We were lucky to catch up with Theodore Hammerman recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Theodore, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start big picture – what are some of biggest trends you are seeing in your industry?

The seafood industry is constantly changing as is also the consumers tastes and education of the items are changing. Seafood education and hands on training for the consumer is a must. There is a knee jerk reaction (since i have sold fish for 40 years and have done every aspect of the industry) when the consumer wants to serve fish but does notwant to spend money on something they might not cook correctly. The consumer is a creature of the media that tells them what is good and what not to eat in a very biased way. The “Is it local” when arriving in a seafood market exists all the time. The facts are the seafood industry is a global industry, and also very seasonal. I try to introduce sustainable and underutilized species , some our grandparents used to eat but now is out of fashion.

Theodore, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

40 years ago I invented a new ,innovative stackable fish trap. This design of a passive fishing gear got me noticed by the UNDP /Fao part of the UN and was sent to Sri Lanka to help the inshore ,subsistence fisherman, not only feed his family have some sell thereby bettering life on land. This morphed into my return to Myrtle Beach to open a little seafood market. where I bought from all the fishermen and the fisher folks who use my gear . I felt to fully understand the industry you are in is to dive head first into knowing everything about the topic. I then started to: *export local flounder to japan Tsukiji market and Osaka market
*export local shad from SC lowcountry to China
*export and pack bluefin tunas to Japan from SC and NC
*import crab meat from Tunisia during the pandemic
What I am most proud of is to start with nothing but myself and wife with a newborn for a business to grow as a father and daughter partnership to build the Mr Fish brand as a non franchise operation built on quality. “Eat where the fish eat! Mr Fish sells to 30 other restaurants where we cut fish daily to their specifications. The same fresh fish is retailed in the seafood market and served in house in the seafood market inside and outside on picnic tables . All of this with my Johnson and Wales culinary school grad daughter, this makes me proud.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Years back like 1995 the net was very young and I was faxing out daily fishy lunch menus to offices around town. Then later Yelp.com came to be and my daughter had the desire to cater so we had to find a A rated brick and mortar food place to work from. I built a food truck way before the craze took over in America but food prep had to be done not at home. We rented a little 1000 square foot restaurant with 20 seats, with the help of Yelp and 2 expansions by the 4th year we outgrew the space, mainly due to parking was an issue. My daughter is the foody social media guru, so pinterest,facebook, instagram, google and some others helped push our business to a financial success.
Advice – Never embellish,tell the truth, tell it like it is .Keep it fun and quirky,life is short! With us we are vertially integrated, where we recieve the fish, cut it , portion it, sell it with sides on a plate and sell to other restaurants. All of this keeps our product very fresh and fast moving,since the seafood business is built on get it , process it then have others enjoy the fresh items.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

1998 Mr Fish downtown Myrtle Beach – Phillips foods from Baltimore, bought me out because they needed a fish person to put them in the fish business since they produced only crabmeat . For 8 years i worked for the corportate world making them millions and myself i not only made some money but broadened my fishy horizons. I started out in Opening fish processing plants, training and teaching qc staff how to make export quality products
*Sulawesi Indonesia
*Ranong Thailand
*Central Java Indo
*East Malaysia
*Guayaquil Ecuador
This was the pivot, from owning my own business to working for the corporate mentality who got what they wanted then thought I was overpaid.

Then my daughter graduated culinary school and the father /daughter Mr Fish team once again came to be.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mrfish.com
• Instagram: @mrfishseafoodmarketmb
• Facebook: mr.mr fish seafood market
• Linkedin: theodore hammerman
• Twitter: @originalmrfish1
• Youtube: mrfish.com
• Yelp: mr fish myrtle beach sc
• Other: we have a youtube account we posted a couple of things but you MUST go to Fishmas Story by mr fishmyrtle beach sc