--- title: Did TikTok help scale the tinned fish industry? - The Hustle description: Tuna needed a savior. It may have found one in TikTok. image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1565021792-HS-News-Brief_2023-01-19T011307.241Z.webp --- # Did TikTok help scale the tinned fish industry? ![Jacob Cohen](https://thehustle.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/IMG_5670-1-modified-768x768.png?width=48&height=48&name=IMG_5670-1-modified-768x768.png) [Jacob Cohen](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/jacob-cohen) [Jacob Cohen Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/ImJacobCohen) Published: January 19, 2023 Updated: October 11, 2023 For quite some time, the canned tuna market has been in need of a tuneup. ![Did TikTok help scale the tinned fish industry?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1565021792-HS-News-Brief_2023-01-19T011307.241Z.webp?width=595&height=400&name=1565021792-HS-News-Brief_2023-01-19T011307.241Z.webp) USDA [data](https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-availability-per-capita-data-system/) shows that between 1989 and 2018, per capita availability plummeted 46%. Moreover, in 2017, Bumble Bee and StarKist paid a combined $125m after pleading guilty to price-fixing their tuna. In 2019, Bumble Bee [filed](https://www.fooddive.com/news/bumble-bee-files-for-bankruptcy-and-agrees-to-sell-for-925m/567858/) for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and agreed to be purchased for $925m. #### **But new data…** … shows a recent TikTok trend may have helped turn the tide by billing the pungent snack as a $20-a-pop date night delicacy. In 2022, US canned seafood sales [jumped](https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-latest-tiktok-star-is-canned-tuna-11673878559?mod=hp_listc_pos1) 9.7% to $2.7B, per *The* *Wall Street Journal*. - Niche brands have been especially prosperous. Alaska’s classy Wildfish Cannery doubled wholesale revenue last year; Vancouver’s Scout Canning grew revenue 82% to $4m. The uptick is being partially attributed to influencers on TikTok, where the hashtag #tinnedfish has 26.5m+ views. Ali Hooke, a chef from San Francisco, makes a popular series of [“tinned fish date night”](https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRpheQew/) TikToks, which frequently rack up hundreds of thousands of views. Not everyone’s a fan, though. Top comments say things like, “New fear unlocked” and “Sounds like the worst day of the week.” Topics: [Food](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/food) [Tiktok](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/tiktok) ## Follow us on social media prev next - ![Holy smokes, there may actually be a limit to Texans’ love of barbecue](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1244337807-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Texas-BBQ_20230928210924.webp) ### Holy smokes, there may actually be a limit to Texans’ love of barbecue - ![Think your industry is weird? 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