Broke, Grumpy & Out of Options, a Seattle Fish Stand Decided to Have Fun. Now 10,000 People a Day Show Up

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John Yokoyama had not even bought the little fish stand where he worked at Seattle’s Pike Place Market because he loved fish.

Nope, he bought it in 1965, for $3,500, because he had just gotten himself a brand-new Buick Riviera, and he figured owning the stand would help him pay off the shiny, new car.

(Best laid plans and all that.)

Treading Water for 20 Years

For the next 20 (twenty!) years, that is about all the shop did: Make enough to make some payments, barely. Pike Place Fish was one of a dozen fish stalls at the market, and there was nothing special about it.

Bland, boring, and broke is no way to go through life, son.

Worse, John was, by his own admission, a lousy boss, a “yelling, screaming dictator tyrant” whose employees did not like him very much, if at all. Customers could feel it too.

By 1986, the shop was nearly bankrupt.

Six Magic Words

Desperate, John did something fish guys do not usually do: He hired a business consultant, a fellow named Jim Bergquist, and started holding meetings with his crew after the market closed. At one of those meetings, a young fish guy piped up with an idea that sounded completely nuts:

“Why don’t we become world famous?”

A broke fish stand, world famous?

John could have laughed.

Instead, he did the math. They had no money for advertising, no money for a remodel, no money for anything, really. The only thing they could afford to change was how they showed up for work each day.

Hmmm.

Now, that was free.

So with little to lose they went for it.

I mean, they REALLY went for it (hint, that!)

They put a “World Famous” sign right in front, long before a soul outside of Seattle had ever heard of them (cajónes, indeed, or barnacles, or something!), and then they set about making it true.

Their way of making it true, of becoming world famous?

Have fun!

Let the Fish Fly

Everything changed in the shop, including and especially the boss, John.

• They hollered every order back in a booming chorus

• They teased and joked with the crowd

• Played peek-a-boo with the kids, and

• Handed out high-fives.

But most of all, they began to let the fish fly. Giant 50lb salmon were tossed back and forth next to, in front, of, and sometimes, with the now-forming crowd.

Big silver and pink salmon sailed over the counter to cries of “Wrap it up!”

And here’s the funny thing about fun: It is magnetic.

Crowds gathered to watch the show, and the crowds became customers. Then came the TV crews, a Levi’s commercial directed by Spike Lee, cameos on Frasier and in Free Willy, and eventually a book called Fish! that taught the stand’s secrets to millions.

(That book has become a business icon, much like the shop.)

Today, up to 10,000 people a day come to watch the fish fly at Pike Place Fish.

And John? The tyrant learned to become a partner, a great boss, a nice guy. In 2018, after 53 years behind the counter, he retired and sold the shop . . . to four of his own fish guys.

The employee who bought the stand sold it to his employees.

The shop was failing. Then it decided to, of all things, become world famous. And then it decided that that meant that business doesn’t have to be so damn serious all the time and so they let the fun rip!

The Takeaway

Notice what the breakthrough was not: It was not a loan, or an investor, or a new location, or some fancy rebrand; John had no money for any of that.

The breakthrough was a decision, and the decision was free: Have fun at work, and commit to being great at it.

I coach a lot of entrepreneurs who are stuck waiting for the thing they cannot afford, when the most powerful tool in their business arsenal is often just sitting right there, costing nothing. Camaraderie, passion, joy, and fun are infectious, and are free to boot! Customers can feel it the second they walk in, and they will cross a crowded market to, well, catch it.

(Can a newsletter be fun? This one tries to be, and Shoestring Marketing Minute is for sure. Steve says check it out!)

Steal This Strategy

🛠️ Tool: Pike Place Market’s Famous Fishmongers. The full, colorful history of Seattle’s fish-throwing legends, including the meeting where “world famous” was born.

📖 Book: Fish!: A Proven Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results. The mega-bestseller inspired by the stand, with four simple practices for bringing fun (and profit) back to any workplace.

📺 Video: Pike Place Fish Market – Fish Throwing. Ninety seconds of flying salmon and hollering fishmongers, the show that built an empire.

🤝 Meet:  Stuck in a rut? Let me help you find the fun in your business again. Book a free discovery call with me and let us put some fun into your small biz.