| 29 T T Russell Fredric Expanding tastes spurs business growth Harbour Fish supplies wet fish to retail, wholesale and online customers throughout New Zealand, including restaurants, fish and chip shops, and other fish wholesalers, plus 50% of its product is exported. Dunedin: Harbour Fish REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT For general manager Aaron Cooper, establishing seafood retailer/wholesaler Harbour Fish 20 years ago was part of a vision to achieve better returns for its suppliers of fresh wet fish. “It’s grown from fairly humble beginnings, and then with some support from fishermen and families, staff and quota owners, we managed to build it up to where it is today. It employs 70 staff between the processing plants and retail stores, and has 50 or so inshore vessels working into it on a weekly basis,” Aaron says. The business started in 2003 with Aaron’s brother Damon, a fisherman, purchasing Harbour Fish, a small fish shop in Port Chalmers, Dunedin, with Aaron joining the business soon afterwards. Now based in a processing site in Sawyers Bay, Harbour Fish has retail stores in central Dunedin and Queenstown, and in 2019 the company was fortunate to be able to purchase a plant in Bluff that had been run by the same family for more than 100 years. Harbour Fish supplies wet fish to retail, wholesale and online customers throughout New Zealand, including restaurants, fish and chip shops, and other fish wholesalers, plus 50% of its product is exported. “The majority [of exports] goes to Australia fresh and frozen, and we supply several other markets from Spain to Europe, South Africa, Korea and China,” says Aaron. A key driver behind the growth of the business was Damon seeing the underutilisation and good-eating market potential of lower-value species. “It just really grew from looking after the fishermen, trying to get a better return for them, and then trying to get a better product through to the retail customers.” At that time, species such as gurnard, monk, elephant fish and even moki were not popular; however, Harbour Fish has been able to change customers’ perception by educating them through its retail stores and to suggest alternatives when a preferred species was not available. “Some of these have become a staple now. In those early days we predominantly sold blue cod and sole. Now we have a suite of varying fish in our windows. We try to have a minimum of five or six fresh species a day in the shops, and work hard on educating our customers about enjoying all of our varieties for their unique qualities, and eating a wide spectrum of fish. “We try to have a minimum of five or six fresh species a day in the shops, and work hard on educating our customers about enjoying all of our varieties for their unique qualities, and eating a wide spectrum of fish.” “It’s not just about returns for us – we want people to eat a wide variety of fish for sustainability reasons instead of focusing intensely on one or two varieties.” The brothers’ vision turned out to be timely because of the emergence and popularity of cooking and culinary television programmes, often featuring celebrity chefs, along with a growing number of quality restaurants. New Zealand’s changing demographic, due to immigration, also meant people from other nations were accustomed to a much higher fish intake. “Also, peoples’ eating habits have changed. There used to be a very heavy meat-based diet, and there’s a lot more awareness about health, and giving people a better experience I think has helped too – providing a good product that’s accessible.” Harbour Fish remains a family business and continues to work with fishers its owners and team knows, to catch, process and deliver fresh, wild-caught seafood. “Many of the boats that supply to Harbour Fish are run by owner-operator skippers, who are second, third or even fourth generation in their family and this provenance, based on sustainable, best-practice harvesting is important to the company as well as a positive selling point. Pleased to be supporting Harbour Fish Our Dunedin based company is large enough to provide all your packaging supplies, yet small enough to care. www.otagopackaging.co.nz | 301 Hillside Road, South Dunedin 03 455 5206 South Canterbury | Otago | Central Otago | Southland
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