the Blue
Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fri.-Sun.
Location: 5231 E. Superior St., Duluth
