The "Fish With A Story" MARKETPLACE Platform
Post
Published 16. May 2025 by Fiona in
Cape Town and Winelands Delivery Area
Fish With A 'Store'; ABALOBI is making waves at SA's premium retail chains.

Some Background

When the concept of the ABALOBI Marketplace - a way to connect small scale fishers directly with end consumers - was first initiated in 2018, it was Cape Town based Chefs and restaurateurs who first and happily jumped onto the bandwagon. During the Covid pandemic in 2020 however, with restaurants all but entirely closed down, the MP team had to think quickly and pivot the offering towards home buyers, who were largely sitting with nothing to do other than shop online, cook and eat at home. Our home buyer market rapidly grew - especially when we launched our convenience Deli range of filleted fish - followed by significant in-roads made into the trader / distributor market.

Retail - as they say, 'the Devil is in the Detail'

Most recently the dynamic Marketplace team have been focussing on the notoriously difficult retail arena, but with great success especially given the species we are offering (namely local Silvers and Cape Bream) which are still fairly unknown to a market who tend to demand 'what they know' - largely hake (trawler/long line caught), or salmon, prawns or squid (all from different continents). But there is a growing segment of these customer bases who are demanding sustainable and locally caught species, a group the major supermarkets can no longer ignore. Thus, ABALOBI's Fish With A Story fits like a glove.

Impacting awareness and the bottom line.

The impact will be two-fold 1) having a presence at stores with such a large footprint will create far-reaching brand awareness for the ABALOBI mission and our seafood products and 2) crucially, the micro economies of the fisher communities we work with will hugely benefit from the increased demand for local catch and resulting sales.

Where to buy Fish With A Story?

South Africans can now buy their favourite Fish With a Story at SA's two most premium supermarkets, Checkers and Woolworths (select stores) as well as online through luxury food retail brand Babylonstoren plus at a smattering of quality delicatessens throughout the Western Cape.

See Checkers' instagram post