His seafood caravans, such as the one near the University of WA, are part of the Perth landscape.
Less known is that the man who pioneered the ramshackle institutions that for decades have supplied the city with prawns and crabs is one of the savviest investors in small mining companies.
The story of Rick Indrisie, or "Rick the Fish" as he is known, is a genuine rags-to-riches tale.
A few months ago, Mr Indrisie's fortune ballooned, thanks to another come-from-nothing story - Sirius Resources.
In July, a stake in Sirius held by an investment syndicate headed by Mr Indrisie was worth $300,000. Today, that same parcel of shares is valued at more than $20 million.
It would be tempting to think of Mr Indrisie as an overnight success, courtesy of a canny stock pick.
But inquiries by _The Weekend West _reveal a very different story - one that was 35 years in the making.
It began in the late 1970s when 21-year-old Mr Indrisie operated the initial caravan out of Guildford, serving seafood lovers of the Hills and surrounds.
After lining up for fresh prawns, customers would often whisper to each other about how lucrative the caravan must be.
As it turns out, it did pretty well. The money it generated, once invested, did even better.
Today, Mr Indrisie is the director of a mining-focused investment syndicate called Perth Select Seafoods, which, according to research by _The Weekend West _, has an estimated value of about $50 million.
The investment arm is separate from Mr Indrisie's seafood wholesale business of the same name.
Instead of scooping prawns behind the counter, Mr Indrisie now supplies caravans around Perth, including the van near the banks of the Swan River at Crawley.
The members of the Perth Select Seafoods syndicate are unknown, with Mr Indrisie listed as the sole director of the company.
The 56-year-old shies away from the spotlight and declined to be interviewed.
But those close to him tell stories of a disciplined, hard-working straight shooter who started investing in stocks at the age of 23.
His friends say that after being kicked out of school, Mr Indrisie started from scratch, working seven days a week for nearly 40 years in order to build his empire into what it is today.
He is super fit, still playing veterans' football, and in 2011 he completed the Kokoda Trail. His success in the investment game has come despite having no mining industry experience.
Instead, he has followed the careers of a select few Perth resources identities.
One of them is WA's newest billionaire, Mark Creasy.
Mr Creasy owes his recent success to Sirius, which shot into the limelight after a recent nickel discovery near Norseman.
The find has increased Mr Creasy's wealth by about $680 million.
Mr Indrisie and the Perth Select Seafood syndicate followed Mr Creasy's lead and invested in Sirius before its recent discovery, a time when its share price was measured in small cents, not big dollars.
The syndicate has a 2.94 per cent stake in the company, or about 5.17 million shares. In early July, that stake was worth about $300,000. Last week, it was worth $25 million.
Despite rising from 5¢ a share to nearly $5 a share in less than eight months, those close to Sirius suggest its share price will run even further.
The syndicate has investments in another dozen or so mostly small Perth-based resources companies.
Investments in small resources stocks are turbulent at the best of times and they can go off faster than an old prawn in the hot sun.
As Mr Creasy suggested in a recent interview, investing in small stocks is like taking a punt at the track - you do your best to reduce your risk of failure, but failure is the norm.
Rick the Fish has ensured he has a natural hedge against any dud mining investments - a solid work ethic. And a fair few seafood lovers.
