Ep 10 - Nathan Dalah talks founding Fishbowl, systematising growth and changing fast-food culture
This week I was joined by Nathan Dalah - one of the young gun co-founders of Australia’s quickest growing healthy restaurant chain, Fishbowl. From the opening of their flagship Bondi store in 2016, Nathan and his business partners Nick and Casper set out with a bold goal - to change fast food and its culture. Specialising in made to order salads with a Japanese twist, the trio’s growing restaurant empire is arguably doing just that - at the time of writing, they have 13 stores; having just expanded out of Sydney and into Melbourne.
At university Nathan enjoyed cooking and hosting, but like a lot of people he didn’t really know what he wanted to do. He changed degrees several times, nearly bought a cafe in the heart of UTS and eventually dropped out altogether to move to America where he was exposed to a ‘new wave’ of quick casual restaurants. Inspiration from these restaurant experiences melded with his love for Japanese cuisine and when Nathan returned to Sydney, he teamed up with his two mates; bringing the sum total of their professional hospitality experience to one bar job; to make a go of it. The rest as they say, is (a very brief) history.
In our chat, Nathan walks me through the Fishbowl journey and offers an insight into what makes the business tick today; from working as a yacht cleaner to earn the first down payment on their flagship store, to the apps, systems, spaces and people that make up the rapidly scaling Fishbowl enterprise. We also talk about the culture the guys have built around their food - complementing their product with design-driven spaces, curated music, house sports teams, run clubs, events and more. Finally, Nathan leaves us with a tantalising glimpse of what’s on the horizon for the business.
I left this chat with Nathan feeling super inspired, so I hope it gives you a similar tingle too. If it did, please let me know with a punny food review and be sure to share the episode with a friend.