The sales surge that forced beloved Aussie ‘fast food’ icon to rebrand

“We wanted people to know you don’t have to like fish to walk in the door.”

The days of Fishbowl are officially over, with the Aussie food chain rebranding to Thisbowl as part of a major revamp to better reflect current sales and customer choices that are no longer largely fish.

“When we started, we were primarily selling fish and poké, and that was the core of what began in Bondi Beach. But now, the majority of our menu and ... what we sell isn’t actually fish,” Chief Marketing Officer Lexi Cotcamp told nine.com.au.

Customers would often joke that while they loved Fishbowl, they never actually ordered fish, she added.

“We have all these different things, and now we’re at a point where fish is just no longer the majority,” Cotcamp continued, saying chicken is now hugely popular.

“Chicken is the most popular protein in Australia, as well as many other countries in the world.

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“In winter, people really crave beef and warmer, heartier kind of things, so we see popularity for things like that go up seasonally.

“We also have seen things like our roasted tofu become a really big hit amongst non-vegos.”

Thisbowl’s first location on Campbell Parade in Bondi has undergone an extensive 11-week refurbishment to mark a new era for the made-to-order salad bowls brand.

“It is now the largest store in Australia to date ... it’s over doubled the space that we previously had, and we’ll have outdoor seating,” Cotcamp said.

The Bondi location reopens on September 26 at 11am and will be selling $10 bowls to celebrate. The Richmond, Victoria location is also being given a major refurb.

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While the core menu will stay the same, seasonal items will continue to be added throughout the year. They will join Thisbowl’s biggest seller, The OG – the one bowl that has been on the menu since they started.

“Coconut chicken has been the most crazy viral product we’ve ever sold,” Cotcamp added.

Despite the changes, the brand’s iconic ordering process “largely remains the same”, she said: “You can still order in store, and also have our digital experience where you can order for pickup or delivery.”

“Where we have changed, maybe, in the past few years is an absolutely insane amount of focus on delivering fresh food as fast as possible. For us, that means no more than 10 minutes, ideally less than, to assemble a bowl.

“It’s like a relay race. Someone starts, then you pass the bowl off to the next person as quickly as possible.

“We have one person on bases, the next person is mixing the core of the vegetables and the protein and the dressing.

“The other person is then crafting that beautiful, fluffy mountain you see in the bowl [we have] become so known for. The last person is garnishing with that crunch or that topping.”

Thisbowl was founded in 2016 by Nathan Dalah, Nic Pestalozzi and Casper Ettelson. It now has more than 60 locations in Australia, along with four in New York.

“Ten years of iterating, experimenting, and never standing still turned into something much bigger,” Dalah said.

“Fishbowl is where we started. Thisbowl is where we’ve arrived, and we have much more coming.”