Mitch Tonks and Mat Prowse
After a busy morning at the restaurant, Mat Prowse from Rockfish kindly spared us a few minutes to talk about his experiences of working with KFE, the key to their business success and their plans for the future.
‘KFE are a really good company to work with. They have a ‘can do’ attitude to everything even when we’re struggling with moving targets such as changing launch dates etc.’
‘Kiremko are great ranges that were chosen hands down by our executive chefs. Their quality range products paired with their exceptional after sales service levels are what sets KFE apart’
‘From Paul and Tanya right through to the service and engineering team, we really feel like we’re part of one big family’
‘Even when we’ve been selecting builders for our new sites, we haven’t just considered the price. The most important thing is whether we think we’ll get on with the people. I’m a big believer in ‘nice people attracting nice people’ and we follow that through in everything we do from our suppliers and our own teams through to the relationships that we build with our customers and within our local communities.’
There’s a lot of doom and gloom within the industry with businesses closing and cost prices rising. Mat was kind enough to share how Rockfish continues to be a successful thriving business with ongoing expansion plans.
‘We keep our business concept ‘pure and simple’. We don’t make it complicated because that puts extra pressure on us and affects the quality of our product. With coastal locations we benefit from a summer peak but our local trade keeps the business going 365 days a year. It’s important for us to be part of the community so we’re always looking at ways to do this through sponsorship and supporting local events etc.’
‘Whilst fish prices are going up, as a business we’re trying to ensure that we keep our pricing sensible. To do this, we’ve cut out the middleman and have set up our own supply network through Brixham fish market. We then centrally cut and portion the fish for our shops and restaurants.’
Rockfish Dartmouth
Rockfish Exmouth
‘Rockfish is about changing the way that people experience seafood in the UK and this has led to us investing in new kitchen equipment in addition to our Kiremko ranges. Even though KFE didn’t supply the grills etc. that we needed, Paul actively worked with our other suppliers to allow for a coordinated approach to our install.’
‘We spend as much time as we can in our businesses, and talking to our customers. We always encourage our customers to feed back on their experience, whether it’s good or bad. We learn from their honesty and we put that back in to our businesses.’
We’re opening in Weymouth this year and then Poole will be opening at the backend of this year or early next year. We’re not in a rush to expand as it’s more about finding the right sites.
One of our biggest challenges it to retain our integrity and family ethos as we grow and I think myself and Mitch are the key to this, in the same way that Paul is with KFE.
We’re opening in Weymouth this year and then Poole will be opening at the backend of this year or early next year. We’re not in a rush to expand as it’s more about finding the right sites.
Thank you for your time Mat. The KFE team would like to wish you the best of luck with your new openings.
If anyone wants to hear more about Rockfish and their new menus and openings go to www.therockfish.co.uk and sign up to the newsletter’ or follow them on social TheRockfishUK