Whatever Happened To Fish Fixe After Shark Tank?

The benefits of eating seafood on a regular basis have largely gone unknown by the public, with recent data suggesting that Americans are eating far below the USDA recommended amount of fish and shellfish each week. The entrepreneurial duo of Emily Castro and Melissa Harrington aim to tackle this dilemma through their business, Fish Fixe. The company offers a nationwide delivery service that gives customers a wide array of fresh frozen seafood options to pick from. The bags used for delivery come with handy instructions on prepping and cooking, while also allowing users to dispose of any unwanted pieces. 

Castro and Harrington shared on "Shark Tank" that they met while playing soccer together during their college years. Harrington, who had experience working in the seafood industry for some time after starting a Texas-based wholesale facility that distributed live lobsters, had begun to explore ways of incorporating more seafood in her family's diet. She and her husband began portioning out, freezing, and preparing pounds of fish every week, which gradually saw positive effects to her health. 

Harrington introduced Castro's family to the concept and they became similarly hooked. It didn't take long for the women to realize that their method could prove useful to countless others and thus, Fish Fixe was born in 2017. While the company was seeing healthy growth in sales, the team eventually made their way on to "Shark Tank" Season 13 with hopes of solving a pressing issue. 

Melissa Harrington and Emily Castro appear on "Shark Tank" looking to secure an investment of $200,000 for 15% of their frozen seafood delivery service. Following their pun-filled presentation, the sharks give their samples a try and thoroughly enjoy them. From there, the sharks sink their teeth into the business model.

Currently, the company is direct-to-consumer through their website. Customers can either subscribe to the service or order items individually, with their 16 portion box being the biggest seller. In the previous year, Fish Fixe brought in $821,000 in sales, but the team only made $20,000 in net profits largely due to their high customer acquisition costs. Additionally, they reveal that while the average order goes for around $143, the production cost comes in at an average of $111. This brings the team to the main reason they came to the sharks — they are having problems with shipping. Their customer base spread to other U.S. regions during the pandemic and as a result, shipping costs have been eating up their revenue. They currently have a third party team in place to aid in outsourcing distribution and bringing down shipping costs. 

Mark Cuban goes out, believing that there are too many variables to ensure that costs will stay down. Similarly, Robert Herjavec and guest shark Nirav Tolia don't feel confident in the field and also exit. Kevin O'Leary believes he can make Fish Fixe go big through his Chef Wonderful brand, but he wants 33.3% for the $200,000, which he later brings down to 30%. Lori Greiner, who initially went out, doesn't agree with O'Leary's greed and offers the $200,000 for 25% equity. Harrington and Castro excitedly accept. 

Fish Fixe's deal with investor Lori Greiner successfully closed in the aftermath of "Shark Tank," an occurrence that is not always promised with the Queen of QVC. Almost immediately, the team got to tackling their expressed concerns. Not long after their "Shark Tank" episode aired in mid-November 2021, co-founder Melissa Harrington shared that the investment was being used to speed up shipping for East and West coast customers, as well as switch their packaging to be 100% recyclable. Additionally, the team was looking to bring on new partners and provide new recipes for their customers.

However, the team hit a snag during this period. On a "Shark Tank" Season 14 update segment, it was revealed that Fish Fixe's initial distribution partner following the show ended up being a poor fit, resulting in some shipping delays. Thankfully, Greiner helped them get back on the right track by encouraging the team to be transparent with their customers and eventually helping them locate a new distributor. The update segment also disclosed that Fish Fixe had brought in $1.1 million since appearing on "Shark Tank," with plans to hit $4 million by the end of 2022. 

In the same year, the company announced its partnership with Oracle NetSuite to better handle the increased demand through NetSuite's integrated cloud-based business system. "With the addition of NetSuite, we are addressing inventory control and management challenges that were presented as our business grew over the last two years," Harrington shared in a press statement. "NetSuite will lay the foundation for solid business management that will be crucial to our back-end operations, customer experience and customer retention in our next phase of growth."

Fish Fixe continues to be a success and continues to give customers a wide variety of sea food options to chow down on. The selection of responsibly-sourced seafood items includes haddock, mahi, crab cakes, shrimp, halibut, salmon, and snapper to name a few. Customers can either opt into Fish Fixe's subscription service or pick between an array of boxed options that can either be customized by you or are a selection of customer favorites. 

Reviews on their website are overwhelmingly positive, largely owing to the convenience of the service itself as well as the high quality and taste of their products. Site visitors can also find a page full of recipes, with specific categories for different dishes including appetizers, kid-friendly, and air fryer varieties. The team remains active on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook where they share additional recipes and tips for seafood lovers. Fish Fixe has also been featured on other outlets including Forbes, Newsweek, Tips N' Trends, and Eater to name a few. The company is currently estimated to have a net worth of $1.8 million. 

Fish Fixe may have had its fair share of problems to overcome, but the company came out clean on the other side. Through it all, Fish Fixe has stayed committed to its vision of providing customers with a convenient and healthy way of enjoying seafood. As the business continues to expand, the team envisions Fish Fixe becoming a new staple in the food delivery and seafood industry. 

One of the things they are hoping to dive deeper into is finding ways to make their already practical service even less labor intensive for consumers. This includes offering more options for home cooking including creating their own lines of spices, with co-founder and CEO Melissa Harrington explaining on Tasting Table, "Like, Cajun seasoning would go great on our white fish. And so, we started playing around with that ... and we're going to have the family of blends that will, you know, just make it even easier for people to cook seafood at home." Harrington also adds that customers have inquired about pre-cooked meal kit options that would only require heating up, which could make for a perfect gateway into the retail space.

Ultimately, like any emerging brand, Fish Fixe has visions of eventually dominating the space. On an interview with Katy Mom's Network, co-founder Emily Castro teased some new potential partnerships on the horizon, while also stating, "We want to be the Butcherbox of seafood. Our dream is to help Americans incorporate more seafood into their lives and we help we can play a role in that." If Fish Fixe's current growth rate is any indicator, that goal is bound to become a reality.