It all started in the late 1970's, when the spouses Lagnell decided to quit their former jobs in Gothenburg and instead focus on breeding salmon. In the south of Sweden, they started with small amounts of rainbow trout, which they then grew to 7-8 pound size, which at the time was rather unusual. With their own farms, they could in addition to exporting salmon to Europe also open a small shop in Heberg, with daily deliveries of fresh salmon.  After a while the farms were phased out and the salmon was imported from Norway instead. The shop grew as the years went by and the product range was also extended with products that did not need cooking but were ready to eat. When customers began to eat the products they bought in their cars, the idea for a restaurant was born.

1996, when the new motorway was built, Laxbutiken moved and built a larger restaurant with seventy seats. Again, the business grew and the sons Jonas and Jerker also began to work full time in the business. In 2003 a branch opened in Bohuslän Ljungskile with the same concept as in Halland After a few more years both larger and more modern premises were needed in order to develop the business, so in 2009 a brand new restaurant was built in Heberg with a larger kitchen, restaurant, shop and new meeting rooms. In addition, the interior got a more modern impression which also was applied in the Ljungskile restaurant one year later.

From a small deli and lunch restaurant with 12 seats, Laxbutiken has now grown into a 3,500 square-meter facility with 600 seats and has also expanded in several places along the West Coast, the latest being "Lilla Laxen" in Kungsbacka which is a more fast food oriented restaurant.

Laxbutiken is still a family business, and since 2000 the sons Jonas and Jerker Lagnell manage the business.