The Daily Catch is winning customers with great product, dedication to Ocean Wise program
By Randy Shore, Vancouver SunJune 6, 2011
Dylan McCulloch (l) and Ryan Johnson display sustainable fish at their Commercial Drive fish shop.
Photograph by: Nick Procaylo, PNG, Vancouver SunStartup fishmonger The Daily Catch takes the guesswork out of buying sustainable fish.
Every filet, every clam, every lobster is certified by the Vancouver Aquarium's Ocean Wise program to be responsibly harvested from sustainable fisheries. The Commercial Drive shop is the only retailer selling 100-per-cent sustainable product, according to Ocean Wise.
Ryan Johnson and Dylan McCulloch, a pair of twenty-somethings from the Sunshine Coast, had little to lose and gambled that Vancouver would pony up for top quality seafood and a guarantee that dinner would do no damage to the world's beleaguered fish stocks.
"We've achieved our one-year sales goal in less than six months," Johnson said.
The brisk trade is evident from the freshness and abundance of product in the coolers. Rather than lonely bits of fish, wrapped in cling film waiting for customers, The Daily Catch display case is piled high with magnificent glossy whole salmon, huge filets of ling cod, halibut and sablefish, heaps of mussels and clams and house-made salmon burgers and lox. Live lobsters patrol their tank, harvested by Ocean Wise-certified boats from the Atlantic Ocean.
"We are selling 50 pounds of spot prawns a day," McCulloch said. "Nothing sits around."
Most telling is the smell. There isn't one. Fresh seafood smells like the ocean, not fish.
Three other landlords rejected the business fearing the smell of a fishmonger would alienate their other tenants. They needn't have worried.
The most surprising aspect of the shop's early success has been the growth of the restaurant trade, nearing 30 per cent of sales. On the Drive alone, Havana, The Charlatan, Divino Wine Bar, St. Augustine's and The Libra Room are Daily Catch customers.
"A lot of restaurants are getting on the Ocean Wise bandwagon, but that's not the only reason they come here," Johnson explained. "When they order from here they don't have to think, they can just order and know everything is going to be Ocean Wise."
"But we also have quality that no other fish supplier in Vancouver has," he said. "We get our fish from fishermen that I know, who send most of their product to Japan where the standards are so much higher and they pay a real premium."
Fish caught in nets are often bruised or nicked, he said.
Johnson and McCulloch sell linecaught fish that is harvested and frozen at sea by fishermen with whom they have a personal relationship.
"When you cut out the middleman you get fish that is fresher and better," McCulloch said.
Growing up on the Sunshine Coast the partners took the freshness and quality of seafood for granted, but they've since learned that finding the fish they remember from their youth is no small task in Vancouver.
Sensing that the market would support a business with a total commitment to sustainability, they secured a silent partner and financial backer, renovated the space themselves -thanks to McCulloch's construction background -and opened for business six months ago.
The location on Commercial Drive near Kitchener Street is in the foodie heart of the neighbourhood, surrounded by organic markets, delis and restaurants. It's a natural fit for a young and socially conscious community.
"You have to be 60-per-cent sustainable to be an Ocean Wise partner, so we just decided to be 100 per cent," said McCulloch.
Johnson believes The Daily Catch is the only all-sustainable fishmonger in Vancouver, probably Canada and possibly North America. With most retailers and restaurants, Ocean Wise guides a years-long process of weaning from non-sustainable products, Ocean Wise spokesman Mike McDermid said. Johnson and McCulloch crossed the finish line their first day in business.
"They've hit on what that area needs and to do it all Ocean Wise, they've hit on a winning idea," McDermid said.
"Retailers tend to be cautious because they don't want to turn away customers," he said. "That The Daily Catch started as 100-per-cent Ocean Wise made it a little easier."
Retailers and restaurants are slow to change until they can offer alternatives to products their customers expect and those alternatives can take many years to secure, he explained.
Not that The Daily Catch doesn't have to manage consumer expectations.
"Some people come in looking for snapper and they are disappointed, but when I tell them why we won't sell it and offer them another similar fish they leave happy," said Johnson. "Snapper don't start reproducing until they are 20 years old, rougheye rockfish live to be 200. How can there be a fishery for that? There can't be. They just can't stand the fishing pressure."
The partners hope to expand their brand with niche retailers next. Organic home-delivery grocer SPUD (spud.ca) already carries, frozen portioned tuna, halibut, sablefish and sockeye from The Daily Catch.
"They use us exclusively for their seafood," McCulloch said.
rshore@vancouversun.com Read The Green Man Blog at vancouversun.com/ randyshore
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