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In her column for the Evening Standard, each month Wonderoom’s Mairead Cahill shines a spotlight on the UK’s most innovative sustainable brands.
This month, Cahill features Secret Smokehouse for its creative approach to adapting its small London food business to meet changing customer demand during a time of crisis for many small food and retail businesses.
Here she sits down with Max Bergius, founder of Secret Smokehouse, to hear how he grew his food business from humble beginnings in Stepney to supplying the leading restaurants across London, and how he is currently managing to adapt and pivot as a result of losing 95 per cent of his wholesale business overnight with the closure of the capital’s restaurants.
What is the story behind Secret Smokehouse?
I grew up in Loch Awe on the West Coast of Scotland and have always had an interest in traditional fish smoking practices. When returning in 2015 to spend time with my Dad, I started experimenting with smoking my own fish using high quality local salmon. That led me to train with Billingsgate Seafood School back in London, and to create ‘Secret Smokehouse’ which is our shop and smokehouse based in London Fields. We produce entirely handmade PGI status cured smoked salmon, oak smoked trout, haddock and kippers, all using traditional techniques that date back to the 1800s. We supply the top restaurants across London and sell directly to consumers online and in our shop.
What has been the impact of COVID-19 on your business?
COVID-19 has had a massive impact on our business. Overnight, 95 per cent of our wholesale business supplying restaurants and hotels across London was gone. We’ve had to think on our feet and quickly adapt to the changes in front of us in order to survive as a business.
How have you adapted your business to survive and thrive during this time?
We saw an opportunity to focus on serving consumers directly, many of whom still wanted to buy high quality local produce. We ramped up our communication online and on social, and made it clear we were open for business. We’re lucky our local community have been amazingly supportive. We also recognised people were looking for high quality prepared food as many supermarkets were running low on stock and their favourite restaurants were closed.
So, we scaled up our homemade fish pie business. There has been so much interest in our £10 fish pies that I hired the Head Chef from Wiltons and Sous Chef from Lyle’s, to lead on making all our fish pies! We’re now selling these online and delivering to customers same day and next day across London.
How can people best support small businesses with the current restrictions?
It is absolutely vital to keep on supporting and buying from small and local businesses during this difficult time, as they have less cash flow reserves than big supermarkets. One of the best ways to do that is to buy directly from local and artisan producers through their stores and online, as direct sales is where businesses typically achieve most margin.
How has sustainability informed your business?
Sustainability informs all aspects of how we operate as a business. We only source our salmon and fish from small high-quality producers that are RSPCA high welfare certified. The carbon footprint of our product is relatively low as we source within the UK and then cure and smoke our fish in our East London smokehouse and deliver and supply to customers across London using our electric vehicle. Packaging is something we’re continually striving to make more sustainable, and currently we use compostable sheep wool insulator for transporting our product to customers.
What makes Secret Smokehouse different from what else is out there?
Our attention to detail and focus on quality and craftmanship. Our cured and smoked fish is entirely handmade – from hand filleting, to our salt cure and oak smoke, to hand pin boning and slicing each fish ourselves. No smoke we do is ever the same, as each smoke varies depending on the ambient temperature, size of the fish, and the humidity. As a result, we’re only ever as good as our last smoke!
What has been the highlight of building your business so far?
A big highlight was bringing my right-hand man Harri on board, and the day we got our Secret Smokehouse awning up outside our shop. Also, the fact that we have not taken any outside investment but have built the business up step at a time, has been hard graft but very rewarding.
Who or what inspires you?
My daughter Cosima inspires me every day because she’s not wrapped up in COVID-19 and her perspective on life is so fresh and beautiful. I’m building something for her. The next generation is why we work hard, and why focusing on sustainability within our business is so important.
What’s your dream for the business?
Right now, it’s to survive and adapt as a business with all that’s going on. Beyond that, I just want to become the best artisan smokehouse, supplying the best restaurants in London, and to continue to do what we do really well, and to leave a legacy for my daughter.
Secret Smokehouse is available for purchase online at secretsmokehouse.co.uk. Prices include £10 for a homemade fish pie for two, and £13 for 200g of London Cure Oak Smoked Salmon.
Mairead Cahill is the Founder of Wonderoom and a contributor to Evening Standard Lifestyle. For news, interviews and behind the scenes footage with exciting sustainability brands and entrepreneurs, follow Wonderoom on Instagram @wonderoom.co.
