Hog Island Oyster Co., a beloved Bay Area seafood institution, was featured Sunday in one of the year’s most high-profile advertising slots: a Super Bowl commercial.
The restaurant and oyster farm appeared in Google’s “50 States, 50 Stories” campaign, which highlights businesses across the country leveraging artificial intelligence, specifically Google Workspace and Gemini, to enhance their operations.
The ad, which aired during Super Bowl LIX, showcases Hog Island’s oyster farming operations with sweeping views of Tomales Bay, workers harvesting oysters and customers enjoying fresh seafood.
Founded nearly 40 years ago by John Finger, Hog Island began as a modest 5-acre lease in Tomales Bay. With a background in marine biology and restaurant work, Finger sought to combine his love of the ocean with his passion for food, according to the Marin Independent Journal.
Over the coming decades, he expanded the business to encompass 250 acres of intertidal lands and five restaurant locations, harvesting and selling over five million oysters and Manila clams annually.
While committed to traditional aquaculture, Hog Island has embraced AI as a tool to refine its processes. The company, a longtime Google Workspace user, has recently incorporated Google Gemini to analyze decades of data on inventory, weather patterns and oyster growth cycles — tasks that were once time-consuming and labor-intensive. Rather than replacing hands-on expertise, AI is an enhancement, allowing the team to make informed decisions while still focusing on sustainable farming and customer experience.
For Finger and his team, the integration of AI means spending less time processing data and more time doing what they do best: growing world-class oysters and connecting with their community.
Hog Island Oyster Co. has five locations across the Bay Area. Last year, it opened its newest location in the form of a pickup window in Petaluma (419 First St., Suite B). hogislandoysters.com