Honest Catch is a seafood brand and online retailer for high-quality fish and seafood from sustainable fishing. The startup describes itself as a seafood innovator and is particularly known for its own shrimp farming. Until 2022, the company operated under the name Crusta Nova. Along with the new name comes a new CEO. Founder and former managing director Fabian Riedel is stepping back from day-to-day operations and handing over to Sepita Ansari. However, Riedel remains actively involved in the company as a co-owner and new board chair.
Sepita Ansari was most recently Vice President E-Commerce at food startup Foodspring in Berlin. In 2009, he co-founded the digital marketing agency Catbird Seat and has advised numerous food companies including Mars, Nestlé, Aldi Süd, and Gourmondo. After a successful exit to the Syzygy Group, he remained on board as CEO and managing partner until 2020. Ansari combines his activities as an entrepreneur with positions as a lecturer at various universities, including Hochschule München.
“Honest Catch is well positioned for the upcoming scaling”
On his new role, Sepita Ansari says:
“Thanks to the excellent work of Fabian Riedel and the Honest Catch team, the company is well positioned for the upcoming scaling, while maintaining a strong focus on sustainability and innovation. My goal is to develop Honest Catch into the leading seafood favorite brand in the DACH region through a variety of media initiatives, complemented by strategic brand partnerships. We also plan to revitalize the seafood category by introducing innovative, fresh, and contemporary products. This will happen across various channels: our online shop, food retail, gastronomy, and our own store, to provide a comprehensive omnichannel experience.”
Fabian Riedel, founder of Honest Catch and Oceanloop, says:
“Sepita Ansari will bring his many years of experience as a marketing and e-commerce expert with food expertise to scaling the business and making Honest Catch known as the seafood love brand in the DACH region. My focus will in the future be operationally with the Oceanloop Group, but I remain available with my experience as founder, co-owner, and long-time CEO of Honest Catch. I am very much looking forward to realizing the vision of both of our companies.”
Honest Catch is a sister company of the Oceanloop Group. The latter was created in 2023 as part of the growth strategy for the two business units of Crusta Nova: online seafood trading and land-based shrimp farming. Both business units were legally separated at the end of 2022. Since then, online trading has operated under Honest Catch and shrimp farming under Oceanloop.
