‘Our booze-infused business gives smoked salmon a rock and roll persona’
James Eagle started smoking fish in his backyard in Camberwell in 2014.
As a medical equipment salesman, James Eagle traveled throughout Scandinavia and frequently encountered salmon or gravlax as the “main event” on menus.
In the UK it felt like thinly cut smoked salmon was a side note on our plates. “I always thought it was a shame,” Eagle says.
Leaving his sales job in 2013 allowed Eagle to set up a smokehouse in a small shed beneath his garden in Camberwell, London, which evolved from a hobby into the birth of his own artisan brand, The Pished Fish.
Read more: Gardeners tell us our seed business is ‘not what people want, it’s Love’
“When you eat a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel in the UK, you can taste the cream cheese and bagel,” adds Eagle. “I likened it to thin smoked salmon almost melting into the bagel.”
Eagle, who did not finish college, worked for drum and bass label Good Looking Records in the early 2000s and worked as PA for LTJ Bukem before moving on to a career in sales.
But being laid off at the medical device company left a “sour taste” and taught him a lesson about “how to take care of my own staff now.”
In late 2014, Eagle ventured into farmers’ markets with homemade smoked salmon made in what he describes as a “glorified filing cabinet” smoker. It would start at 1 a.m. for the grueling 16-hour process.
Pished Fish’s direct-to-consumer side of the business has skyrocketed since COVID.
He produced three different flavors and sold out every weekend, giving Eagle confidence that a more lucrative job was on the way.
Pished Fish’s USP is using botanicals and alcohol like whisky, aquavit and vodka to flavor its booze-infused Scandinavian-style smoked salmon; This is where the fun name of the company comes from. “The things I thought were more fun were done with alcohol,” he recalls of his first smokehouse tests.
The couple attended a course on how to start a food business after meeting his now wife Hermione through dating site My Single Friend. Eagle’s main takeaway was not to rely on the product, but to have a compelling brand.
He spent £4,000 on the design and logo. “It was really important to have someone to accurately imagine what this could be,” he says. “I thought it was a huge amount of money at the time, but it was the best money you could ever spend.”
Read more: ‘We all grew up with radiators; ‘Underfloor heating is a no-brainer’
When a fishmonger in Selfridges then spotted the brand, Eagles moved to East Sussex and began working full-time to expand the business. The start-up moved on his father’s land near the Sussex Downs, initially in two shipping containers and then into an adjacent building where Eagle today employs eight full-time staff.
Smoking technique has also been simplified with two stainless steel smokers worth £18,000. The business uses a mix of Faroese and Scottish salmon, along with a variety of blends, from whiskey and maple syrup to honey and bourbon. It’s no wonder the brand praises the salmon as having a “rock and roll personality.”
When COVID struck in 2020, online orders soared and profits per pack quickly became more than 5p from supplying a supermarket deli counter.
In 2022, their biggest order came alongside the founder’s wedding anniversary promotion, with sales of £10,000 in a single day. Eagle says the e-commerce side has strengthened significantly since then, with email distribution now reaching 50,000.
Pished Fish now has a smokehouse based on a farm in Upper Dicker, East Sussex.
By Christmas 2024 the business raised £40,000 in one day and was forced to close its website.
“Email is a great way to get to know your customers. It’s a nice touchpoint to make it more human,” says the founder. “I think a lot of customers see the e-commerce business as a bit brazen, but I always try to respond personally.”
Fish Catch’s toughest period came in 2023, when consumers were no longer able to spend online at home and fish prices reached record levels the following year.
Read more: ‘We made 25 jars at a time with six pans on the go – our business now boasts the best marmalade in the world’
But the Sussex firm has grown by 20% year-on-year since 2020 and will surpass the £1 million mark by 2025. It was expected to generate revenues of £5 million based on pandemic forecasts, but Eagle was encouraged to pursue a slow and steady business outlook rather than chasing growth.
Eagle has kept Pished Fish in good shape as it targets a turnover plan of £2m over the next three years by maintaining customer acquisition, spending more on advertising and growing its email list.
“I hadn’t treated it like an e-commerce business before; we were a smokehouse and selling to the public,” he says.
Start-up mentality
I feel like we’re still in startup territory and it’s about being the face of the business and engaging with customers. We have always tried to maintain a sense of humor about the brand.
problem solving
I try to solve problems every day. If you want to grow, you have to put an end to the dream of slicing fish and packaging them in a small smokehouse.
The biggest thing I still find stressful is disappointing people or an order not reaching customers. There must be something that keeps you up at night.
Read more:
Download the Yahoo Finance app you can use. Apple And Android
