Named after a time period that pays homage to the wives of fishermen who traditionally offered their husbands’ catches at markets, Fishwife has given tinned fish a second life nobody might have predicted.
As a lot of the U.S. was busy perfecting sourdough and banana bread recipes throughout COVID-19, music enterprise marketer Becca Millstein and her then-roommate, author and podcaster Caroline Goldfarb (who has since departed the model), have been centered on one thing else of their Los Angeles condo: tinned fish.
Permission granted by Fishwife
Millstein grew to like the oily treats throughout a semester overseas in Spain and commenced incorporating tinned fish into the pair’s pandemic “woman dinners.” For 2 health-conscious younger ladies, it was the right meals — straightforward so as to add to a bevy of dishes or snacked on straight out of the can.
“Our mission could be very a lot to be the model that is synonymous with tinned fish within the U.S.,” Millstein mentioned. “However the street from noticing a niche to filling that hole in a very unfamiliar business wasn’t straightforward. There was an incredible studying curve.”
Because the hashtag #girldinner idea took off, because of pandemic-era TikTok, so did the concept of straightforward, ready-to-eat meals that have been additionally aesthetic. Whereas tinned fish was an enormous class within the U.S. with $2.6 billion in annual gross sales in 2021, per Grand View Analysis, the class wasn’t seen as ripe for upheaval or innovation.
However Millstein had an “aha second” when she observed that the entire tinned fish cans she was shopping for have been produced by European manufacturers.
Recognizing a distinct segment, Millstein and Goldfarb launched Fishwife in 2020.
What distinguished it was not solely its emphasis on sustainability and provide chain transparency, but additionally its distinctive, vibrant and colourful tins. With quick social media recognition, the direct-to-consumer firm rapidly caught the eye of publications resembling Vogue and the New York Instances.
Millstein spent a month chatting with advisers, then got here up with the concept to check the market with a minimal viable product they known as the Beta Field. In essence, the model’s look was developed earlier than sourcing.
“This was a branded field — I would already employed (illustrator) Danny [Miller] and we would created the preliminary model identification — and crammed it with tinned fish samples from our potential suppliers,” Millstein mentioned.
The product offered out virtually instantly.
Millstein’s aim has been to raise the status of tinned seafood within the U.S. to get American customers to view it the way in which European customers do, however with a sexy twist.
She began researching moral sourcing and making a sustainable provide chain.
“A few of our cannery companions have been in enterprise for nearly 100 years,” Millstein famous. “For instance, in Spain, the canneries we work with have identified the people who personal these fishing boats for generations, so that they’re getting our anchovies or tuna proper off the port. It is 100% traceable.”
Millstein introduced her concept on Shark Tank in 2023. As a part of her pitch, Millstein disclosed that Fishwife earned $750,000 in 2021 and $2.6 million the next 12 months. It was on observe to make $5.8 million in 2023.
Millstein’s Shark Tank look offered an enormous development spike in addition to monetary backing from Lori Greiner and Sprinkles founder Candace Nelson.
Having a direct-to-consumer enterprise was like having a built-in focus group to start with, Millstein mentioned. This was pivotal to the model’s success.
“When you’re not asking your buyer about each single main choice you are making, you are lacking out in your most dear informational useful resource,” Millstein mentioned.
Her advertising and marketing expertise proved pivotal and shifting from the music enterprise into the CPG area wasn’t as disparate an concept as anticipated.
“I used to be doing model partnerships and advertising and marketing in music, so it is all very transferable,” she mentioned.
This lighthearted method to what had been thought-about by some, a stodgy class, has made Fishwife the quickest rising tinned fish model within the channel, in line with Millstein.
Leslie Zane, CEO of Triggers Model Consulting, a agency that helps enhance a model’s notion available in the market, has labored with a whole bunch of CPG manufacturers over her greater than 20 years in advertising and marketing. She is impressed by Fishwife’s product and Millstein’s advertising and marketing.
“It’s comparatively straightforward to take market share from legacy gamers,” Zane mentioned. “However she’s beginning a motion that’s bringing new customers and youthful ladies into the class as a result of she’s making it cool to eat tinned fish. She’s serving to develop the class — that’s the toughest factor to do.”
