AI Summary
5 min read“I think the crazy thing is we also saw this huge trend around sardines also picking up at the same time,” says Becca Milstein, founder and CEO of Fishwife, describing the moment when a Moroccan export ban on frozen sardines collided with surging American demand for premium tinned fish. Milstein’s company, which specializes in high-end canned seafood, found itself in the middle of a supply chain shock that reveals how a single fishery disruption can ripple across continents, forcing retailers to air-freight product and consumers to trade up to pricier alternatives.
The Anatomy of a Sardine Shortage
Morocco exports roughly 50% of the world’s sardine supply, but in 2023 the catch declined by about 46%. The country responded by banning exports of frozen sardines, though it continues to export canned sardines. This matters because Spanish canneries had been importing about 90% of their raw sardine material from Morocco. When that supply was cut off, the entire European sardine market tightened.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (02:01) **Introducing the Sardine Shortage & Fishwife** - Tracy and Joe set up the episode by noting a Moroccan sardine export ban and the rise of premium tinned fish, introducing Becca Milstein, founder of Fishwife.
- 2 (10:04) **The Anchovy Supply Chain: From Catch to Tin** - Becca walks through the complete journey of Cantabrian anchovies, from fishing to curing to canning.
- 3 (15:11) **Breaking Into the Supply Chain as a Startup** - Becca describes the cold-start problem of convincing European canneries to work with an unknown American brand.
- 4 (22:29) **Zero to One: The First Year of Production** - Becca explains how she got started without massive minimum order quantities (MOQs).
- 5 (25:06) **Scaling Up: From V1 to V2 Supply Chain** - As demand exploded, Fishwife had to completely transform its sourcing to handle unlimited scale.
- 6 (27:19) **The Hollowing Out of US Canning Capacity** - Joe asks whether years of global competition from cheap Asian processing has shrunk the industrial base, creating today’s constraints.
- 7 (30:39) **The Moroccan Sardine Ban: What’s Really Happening** - Becca clarifies the mechanics of the Moroccan ban and how it affects Fishwife.
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Show Notes
Just a decade ago, tinned fish was hardly a premium product. Most Americans likely associated cans of tuna with thrift. But that has changed a lot in recent years. The category took off during Covid and now shoppers are shelling out for high end brands like Fishwife. Today's guest Becca Millstein started the company in 2020, positioning it as a distinct, artisanal product, more akin to one might find in European grocery stores. In addition to the sheer challenges of scaling, the nature of the business itself has changed, influenced by climate change and geopolitics (shortages have led Morocco to suspend frozen sardine exports for instance). We discuss the tinned fish supply chain and how a new brand positions itself in today's media market.
Read more: What the American Tin Can Reveals About Trump’s Volatile Tariff Policy
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