When Becca Millstein and Caroline Goldfarb launched tinned fish brand Fishwife back in December 2020, few could have predicted how the consumer packaged goods brand would blow up.
Since entering the retail scene, Fishwife has become one of the most well-known brands in the snack category, let alone in the $3.4 billion-plus US tinned fish sector.
Inside Retail connected with Millstein to discuss the brand’s plans to tap into channel expansion and merchandising opportunities and how the founder plans to turn Fishwife into a household name.
Inside Retail: How did you come up with the concept for Fishwife?
Becca Millstein: The idea for Fishwife came to me during the pandemic when I found myself eating a lot of tinned fish – it was convenient, nutritious, delicious, and great for limiting grocery store trips due to its shelf-stability.
I’d spent time in Spain in college and loved the conservas (canned food) culture there, but I realised that something like it didn’t exist in the US, especially for modern consumers.
I wanted to create something that combined high-quality, sustainably sourced seafood with fun, vibrant branding that would appeal to consumers here.
IR: How does Fishwife fill a white space in the grocery retail space?
BM: Fishwife fills a major gap in the US market. Before we launched, there wasn’t really a domestic brand offering premium, ethically sourced tinned seafood that felt fresh, fun, and relevant to today’s consumers. I wanted to bring the charm and quality of European conservas culture to grocery aisles in the US.
IR: Since launching in 2020, what has Fishwife’s growth trajectory been like?
BM: Since launching in December 2020, our growth has been remarkable, with an average of 200 per cent year-over-year growth since launch.
We started as a direct-to-consumer brand, and now you can find Fishwife in 5000 brick-and-mortar retailers across the US, including Whole Foods, Sprouts, Target and thousands of incredible independent specialty retailers.
Much of our growth is attributed to the incredible media attention we’ve received as well as our very supportive and vocal customer base with whom we maintain a close relationship on social media and email/SMS.
IR: What strategies, from merchandising to marketing, has Fishwife incorporated in order to reach its growth trajectory?
BM: Our growth has been driven by our distinctive illustrated branding, the impact of the visual appeal of our brand cannot be understated, it makes the brand pop on social media and in retail and people fall in love with it.
We’ve focused hugely on social media, on both our content and our regular engagement with a community of food enthusiasts and influencers. More than a third of customers find out about Fishwife through social media, and we want to continue feeding that fire.
We’ve also done many really exciting brand collaborations (several a month of various forms) across food, fashion, jewelry and other categories. Big ones have been with Fly By Jing, Lisa Says Gah!, Jacobsen Salt, Susan Alexandra and many more!
IR: What is an area(s) of opportunity Fishwife plans to tap into in the year ahead?
BM: We’ve seen continuous growth in online gifting, so we will continue to lean into this with some really exciting gifting options.
We’ve also seen tremendous uptake of subscription on Amazon, so we’ll look to level up subscription on our site as well and we will be taking in-store merchandising to the next level with really exciting displays.
IR: What have been the biggest challenges in building up the brand thus far? How have you overcome these hurdles?
BM: The biggest challenge has definitely been establishing a scalable supply chain.
It has taken untold amounts of networking, cold-calling, and building strong relationships with our canneries and suppliers to get to where we are today.
Persistence was key!
IR: What are your top priorities/areas of focus for the brand over the next 12 months?
BM: Scaling all four of our channels concurrently: DTC, Amazon, independent and chain retail.
IR: What are your long-term goals for Fishwife?
BM: My long-term goal is to make tinned seafood a staple in modern American kitchens. I want more people to discover how convenient, nutritious, and delicious shelf-stable seafood can be and for Fishwife to be a leader in that space.
IR: What have been your proudest accomplishments since launching the brand?
BM: Our pop-up in NYC was certainly one of the proudest; 5000 happy visitors, over US$90,000 in sales, so many incredible activations and we got to bring our brand to life.
It was magical.
IR: What is your approach to maintaining a work/life balance?
BM: Simplicity and prioritisation is everything. Cut everything down to the most essential elements and make sure you don’t sacrifice them.
IR: What is a piece of advice you would give to yourself on day one of your brand founder journey?
BM: Get ready for a wild ride!!
The post Fishwife’s Becca Millstein talks brand journey, social media and subscriptions appeared first on Inside Retail Australia.
