Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has joined forces with Dutch seafood brand Fish Tales in a new campaign aimed at accelerating the shift toward sustainably sourced seafood as the company prepares for a new push into the U.K. retail market.
The partnership will center on a broader non-commercial initiative called “The Seafood Revolution,” designed to increase public awareness around seafood sourcing, traceability and responsible consumption.
Fish Tales Founder Bart van Olphen said the collaboration grew out of a long-standing friendship with Oliver, whom he previously worked with as a seafood expert on the chef’s Food Tube platform.
“We’ve known each other for years and always stayed in touch,” van Olphen told SeafoodSource. “At a certain point, I realized we needed to accelerate what we’re doing. We’ve built the sourcing, logistics and traceability systems, but we needed to reach a much broader mainstream audience.”
Van Olphen said the messaging has been effective but has been largely targeting niche consumers and needs to be more broad.
“I remember cycling back from a meeting with Whole Foods Market in Austin and thinking that we were preaching to the converted,” he said. “That’s when I messaged Jamie and asked if he wanted to join me in working on the oceans. Within minutes he replied: ‘Yes.’”
The collaboration comes as Fish Tales intensifies plans to launch into U.K. retail within the coming months, with van Olphen describing the market as “a major opportunity” for seafood sustainability messaging.
The company previously had a limited presence in the U.K. through product-led listings, including in Waitrose, but van Olphen said the upcoming launch would be significantly different and be backed by a much stronger brand strategy.
“This time it’s not just about putting products on shelves,” he said. “It’s about giving consumers a brand they can trust on sustainability, traceability and social responsibility.”
Meanwhile, The Seafood Revolution online series launches on 8 June – World Ocean Day – across Jamie Oliver’s and Fish Tales’ digital channels. The series will follow Oliver and van Olphen as they explore sustainable fisheries and seafood supply chains, beginning in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex, England.
Episodes will spotlight fisheries and supply chains including pole-and-line tuna fisheries in Indonesia, Cornish sardines, and wild salmon operations in Alaska, while also explaining seafood sourcing, traceability and certification in consumer-friendly terms.
Van Olphen stressed that the wider Seafood Revolution initiative is intended to become a global movement rather than a brand campaign.
“I will step back from day-to-day company operations later this year to focus more on the broader message,” he said. “Jamie is the first ambassador of the movement, but the goal is much bigger than one company. We want to create awareness and encourage consumers to think about what they eat and where it comes from.”
Fish Tales has built its reputation around fully traceable seafood products sourced from fisheries and aquaculture operations meeting environmental and social responsibility standards. However, van Olphen said the company’s sustainability standards now extend beyond traditional certification schemes.
“I was one of the first fishmongers in the world selling MSC-certified seafood,” he said. “But MSC is now our baseline, not the finish line. For example, all our tuna is pole-and-line caught, because we believe that’s the best long-term fishing method for tuna. And where products come from developing countries, we also require Fair Trade certification because sustainability is not only about marine biology – it’s also about people and communities.”
The company plans to launch Fair Trade-certified tuna products in the U.K. market, sourced from Indonesian fisheries and processing communities.
“We support not only the fishers but also the communities producing and packing the fish,” van Olphen said. “Labor conditions, safe working environments, and community premiums are all part of that story. If coastal communities are treated fairly, they will also protect the oceans.”
Fish Tales also plans to expand its range of preserved seafood products as part of the U.K. rollout, tapping into growing consumer demand for premium tinned fish.
Van Olphen said perceptions around the preserved seafood category have also changed dramatically over the past decade.
“Twenty years ago, canned seafood was often seen as a secondary product,” he said. “Now consumers see it as high-quality, convenient and sustainable.”
The company has already moved away from Atlantic mackerel due to sustainability concerns and is instead developing products using Chilean jack mackerel as an alternative.
In a statement, Oliver said the collaboration aligned closely with his long-running focus on food transparency and sustainability.
“I’m supporting Bart’s Seafood Revolution because it sums up everything I believe in and have campaigned for across the wider food industry: honest food, sustainable choices and a system that safeguards food security for generations to come,” he said. “It’s all connected – if we want better food on our plates, we also have to protect the biodiversity of the places it comes from.”
