Interview with: Shahin Mobine

Let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there. How did your company get started and why?

More than 15 years ago, I launched PureFish to sell sustainably sourced seafood to restaurants. We continued to steadily grow year over year, and PureFish became well established in the chef & restaurant community for outstanding quality & sustainability. Over the past 10 years we knew we had to venture our products and brand to the consumer, but retail was not an option for us because our products were considered “to high end or niche” and retailers prefer “cheaper or less expensive” options for mass sales. We devised plans for a direct to consumer business, but at the time we thought people were not ready to order perishable seafood online, so we shelved the idea until the market was more prevalent. Then COVID-19 hit, inspiring us to speed up a plan that was already in the works: to offer the premium PureFish product DTC, thus allowing consumers the option of having that fine-dining quality fish delivered straight to their door. We hit the ground running – developing the entire operation, environmentally friendly packaging, and setting up a facility for doing all the slicing, packing and shipping in-house. PureFish launched earlier this month and we are excited to see what 2021 has to offer for our brand.

What is your product and how would you describe it?

PureFish currently offers three pre-fixe box selections, including the Omega Box, Rainbow Box and Whitefish Box for $250 with free expedited shipping. Every order arrives with 8-10 carefully curated oven-safe aluminum trays with two 6 oz. center cuts, known as the PureFish Perfect Portion®, that are fully trimmed, prepped, and ready to cook or keep frozen for later use. From fridge to fork in less than 10 minutes, there are no dirty pans, no fuss and no “fishiness.” Our main differentiator is our fish quality, the fish we sell is the SAME fish and cuts we sell to our fine dining chefs. This quality of fish is not usually available to the consumer. Also we wanted to focus on making cooking and eating high quality sustainable seafood at home, so we pre-portioned all our fish into the same “center cuts” we provide top chefs, and packed 2 portions in a recyclable oven ready tray (an industry first), so our customers can make a healthy and delicious meal in minutes without ever having to dirty a dish or touch the fish (another industry first). We think this is the key to getting people to cook and eat more seafood at home.

How have you pivoted your business this year?

Due to COVID affecting the closure of all our restaurant business, we saw a loss in revenue almost overnight as restaurants were one of the first (and hardest hit) industries due to COVID. But we saw the opportunity to pivot and establish our brand to the consumer, instead of only chefs.

What is your next challenge to overcome?

Its the same challenge we had to overcome with chefs, clearing up years of misinformation associated with seafood (especially farmed seafood), and explain why PureFish is more expensive than “commodity” seafood. At the end of the day, PureFish not only tastes better (that’s why we have had so much success with top chefs), but PureFish is also healthier than a lot of other seafood. Better quality, better sustainability, and better packaging all costs more, but at the end of the day, we know once someone tries PureFish they will be convinced. We know this because we got 90% of our business with chefs by taste-testing against the competition. Quality always wins out!

What do you predict for the food industry over the rest of the year?

In the past few years, I have noticed a trend of consumers paying attention and wanting to be better informed about the foods they are buying and consuming. PureFish is at the forefront of this trend, as it falls in the category of “quality over quantity.” Even more, these consumers are value sustainability and transparency, which are two main priorities of PureFish. Today’s consumer cares about both their wellness and the environment, and I think they will continue to do so. PureFish is about bringing the highest quality, healthiest, best tasting seafood from the water to your door, pre-portined and ready to cook. PureFish did all the work so you can sit back and enjoy and incorporate more healthy sustainable seafood into our diets. At the end of the day we consider PureFish a health & wellness company, not just a seafood company.

Learn more at: PureFish Fine Dining Quality Sustainable Seafood Home Delivery