25 years ago, when Keith Chapman first opened his fish market stall, he never would have expected Chapman’s to become what it is today. He started out sourcing fish from local boats, and selling it himself in a stall. This continued for a while but soon enough, his reputation spread and local pubs and restaurants began asking him to supply their kitchens. Eventually this became so successful that he couldn’t maintain both the stall and the distribution business, so he was forced to choose. He chose distribution, and it worked out pretty well. Starting with just himself and his van, he soon had to add more drivers, more vans, more suppliers. This gradual growth, based on consistently good quality and service, went on for just over 12 years until Dave Theze joined the business. Dave has a background in fish wholesale and brokerage and he used that experience to expand the business further. Before long Chapman’s had 35 staff, 13 vans, a state-of-the-art depot and started supplying more and more top-quality, famous restaurants across the south east of England and London. With our new Borough Green Depot, the sky’s the limit. We are supplying many of the very best restaurants in London and have the capacity to do much more. The most important factor about the growth so far is that it’s been natural and organic. Expansion through reputation. We only source the best, freshest fish straight from the boats and are always working to keep food miles as low as possible, and traceability as clear as possible. We deliver six days per week, and operate a 24 hour phone service to take orders. We offer constant updates on the fish markets and fresh catches, so busy chefs can just give us a call at the end of their evening shift to receive an order of fresh fish the next day.
