COMPANY PROFILE TELL US ABOUT THE HISTORY OF
YOUR COMPANY? l JCS Fish is owned and run by Andrew and Louise Coulbeck.
Both come from fish and trawling backgrounds: Louise’s family were previously in trawling and Andrew started his career in the family firm, Richard Coulbeck Ltd (RC Limited). That company was a specialist in buying and selling dogfish and later bought Jack Smith Limited, a long- established Grimsby firm renowned for sourcing shellfish and wild salmon. Founder, Jack Carlisle Smith, passed on his fifty years of knowledge and his fish handling skills to Andrew Coulbeck before he retired. Andrew and Louise then launched
JCS Fish in 2000, by which time Andrew had become one of Grimsby’s most well-known salmon experts. Building on these foundations, he saw the potential for a new business. He says, “Wild salmon is a seasonal, luxury food but the farmed fish is accessible to everyone. We’re proud that we were one of the first farmed salmon specialists and to have contributed to the growth of the salmon market overall.” JCS Fish started out supplying
prepared salmon fillets to the foodservice industry, but Andrew soon recognised the need for a specialist salmon brand in the retail market and the company launched BigFish Brand in 2009, when it was first presented as a concept at the Speciality & Fine Food Fair in London. Since then BigFish Brand has gone
from strength to strength with its signature range of ultra-convenient, individually wrapped salmon fillets that cook straight from frozen. There are now seven marinade flavours in the range plus plain and organic fillets.
OWNERS BUSINESS? l Wastage can make it hard for smaller independents and delis to offer a good selection of seafood. Because BigFish Brand is frozen,
HOW CAN JCS IMPROVE A DELI
it is a perfect way to broaden your offering of fish in a manageable way, with an award-winning range of attractive products. Andrew Coulbeck says, “Although salmon is healthy, quick to cook and popular with consumers, the practicalities can make it hard to stock. BigFish Brand helps retailers improve their seafood offering with a range of great tasting, high quality salmon. The packaging is eye-catching and also eliminates any issues of cross contamination. So even if you have limited freezer space the BigFish range can be safely displayed alongside other types of product. Once we’ve gained a listing, we generally find we keep it – the products sell well and rapidly become a staple part of the seafood offering in our customers’ stores.” He adds, “People who buy BigFish
Brand are generally looking for a healthy meal option with minimum preparation. Our salmon fillets can be cooked straight from frozen using grill, oven or microwave – or poached in the packaging in just a few minutes. Our trade customers tell us that repeat purchase is excellent, so we must be doing something right!” The pricing structure of the BigFish brand also means that generally retailers can achieve as much as 40% margin.
COMPETITION? l BigFish Brand offers something eye-catching and different for the seafood category. The clever
HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE YOURSELVES WITH YOUR
packaging makes the products ultra-convenient and the range of marinades offers variety. MD, Andrew Coulbeck, says; “Our aim is to make salmon more accessible with packaging that takes away the fuss, cooking smell and potential for waste. Then our range of marinades gives people more reasons to eat salmon more often. From Garden Mint to Eastern Thai – BigFish Brand proves that people will buy more fish, more often - if you can just tempt them with something that’s a little bit different but not too challenging in terms of preparation and cooking. Most diners like to try something new in seafood when they go to a restaurant; our aim is to prove that they can enjoy more variety at home too!” The quality of the range is
underlined by the fact that BigFish Brand has won six Great Taste Awards (2014 and 2015) and twice been listed by The Grocer magazine as a finalist in its prestigious New Product Awards (2014 and 2015).
WHAT IS JCS’S MISSION STATEMENT? l JCS Fish is a family company that’s
proud of its heritage in fish and in Grimsby. Using its experience, creativity and expertise, it plans to develop new ideas for BigFish Brand that will help realise its vision that everyone should enjoy more healthy and delicious salmon, more often.
THE COMPANY? l Having built strong distribution for BigFish Brand in delis and farm shops, the company is now embarking on an exciting period of development that will see new investment in its factory, technology, marketing and new product ideas. Building on its family expertise and Grimsby heritage, the energetic team at JCS Fish have big plans to make sure BigFish Brand becomes a go-to brand in seafood - the most modern and exciting name for delicious, quality salmon, recognised by consumers across the UK. l
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR
JCS Fish and BigFish Brand will be at Stand J90, Food & Drink Expo, Birmingham, 18-20 April 2016.
www.bigfishbrand.co.uk
The Delicatessen Magazine 29
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