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1 A Day in the Life of World Famous Pike Place Fish

Cast of Characters

Throughout this book, you will be reading stories from each of the fishmongers, so it might help to know a little bit about them. Johnny Yokoyama purchased Pike Place Fish in 1965 and used to work at the Market with the guys. These days the fishmongers pretty much keep the fish flying on their own; however, Johnny remains actively involved in coaching the crew and in leading them into an exciting and inspiring future.

Dicky Yokoyama, Johnny’s brother, started working at Pike Place Fish over twenty years ago and is presently one of the managers. Samuel “Sammy” Samson is the other manager, but you usually can’t see him because he’s moving so darn fast! Keith Bish, otherwise known as “Bear,” was the driver and utility person for years; now you can find him working at the king salmon display. Justin Hall has been working at Pike Place Fish since he was thirteen years old. He has been there for thirteen years, and his claim to fame is being in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most fish thrown in a minute.

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Dicky Yokoyama

Jaison Scott was practically born at the Market, and he has worked at Pike Place Fish for seven years. He is well known as an outstanding drummer for Severhead, a hard-driving Seattle band. Darren Kilian has been with Pike Place Fish for five years; he can usually be found at the computer near the clam and mussel displays, putting together many of the Internet orders. Dan Bugge, known to everyone by just his last name, has been with Pike Place Fish for three years. He is best known for throwing a fish into a baby carriage—with the baby still in it! Don’t worry; the baby was okay, if a bit startled.

Keith Bish (aka Bear)

Justin Hall

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Samuel “Sammy” Samson

Jaison Scott

Darren Kilian

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Dan Bugge (aka Bugge)

Chris Bell

Chris Bell currently is the utility person and driver. Every day he picks up the freshest fish available to mankind and keeps the rhythm going by making sure everything is well stocked. Andy Frigulietti came to Seattle from Boston and has worked with Pike Place Fish for nearly four years. He works in front of the crab and lobster displays with Erik Espinoza, who has worked at the Market for about two years. Erik has had the opportunity to travel to some interesting vacation destinations.

Andy Frigulietti

Erik Espinoza

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Ryan Dehn (aka Bison)

Anders Miller

Ryan Dehn, also known as “Bison,” has worked on and off with Pike Place Fish for about three years. Hard to track down, Bison’s always on the go and keeps all the displays well stocked. Anders Miller has been with Pike Place Fish for about three years and spends most of his time behind the counter (also known as “up on top”), catching and filleting the fish thrown his way. He also delivers orders to the hotels after the shop closes in the evening. Usually behind the counter with Anders is Jeremy Ridgway, a self-proclaimed expert-in-training who has been with Pike Place Fish for about one year.

Jeremy Ridgway

Russell Price

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Ben Bish

Matt Lewis

When he’s not cruising around Seattle on his Harley, Russell Price works in front of the king salmon or crab displays and has been aboard for three years. Ben Bish, Bear’s son, has been working part-time at Pike Place Fish since he was fifteen years old. He also generally works out in front, by the crab and shellfish displays or by the king salmon display.

Matt Lewis, Doug Strauss, Dave Brooks, and Ryan Kimura also worked at Pike Place Fish while I was compiling the stories for the book. Matt and Dave are now attending college, Doug teaches high school locally, and Ryan moved to Las Vegas for another job opportunity. Each of them visits Pike Place Fish regularly, so you might see them at the Market as well.

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One thing to note is that each of the fishmongers is responsible for being able to do anything that is required —cross training at its finest! They each work up on top, answer the phones, work out in front, put together shipping orders, make deliveries—everything.

Other contributing members of the cast are longtime consultant Jim Bergquist and his team, who help facilitate the process of creating goals and solving problems at Pike Place Fish.

Catch! of the Day

If you have not had the opportunity to visit Pike Place Fish, it might be helpful to know what a normal day looks like. Every day except Sunday begins at 6:30 a.m. (Sunday begins at 7:00 a.m.), when the fishmongers get into a huddle to discuss the goals for the day. They talk about how much inventory of each type of fish they have on hand and about what they want to accomplish on that day. The huddle ends with a loud, ceremonial “Aayyyyeeee!”

After the huddle, each fishmonger sets up a different seafood display, called a “show.” On a typical day, the shows include smoked, boxed, and king salmon, shellfish and crab, parrot fish and other exotic-looking fish, monkfish, clams and mussels, and oysters. While some of the fishmongers set up the displays in front of the counter, other fishmongers work behind the counter, cutting up the fillets and steaks for display behind the glass.

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Entrance to Pike Place Public Market with World Famous Pike Place Fish on the left

Once everything is set up, the fishmongers hose down the walkways, clean the display case glass, and hang labels to identify the different types of fish. Many of the fillets and steaks look quite similar, and it takes a keen eye to distinguish between them. All the while, early-bird customers are making purchases. In addition to the fish products, customers buy “World Famous Pike Place Fish” T-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, and other goodies. As the day unfolds, increasing numbers of visitors and customers come to the Market, creating a lot of activity. The fishmongers move all day, taking orders off the phone and the Internet and shipping fish to every imaginable distant corner of the world.

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If you want to see the action from your home, check out the Pike Place Fish website and select webcam. One of the things you will see is that any time a customer places an order, the fishmonger serving him or her literally throws the fish about ten to fifteen feet to another fishmonger, who catches it while standing behind the counter. There is not a lot of room for error, but the fishmongers have become quite skilled at throwing crab, salmon, and even bags of clams. It is a well-synchronized process, and no one throws a fish until the fishmonger taking the order calls out the specific order to the others. Once the order is yelled to the crew, the crew responds by repeating the order aloud. Then the fish fly! Because of their communication system, it is rare to see the fishmongers make a mistake.

Originally, the crew threw fish in order to avoid walking all the way to the counter to weigh a customer’s order. However, customers and visitors got such a kick out of seeing fish fly that it has become a part of Pike Place Fish’s culture. Sometimes customers even get in on the action, and while visiting the Market you might see someone try their hand at catching a flying fish. This usually gets many laughs from the watching crowd—those fish can be slippery!

At 5:45 p.m., sharp, one of the fishmongers yells “five forty-five” to initiate the closing process. It takes approximately forty-five minutes to break down the displays and put away all the fish for the night. By 6:30, everything is stowed, and the crew gets into another huddle. They talk about how the day went in relation to the goals that were set in the morning huddle. They divide the tips they earned throughout the course of the day, and then they close shop. One of the fishmongers will then deliver orders to customers who are guests staying at the various local hotels.

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Stocked displays at the Pike Place Fish stall

The Map and the Territory

One thing that you may notice as you read through the fishmongers’ stories is that sometimes their language seems a little odd. While the terms and jargon are catchy, the power of the stories does not come from the specific terms; it comes from the attitude and mental framework reflected in the terms. The language is simply a reflection of the concepts and underlying Pike Place Fish principles.

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The relationship between the language and the principles is analogous to a map and the territory a map depicts. A map is not exactly what the actual territory looks like, but it is nonetheless a depiction of the characteristics of the territory. The map represents a tool to help you understand what you might expect in the actual territory. The same is true of the language the fishmongers use: the language is simply a tool to understand the guiding principles that make the fishmongers effective in their lives and at work.

Before we get started, Russell and Anders have the following introduction for you: