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San
Pedro Fish Market
After being displaced for a second time for area redevelopment, it opened a temporary location last year called The Landing on South Harbor Boulevard, San Pedro, which has 1500 seats and can be expanded to 2000. Operating out of container kitchens to create a 2500-square-foot kitchen and fish market area, the business is expected to break $ 20 million in 2026 – potentially placing it in the Top 10 for US independent restaurants.
Michael explains how his storytelling revelation has driven such remarkable growth.“ As I moved into more of a leadership position within the company, I realized we weren’ t telling our story. I began studying business narratives and recognized storytelling is a powerful way to distinguish yourself from your competition. Several copycat businesses had started opening nearby our legacy location on the LA waterfront, so I began looking at how we could differentiate ourselves and it dawned on me that we had all these great stories nobody knows about.”
Brand building
Michael’ s burgeoning involvement in the company’ s marketing and brand building strategy eventually evolved into its TV show – Kings of Fish – beginning with a recordbreaking sales day at a lobster festival.“ We set three Guinness World Records in a single day and a company approached us, suggesting we make a seafood reality show,” explains Michael.“ They marketed it across Hollywood and gave us their‘ sizzle reel’ which is like a long form commercial for the show concept. After watching it, I decided it was something we could make independently. In 2016, we put our own team together and created these four-episode arcs at five minutes long, initially designed for social media. We saw an immediate 25-to-30 percent surge in sales in the first month, which was huge for us – ultimately a seven-figure change!”
Following Kings of Fish’ s early success, San Pedro Fish Market teamed up with food media content company, Food Beast, who discovered
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