Chic is not typically a word associated with fish. But it is fitting for Fishwife.

A modern, super-premium brand of tinned seafood, Fishwife is the brainchild of entrepreneurs Becca Millstein and Caroline Goldfarb. Launched in December 2020, the Los Angeles-based company markets ethically sourced canned tuna, salmon, trout and anchovies from fisheries and aquaculture farms in the United States and Europe.

Known for its bright and quirky label designs, Fishwife built a thriving DTC business early on and gradually introduced distribution to select brick-and-mortar retailers across the U.S. Earlier this year, Whole Foods began selling Fishwife products at stores in its Southern Pacific region and will add them to its Northern California locations this summer. 

In this episode, Millstein spoke about the “light bulb” moment and planning process that led to the development of Fishwife, the impact of its striking label design on trial and word of mouth marketing, her perspective on scaling a niche concept and how she navigated and learned from a potentially devastating sourcing crisis.

Show notes:

0:43: Interview: Becca Millstein, Co-Founder/CEO, Fishwife - Millstein met with Taste Radio editor Ray Latif at Expo West 2023 where the entrepreneur spoke about Fishwife’s emergence as a “pandemic baby,” parallels between her previous career in the music industry and that of consumer products and why it was important to identify the brand’s target consumer early on. She also explained how Fishwife’s branding and label designs generated significant interest among consumer and trade media and foundation for DTC success, the day that Millstein worried that her business was in peril and how she planned to avoid a similar one in the future and how she assesses partnerships with other consumer brands.

Brands in this episode: Fishwife, Liquid Death, Fly By Jing, Magic Spoon, Three Wishes, Scout Canning, Patagonia Provisions, Chicken of the Sea, Aura Bora, Omsom, Van Leeuwen, Jeni’s, Sprinkles Cupcakes