Aussies living in the US are left confused after a new restaurant bearing a striking resemblance to a popular Australian eatery popped up in New York.
Expats and visitors living in The Big Apple took to social media after spotting signage similar to the Fishbowl restaurant with a slightly changed name in New York’s NoHo.
“This is definitely Fishbowl, but they couldn’t just call it Fishbowl. I really hope it is, I missed it,” one fan said in a clip shared on social media.
Instead of a knock-off, the company’s young founders have confirmed that they are acquiring their company Asian-inspired takeaway salads and protein bowls, worldwide.
The group is in the process of opening its first branch off the Australian coast, but had to do so under the name This one comes in the US.
Fishbowl’s first U.S. store will be in Manhattan’s NoHo. Image: supplied
Fishbowl founders Nathan Dalah, Nic Pestalozzi and Casper Ettelson at the Parramatta eatery. Photo: Nikki To
Fishbowl’s founders have revealed how they went from college students to owners of a multi-million dollar brand (pictured is a Japanese salad from the eatery)
The New York store is set to open in mid-2024, as the company’s three founders, who are friends from college, set their sights on the huge US market.
Nic Pestalozzi, one of the three founders, said the company wanted to launch big in the US by cracking the New York market.
“New York is the absolute mecca of retail in the world,” he said.
‘We debated other cities. We thought, should we go to Los Angeles or should we go to London?
“But we said, ‘look, if we do that, we still have to prove that we can do New York, whereas if we go straight to New York and make that work, the world is your oyster.’
Mr Pestalozzi, Nathan Dalah and Casper Ettelson, the founders of salad bowl restaurant Fishbowl, opened their first store in Bondi Beach in 2016.
The friends wanted to build a brand and product around healthy living and their salad bowls are designed with Japanese, Malaysian, Southeast Asian and Chinese influences.
“The Bondi image is not something we have deliberately tried to convey,” Pestalozzi said.
“It’s just where we started. The brand is who we are and the lifestyle we live just has that kind of Australian healthy outdoors feel to it.
‘We want to create an authentic brand experience.’
He is confident the Fishbowl experience will carry over America, despite the name change.
The trio threw all caution to the wind when they decided to open their first store in Bondi, knowing little about the challenges they would face during the Covid pandemic.
Fishbowl offers healthy Asian-inspired salad bowls for under $20.
The entrepreneur believes casual bowls are ready to compete in New York’s ultra-crowded food space.
“Our product is absolutely up to the challenge,” he said.
‘We wanted it to be something with maximum appeal and because it is healthy, super fresh, very tasty and at a good price, the product in itself has a point of difference in the New York market when it comes to that quick casual healthy taste. kommarkt.’
The menu includes a coconut chicken bowl with cabbage, carrot, red onion, cilantro, lemon-olive oil dressing, crispy shallots and a bowl called the OG, which has salmon sashimi or poached chicken with kale, beets, edamame, red onion, toasted sesame dressing , seaweed salad, tobiko, crispy shallots.
The bowls all cost less than $20, which is an important facet of the company’s mission to help people make healthier life choices.
Fishbowl has expanded rapidly since 2016, with 46 stores now open across Victoria, NSW and Queensland.
“Our fit-out costs are significantly lower than typical hospitality fit-out costs,” Mr Pestalozzi said.
“We have a central kitchen and then we produce all the food on a daily basis and deliver it to the stores on a daily basis, so when we set up a location we’re actually paying for a few refrigerators and the furniture, whereas a typical restaurant or food service establishments pay for kitchen equipment and they are almost double the investment to open just one store.
“The paybacks and payback period of our stores are quite fast and that allows us to be more profitable and open more stores.”
The company now employs 450 staff and has plans to launch 12 new stores, bringing the total number of Fishbowl experiences to 40 across Sydney, Victoria and Queensland.
Money-making friends: Nathan Dalah, Casper Ettleson and Nic Pestalozzi (pictured from left to right) opened their first Fishbowl restaurant in Bondi, Sydney’s eastern suburbs, in 2016
Its co-founder Nathan Dalah welcomed a baby in September with Australian supermodel Georgia Fowler, 29, a daughter the couple named Dylan (pictured with the couple)
Mr Pestalozzi said the company has achieved sales of more than $50 million in the past 12 months and aims to reach $100 million in sales by 2025, with an expansion rate of about eight new stores per year.
“That gives us enough time to train staff, fund growth and ensure we don’t get too far ahead of ourselves,” he said.
Global expansion beyond New York is also clearly in mind, but Mr Pestalozzi says the team followed a ‘store one’ mentality, or achieving excellence on a store-by-store basis rather than thinking too broadly about their ambitions.
Right now that means cracking America through 65 Bleecker.
“I think it’s going to be the ultimate Fishbowl flagship, so we’re very excited,” he said.
“We put a lot of you with good hearts into this one store.”
Fishbowl’s initial expansions were self-funded, but private Australian investors have come on board over the past two years.
The company has also attracted interest from US investors, but Pestalozzi said the trio wanted to keep it “local” for now.
“We say we empower people to make healthier lifestyle choices, so it’s not just about our product,” he said.
“We’ve always tried to build a brand and an experience around the product.
‘People want to feel better.’