James Eagle started smoking fish in his backyard in Camberwell back in 2014.
As a seller of medical equipment, James Eagle traveled around Scandinavia and often encountered salmon or gravlax as “the main event” in the menus.
Back in the UK, it felt like thinly sliced smoked salmon was a side note on our plates. “I always thought it was a shame,” says Eagle.
Redundancy from his sales job in 2013 allowed Eagle to start a smokehouse from a small shed at the bottom of his garden in Camberwell, London, which turned from a hobby into the birth of his artisanal brand – The Pished Fish.
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“In the UK, when you get a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel, it’s cream cheese and bagel you can taste,” adds Eagle. “How I liken it to wafer-thin smoked salmon that almost melts into a bagel.”
Eagle, who did not finish university, worked for the drum and bass label Good Looking Records in the early 2000s and was a PA for LTJ Bukem before turning to a career in sales.
However, being fired from the medical device firm left a “sour taste” and taught him a lesson about “how to take care of my own staff now.”
In late 2014, Eagle hit farmers’ markets with house-smoked salmon made in what it describes as a “glorified file cabinet” smoker. It would start at 1am for the grueling 16 hour process.
Pished Fish’s direct-to-consumer side of the business has been boosted by COVID.
He produced three different flavors, sold every weekend and gave Eagle the confidence that there was a more profitable business.
Fished Fish’s USP is using botanicals and alcohol – hence the fun company name – such as whisky, aquavit and vodka to flavor Scandinavian-style, booze-infused smoked salmon. “The ones I thought were more fun were made with alcohol,” he recalls of his early testing in smokers.
After meeting his wife, Hermione, through the dating site My Single Friend, the couple attended a course on how to start a food business. Ajkla’s main takeaway was not to rely on the product but to have a compelling brand.
Spent £4,000 on design and logo. “Having someone to really imagine what could have been really important,” he says. “It felt like an awful lot of money at the time, but it was the best money you could spend.”
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When a fishmonger in Selfridges later spotted the brand, the Eagles moved to East Sussex and went full-time to improve the business. The start-up was housed on his father’s land near the Sussex Downs, at first in two shipping containers before moving to an adjacent building where Eagle today employs eight full-time employees.
The smoking technique has also been simplified with two stainless steel smokers costing £18,000. The business uses a mix of Faroese and Scottish salmon, with concoctions ranging from whiskey and maple syrup to honey and bourbon. It is no wonder that the brand welcomes the salmon as having a “rock and roll persona”.
When COVID hit in 2020, online ordering grew rapidly and profit per pack quickly surpassed the 5p it was making from supplying one supermarket counter.
In 2022, their biggest order was marked by sales of £10,000 in one day along with the founder’s wedding anniversary promotion. Eagle says the e-commerce side has since grown considerably, with email distribution now totaling 50,000.
Pished Fish now has a smokehouse based on a farm in Upper Dicker, East Sussex.
At Christmas 2024, the business raised £40,000 in one day and had to close the website.
“Email is a great way to get to know your customers. It’s a nice touch point to make it more human,” says the founder. “I think a lot of customers see the e-commerce business as a bit faceless but I always try to answer personally.”
The most challenging period of Fished Fish came in 2023, without the tailwind of consumers spending online at home, and then the following year when the price of fish reached record levels.
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However, the Sussex firm grew 20% year on year from 2020 and broke the £1m barrier by 2025. It was forecast to generate £5m in revenue based on pandemic forecasts, but Eagle has been encouraged to follow a slow and steady growth business outlook.
This has kept The Pished Fish in good stead as Eagle targets a £2m turnover plan over the next three years by maintaining customer acquisition, spending more on advertising and growing its email list.
“Before I didn’t treat it like an e-commerce business, we were a smokehouse and sold to the general public,” he says.
Startup mentality
I still feel that we are in the beginning zone and that is to be the face of the business and to interact with the customers. We have always tried to keep a sense of humor with the brand.
Solving problems
I am constantly trying to fix the problems from day to day. The dream of being in a little smokehouse, cutting fish and putting it in packages has to stop if you want to grow.
The biggest thing I still find stressful is letting people go or if an order hasn’t reached the customers. There is always something to keep you up at night.
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