Fishbowl is changing its name, and the founders don’t mind if you hate it

If salad and rice bowl chain Fishbowl were to start all over again, there are a few things that would look a little different.

The name, for starters. “We wouldn’t call ourselves Fishbowl,” said co-founder Nic Pestalozzi. “It’s suggestive of what we were in 2016. But it’s not reflective of what we’re serving today.”

The nationwide rebrand of the Asian-inspired, made-to-order food chain to Thisbowl will kick off at the freshly revamped store in Bondi, where Fishbowl was founded in 2016. About 19 other stores will sport the new name on Tuesday, with others to undergo the conversion by mid-October.

There were three protein options on offer when twenty-something mates and university drop-outs Pestalozzi , Casper Ettelson and Nathan Dalah started making salads in a 26-square-metre outlet in Bondi: kingfish, salmon and tuna. Prawns and octopus were introduced some time after but have already disappeared from the menu.

Ten years and more than 60 new stores later, salmon is the only seafood protein that remains and makes up less than 30 per cent of orders as customers opt for chicken and beef.

To take it to the next decade, the founders are keen to shake off literal implications of the name Fishbowl, which they say has deterred prospective customers from walking in, on the assumption that they only sell seafood. When they opened in the beachside suburb of Manly, people walked in expecting to be able to order fish and chips.

Thisbowl, on the other hand, is open-ended. “Thisbowl means everything but nothing at the same time,” said Pestalozzi. “Fishbowl is not for everyone – you’re not going to walk in there if you don’t like fish. Thisbowl is for everyone and it speaks to how we’ve evolved, what the menu is today, and where we’re going.”

No one loves a product or a brand more or less because of what it’s called, the founders argue; a name can just be a name. It’s not their first name change, either: early iterations of the business included Fishbowl Poke and Fishbowl Sashimi. Most regulars probably won’t even notice, they say. The hand-scrawled logo will stay the same.

“We’re probably going to have some wonderful long debates over which name’s better,” said Ettelson. “Honestly, if they’re upset by it, we can have a fun polarising conversation with them, and I think that’s also OK.”

“Most customers will respect the change,” added Pestalozzi. “But anyway, if they want to keep calling it Fishbowl, they can.”

Part of what explains the founders’ unwillingness to glance in the rearview mirror is what they call their one-store mentality: every new store opening is treated like the first, with inspiration taken from the local community of that outlet. Its Broadway store features art from local students at the University of Technology Sydney across the road, including one canvas painted by Pestalozzi himself.