Local business: Harley and Johns Seafood

Harley and Johns Seafood owner Grant Logue swapped his life of building large houses for the likes of Cate Blanchett for selling Australia’s finest, fresh seafood from his store in Fairy Meadow.

However, the business didn’t start there.

It began as a fish market at the Wollongong Harbour by Harley, before moving to Fairy Meadow in 1988. Then, in 2009, Grant took Harley and Johns Seafood over. His role has not only been to supply the Illawarra with the highest quality fresh seafood, but to also educate them about sustainable seafood products and how to keep our oceans safe.

Grant shares the story of Harley and Johns Seafood…

Harley and Johns Seafood has been operating for 34 years. What’s the story behind how it got started?

Harley had a fish market down at Wollongong Harbour. The older generation would have known Harley. Then in 1988, when the harbour was redeveloped, they moved up here (to Fairy Meadow) with John. So that’s where Harley and Johns started.

When did you take over the business and what was your motivation for buying it?

In ‘09 I bought into the business and then for the last eight years I’ve had it by myself. I had a partner for the first few years and then the last eight years it’s been just us.

What was your background in seafood/aquaculture prior to buying the business?

My interest is eating it (laughs). Originally I was a carpenter. I was working on some big houses up in Sydney. I was working on Cate Blanchett’s house at Hunters Hill. I loved the work but was sick of the travel.

My wife was pregnant at the time. I thought I needed a career change and I knew my (business) partner at the time. My wife worked in the business while she was going through university.

You’re famous for your oyster shucking. How did this come about and where do you usually showcase these skills?

That started… I couldn’t even tell you a year. We got asked to do a function and they wanted live shucked oysters. So we decided to teach ourselves how to do it. It started from there, did a few events for those people and slowly it just evolved.

So now we do a lot of work with Merivale in Sydney. So we do stuff at the (Sydney) Cricket Ground at their venues, throughout Sydney, the Star Casino, a lot of South Coast weddings and any corporate events.

It’s part of us educating customers about oysters. It’s amazing how many people will say ‘I don’t like oysters’ or ‘I had a bad experience’. You can convince them to try it, that they’re different, they’re fresh and what they should be tasting when they’re right - and then you’ve got them hooked.

Harley and Johns Seafood was the first independent fish market in NSW to gain MSC chain of custody certification. How important are sustainable seafood products to the business?

The sustainability of our oceans is our business. Without the sustainability of our oceans, we don’t have a business.

And it’s just for our customers to know we go the extra mile to ensure they know what they’re eating and we’re doing the right thing. It’s important to us they know that what they’re purchasing is what we’re actually selling. We’re not substituting anything.

Where do you source your products from? How has the relationship with those suppliers developed over time?

We’ve got relationships with suppliers all over Australia. It’s a matter of those relationships having been built up over the years. It’s that trust and understanding that they know what I like and they’re not going to send anything that doesn’t meet those standards.

You have a range of customers at the Fairy Meadow seafood business. Who do you supply to?

Our main focus is our retail customers. We do a little bit of wholesale but we decided late last year coming out COVID that we would wind our wholesale back a bit. We had to concentrate on something and we didn’t want to let either side down. So we decided to concentrate on the retail side.

We still do wholesale but it’s to select customers. We know what they like and so we look after them.

What are the most popular items you sell?

It depends on the time of year, but salmon, barramundi, snapper and flathead are probably the most popular fish-wise. Then it’s your prawns and oysters come summer and Christmas.

What do you like about operating the business in Fairy Meadow?

It’s not the northern suburbs but it’s not in Wollongong. It’s easy access. It’s more of a community in Fairy Meadow. A lot of the business owners, if we need anything, they’re only a phone call away or we can drop in.

At times, people use our cool rooms if they need extra room. Everyone really supports everyone. If you need anything, people are more than willing to help.

How has the business grown over the years?

People like to know the story behind seafood - the origins and how it’s caught. There’s a lot more information out there on the internet. So a lot of our time is educating customers on what is going on. I always say there’s three sides to the story. What you see in the media isn’t necessarily always true.

People are getting a bit more adventurous with their cooking and you really noticed that through lockdown. People were getting really adventurous cooking mud crabs, sashimi, curing fish and making sushi at home because they had the time. And people have carried that on.

Many have noticed that a DA was lodged for your current site. What will that involve for the business and where are you at with that process?

We’ve got four years to run on our lease. We're actively looking now and we’ve been approached by numerous people about what we’re looking for. It’s exciting what opportunities are actually out there. We’ve got some plans and ideas to grow the brand of Harleys and see where we can take it.

We’ve been in this location for a long time. We won’t be going too far north or too far south. That’s where we are now.

It’s exciting. I support the development and think it will be good for the area, bringing more people into this community.

Anything else you’d like to share with us?

This year with Christmas we’ve got a lot of local suppliers coming in and we’re going to make it into a marketplace in the driveway. They can set up a market stall in the driveway, just to add to the last minute Christmas shopping, presents and things like that while you're standing in line. So that will be on the 24th.

We sell a lot of the products in the shop, but it’s about these producers coming to meet the customers - customers that may actually be unaware that we do sell it. It’ll be a meet the maker type experience.

You can visit Harley and Johns Seafood at 7 Daisy St, Fairy Meadow or visit their website.

To learn more about buying, selling or leasing a property in Fairy Meadow and surrounds, contact Joanne on (02) 4285 7400.

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