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Sustainability is at the forefront of everything Raz Halili does. Growing up along Galveston Bay in San Leon—roughly 40 miles from Houston—he developed an early reverence for the ocean and everything in it, especially the oyster reef. These reefs are home to sea critters of all sorts, and he was fascinated by how each oyster could filter gallons of water in a day and help protect the coast from erosion and storm surges. Oysters, he’d learn, were an important part of the world’s ecosystem.

Now, in his adult years, he’s working hard to make sure others understand its importance, too. Other outlets have called him the “prince” of the oyster industry, a world he was born into. “From an early age, it was embedded in me,” he says.

His father, Johnny Halili, came to America from Albania in the 1970s and eventually settled in Louisiana, where he found work as a deckhand and met his wife, Lisa. Together, the two founded the renowned fishery Prestige Oysters. Halili is now part of the family business and has helped take it to the next level, with his San Leon restaurant, Pier 6 Seafood & Oyster House. 

Originally, his parents wanted him to focus on his education, holding off on officially bringing him into the family business until after graduation. Still, Halili was always enamored by their work. His parents would often find him picking up small jobs—cleaning the dock, unloading boats, packing trucks—and, at 16, captaining his own boat. 

Despite his deep love for oysters and family, Halili still wasn’t sure if this life was for him. As a teen and young adult, he was passionate about soccer. He played Division I soccer at Houston Christian University (formerly Houston Baptist University), and from there, he traveled around Europe, fielding offers from various leagues. Nothing panned out. “I wanted to be at the top, or I was done with football … so I made that decision,” he says. 

Halili made his way back home and dove headfirst into the family business—a move he credits to his Albanian roots. “We’re very family-oriented, so it’s in your DNA,” he says. “Whatever your family’s doing, you’re going to be involved in it. Respect is also a massive deal to us, and respecting what my parents built and the help that they needed, [it] was another thought that was always in my mind.”

After graduation, Halili worked for Prestige in sales and as a delivery truck driver, covering Houston routes in hopes of expanding the business locally. This proved helpful as Prestige evolved into a national broadline distributor. Today, it is one of the largest processors of oysters, supplying several Houston restaurants, including Little’s Oyster Bar and Josephine’s, as well as major markets such as Whole Foods and Walmart.

Shortly after joining Prestige, he witnessed the disastrous 2010 BP oil spill. While the coast experienced some damage, many of the effects were seen miles offshore. Prestige’s product recovered quickly, but many people weren’t informed about the spill’s far-reaching effects. Halili was determined to inform them. Hurricane Ike in 2008 had already shown him how little most people understood about the destruction that extended beyond what was visible on land.

About five years in, he took his conservation efforts further. He and his family had always understood the value of sustainability. Prestige has long practiced shell recycling, enriching the reefs with limestone to support natural growth, and avoiding overfishing. Take a trip on one of their oyster boats, and you’ll witness the process: a rake-like device sweeps the top layer of oyster beds as crews sort through the catch, keeping only market-sized adult oysters before returning the rest to the water to grow, mature, and be harvested.

Still, the company hadn’t officially used the term “sustainability” to describe its efforts until the mid-2010s. Something about it didn’t sit right with Halili. “Everybody, whatever they were selling, it was ‘sustainable.’ And it got me to think, ‘Well, is that what we sound like as a company? Just throwing the word out there?’” he says.

Searching for answers, he found the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), a nonprofit that sets the “gold standard” for sustainable fishing practices that don’t harm the environment or other species but, in fact, help replenish the ecosystem. He pursued the MSC certification, knowing it would be an involved process. “It was a perfect match for us,” he said in an interview with MSC. “What I was searching for was something that could look at our fishery, look at what we’re doing, and offer comfort to our consumers, knowing that this is a third-party organization putting their stamp of approval on our sustainability efforts.”

Three years later, in 2019, Halili completed the certification, earning Prestige Oysters the title of the first and only MSC-certified private oyster fishery in America.

The certification was barely done before his eye was on the next prize. While deep in that process, Halili acquired the waterfront property that he would transform into Pier 6 Seafood & Oyster House. He wanted to lease the location out, but he had no takers. “No one wanted to touch it with a 10-foot pole. Everybody said, ‘[It’s] doomed. … It’ll never make it,’” he says.

He decided to defy the odds himself. Lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic gave him the time he needed to renovate, and on November 5, 2020, with the help of chef Joe Cervantez, formerly of Brennan’s of Houston, Halili opened Pier 6 Seafood & Oyster House.

The restaurant offers a true “tide-to-table experience,” with seafood harvested straight from the Gulf and stunning views of the pier and San Leon coast. Highlights include shucked oysters served raw and grilled, prepared with special toppings such as Sriracha, habanero butter, and fresh herbs, as well as seafood dishes like snapper crudo, crab cakes, seafood pasta, and grilled redfish.

In the years since the spill, the Halilis have committed more than $10 million and some 400 million pounds of cultch—shell material used to seed new oyster growth—toward reef restoration along the Texas coast. And in 2023, his mother, Lisa, established Rett Reef, a 10-acre non-harvestable oyster restoration project and sanctuary reef off the coast of San Leon—the first in Texas to be established by a private company.

Halili is working on expanding his restaurant portfolio. In 2024, he revived Galveston’s beachy, fast-casual Fish Company Taco, which closed in October 2023 after its former owner faced financial hardship. “The tacos were great—phenomenal—I loved them, and so did everyone locally, and I didn’t want to see it go away,” he says. 

Not far from the seawall, the Galveston spot features an eclectic lineup of aguas frescas, frozens, and its original signature fish and/or shrimp tacos in different styles: the Dirty South (corn relish, Zapp’s Cajun Crawtators, pimento cheese), the Baja (lime crème fraiche, Mexipickle, cabbage, ranchero salsa), and the Empire—Hunan-style barbecue sauce, green onion, and cilantro.

Next on the horizon is Parkwood American Grille, a Friendswood restaurant set to open this spring with seafood and specialty steaks. Still, Prestige Oysters remains the foundation. Today, Prestige runs two processing plants and a fleet of more than 100 boats working waters from the Gulf Coast up to Maryland. Halili’s biggest accomplishment, he’ll tell you—after his wife and kids—is what he helped build there.

“There’s always going to be a curveball,” he says. “There’s always going to be people giving you advice [saying] that it can’t be done, but if it’s something you truly believe in, you have to fight for that idea and continue pushing on.”