Septimiu Pastiu is a dentist with a side hustle. When he’s not fitting crowns or filling molars, he’s tending to 30,000 roe-producing sturgeon at King Caviar, his 9-acre caviar farm in Woolwich Township near Swedesboro.
Pastiu’s first tins of homemade ossetra and Beluga hybrid caviar didn’t hit the mouths of customers until December 2025, nine years after he imported his first fish as fertilized eggs from Germany. By then, he had invested a six-figure sum into several high-tech open-air tanks, each the size of a school bus.
But the way he sees it, he is doing his part to keep joy alive in South Jersey. “You feel in the mood for happiness when caviar is around,” he says. “It’s like the gates of heaven have opened a little bit.”…