fish market type private industry seafood founded 1930 headquarters 86 pike place seattle washington united states of america owner john yokoyama website http pikeplacefish.com pike place fish market the pike place fish market founded in 1930 is an open air fish market located in seattle washington s pike place market at the corner of pike street and pike place . it is known for their tradition of fishmongers throwing fish that customers have purchased before they are wrapped . 1 after nearing bankruptcy in 1986 the fish market owner and employees decided to become world famous changing their way of doing business by introducing their flying fish games and customer performances . four years later they were featured repeatedly in the national media and television shows . 2 the store is now a popular tourist destination in seattle attracting up to 10 000 daily visitors and is often billed as world famous . 2 3 contents 1 history 2 flying fish 3 films books and popular culture 4 references 5 further reading 6 external links history edit the pike place fish market was purchased in 1965 by john yokoyama a former employee of the fish market who bought the store to make enough money on an owner s salary to afford the car payments on his new buick riviera . 4 initially pike place fish market was unknown outside of the seattle area but yokoyama and his staff decided to change that in a meeting with a business coach in 1986 . 2 prior to the meeting the pike place fish market was near to bankruptcy and the consultant jim bergquist was helping them to conceive of ways to save the business . 2 a fish market employee at the meeting suggested that they not only save the business but make it world famous with the ideas for the business flying and thrown fish games with customers and staff attitudes of always enjoying their work so that customers would as well . 2 in an interview yokoyama stated we took a stand that we were going to become world famous . we just said it and it became so . 5 four years later in 1990 ted turner s goodwill games were held in seattle . news crews at the pike place market discovered the fish market and its performances with customers and they filmed them . soon afterwards the fish market appeared on good morning america leading to the business and its employees being filmed by various film crews and being featured in numerous magazines . now during the summer tourist season the fishmongers will perform now in front of as many as 10 000 visitors daily . 2 the success of the business has been cited to its human resources and employee attitudes . 5 the employees of the fish market will often speak to businesses civic groups and schools on ways to be successful and has led to their being featured in motivational books . 2 6 a popular feature at the pike place fish market is the monkfish which sometimes thanks to a hidden line is made to snap at customers . 7 in 1991 cnn named the pike place fish market as one of the three most fun places to work in america . 7 flying fish edit a flying salmon the pike place fish market is best known for their habit of hurling customers orders across the shopping area . a typical routine will involve a customer ordering a fish with their fishmongers in orange rubber overalls and boots calling out the order which is loudly shouted back by all the other staff at which point the original fishmonger will throw the customer s fish behind the counter for wrapping . 7 initially the shouted repeating of the ordered fish began as a prank on one employee but was enjoyed by customers so it became a tradition . 8 while working the staff continually yell to each other and chant in unison while they throw ordered fish . 9 at times the fish market staff will throw a foam fish into the crowd to scare bystanders or select a customer from the crowds to participate in the fish toss . 10 above the areas in which they throw fish the market hangs a sign that reads caution low flying fish . 11 films books and popular culture edit taho longtime employee staffing the counter in 1998 the pike place fish market was the subject of a documentary film and accompanying book fish philosophy . 5 the pike place fish market has also been the setting for several best selling corporate training videos the aforementioned fish and also fish sticks which have been used by firms such as enterprise rent a car sprint nextel southwest airlines sainsbury s saturn and scottish and southern energy for employee training . 8 the pike place fish market has been featured in a variety of television shows and commercials . these include a spike lee levis jeans commercial ; mtv s the real world ; nbc s frasier and abc s good morning america . 7 in films they have appeared in free willy . 8 reference to the pike place fish market is also made by american hip hop duo macklemore & ryan lewis in their 2015 single downtown featuring eric nally melle mel kool moe dee and grandmaster caz . references edit do you provide world class service . reliable plant magazine . noria . 2008 . retrieved 2007 05 27 . dead link a b c d e f g caution flying fish ahead the 2006 general session promises insights smiles and scales . . parks & recreation . national recreation and park association . 2006 09 01 . retrieved 2007 05 27 . delicious ways to explore seattle s foodie paradise . the san diego union tribune . october 17 2010 . our humble beginnings . pike place fish market . archived from the original on january 23 2008 . retrieved 2007 05 27 . a b c hr philosophy goes fishing for positive work attitudes . seattle times . 2008 . archived from the original on july 8 2011 . retrieved 2007 05 27 . fish peter 2007 06 01 . seattle to market . sunset . sunset publishing corp. retrieved 2007 05 27 . dead link a b c d bauman margaret 2006 11 26 . good times means good business at pike place . alaska journal of commerce . archived from the original on january 8 2009 . retrieved 2007 05 27 . a b c lelyveld nita 2000 08 04 . pike place fishmongers showing up as examples of fun at work . philadelphia inquirer . retrieved 2007 05 27 . pfeiffer cristina 2006 03 22 . seattle highlights . the age . melbourne . retrieved 2007 05 27 . fishy tale could cause indigestion . europe intelligence wire . financial times ltd. 2005 11 08 . retrieved 2007 05 27 . landro laura 2006 08 19 . how i got hooked on seattle . wall street journal . retrieved 2007 05 27 . further reading edit tourists gone evening clean up begins when fish fly lessons for creating a vital and energized workplace from the word famous pike place fish market yokoyama john and joseph michelli . new york hyperion 2004 . catch a fishmonger s guide to greatness crother cyndi and the crew of pike place fish . berrett koehler publishers january 1 2005 external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to pike place fish market . pike place fish market official website 5 12 60 official blog v t e pike place market main history of the pike place market victor steinbrueck park notable people betty bowen victor steinbrueck mark tobey emmett watson businesses beecher s handmade cheese lowell s original starbucks pike place fish market sur la table uli s famous sausage unexpected productions landmarks butterworth building gum wall rachel the pig retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title pike place fish market & oldid 738484000 categories companies based in seattleculture of seattlefish marketsfood markets in the united statespike place marketvisitor attractions in seattlefishing in the united statesretail buildings in washington state hidden categories all articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from september 2010articles with dead external links from april 2012commons category with page title same as on wikidatagood articles navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages simple english edit links this page was last modified on 9 september 2016 at 06 24 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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