Fishbowl founders take aim at US market with New York store

The young entrepreneurs behind the fast-growing Japanese-inspired salad bowl chain want to take a slice out of the Big Apple as they chase down an ambitious $100m revenue target.

Fishbowl founders Nathan Dalah, Nic Pestalozzi and Casper Ettelson.

The founders of the fast-growing Fishbowl chain want to take a slice out of the Big Apple as they chase an ambitious $100m revenue target next year.

The casual dining salad bar that provides customised Japanese-inspired bowls was founded by school friends Nic Pestalozzi, Nathan Dalah and university friend Casper Ettelson in 2016.

The entrepreneurial trio invested a combined $250,000 initially in the concept, including “capital incentives from our landlord at the time”, Mr Pestalozzi said.

Fishbowl is fast becoming one of Australia’s most successful fast food businesses since opening its first store at Bondi seven years ago. The chain has expanded to 46 locations across NSW, Victoria and Queensland, with a further 100 locations in the pipeline.

The trio now plan to cut their teeth in the US market and have taken up a lease at 65 Bleecker St in NoHo, New York.

“We didn’t build Fishbowl to be the best product in Bondi, we really wanted to create a brand that we thought was world class,” Mr Dalah said.

“New York is really the mecca of the fast casual food space, and consumer retail in general.”

The store is under construction and expected to open before mid-year.

Along with a new store, the founders will rebrand to “Thisbowl” in a bid to stop the “friction” between consumers and the product. “We sell as much chicken, beef, eggplant and tofu as we do fish,” Mr Dalah said.

“We also felt like it was a barrier that we took quite a few years to get over. We didn’t want that friction when it came to the customer having to make the decision as to whether they liked fish or didn’t like fish.”

In the past year, the chain has opened at 10 new locations throughout Brisbane and the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, with Queensland leading the charge in terms of growth, Mr Pestalozzi said. The company would not disclose its exact financial results, but said “we were well past $50m in sales” in the past 12 months.

The Japanese-inspired salad bar looks to make health food accessible to as many people as possible.

And despite a “tricky macro environment”, Mr Pestalozzi said the chain was approaching “$100m in sales” in the next financial year.

At its core, the Japanese-inspired salad bar looks to make health food accessible to as many people as possible.

The menu includes the OG bowl (regular $14.90, large $17.90) with salmon sashimi, shallots, kale, beets, red onion, edamame beans with roasted sesame dressing, seaweed salad, tobiko (fish roe) and crispy shallots.

“We wanted to make really health, good food accessible to as many people as possible. Our whole range, which starts at around $10.90 and caps out at the $20 mark, we felt was accessible to as many people as we could feasibly reach,” Mr Dalah said.

Mr Dalah said Thisbowl combined Japanese, Southeast Asian, Chinese and Malaysian food.

“We combined them with flavours we loved, and grew up with – that is where the bowls came from,” he said.

Fishbowl at South Eveleigh in Sydney.

“It was simply healthy Asian bowls and salads. We took flavours people knew and loved from different parts of Asian cuisine.”

The founders remain close to customers, and can be found working two shifts a week from one of the 46 locations.

Mr Dalah said the chain ­focused on food “sourced using ingredients that we ourselves wanted to consume every day and we knew where it was coming from.

“We stay really close to the product – Nic, myself and Casper still do two shifts in stores every single week.”

Originally published as Fishbowl founders take aim at US market with New York store