From TikTok fame, to podcasting with celebrities, Jason and Kerensa Dagnal have made quite the name for their direct-selling business – Lisa-Marie Shellfish (formerly Levan Mor shellfish). The shellfish selling duo are settled in Padstow with Jason, a fisherman of over 20 years, managing the boat and Kerensa, a beautician, driving deliveries around Cornwall. When the pandemic hit, both lost their customers and were forced to innovate.
“Between the pair of us, there was a moment where we could have lost everything financially” Jason told Seafood Cornwall. “Within a week or two, Kerensa had the idea of creating a Facebook page to sell what I was catching. We moved away from the crab fishery and started targeting more lobster instead, and it just took off from there. Kerensa was in control of our social media and building our brand, and I went out and fished.”
The pair were immediately swept off their feet with demand, building a regular client base of around 100 people. Kerensa shared their story and produce far and wide on social media, even using TikTok to give customers an escape to the Cornish fishing life while the nation was in lockdown; one of her first posts acquired over 2 million views!
@kerensadagnall #fishermansfriends #fishermansfriendsfilm #portisaac #cornwall #kernow #shanty #shantytok #fyp #harbour @fishyfriendsofficial
Jason and Kerensa witnessed first-hand how a passion for local seafood brought people together at a time where restrictions forced the community apart: “We weren’t only supplying lobsters and spider crabs for customers to buy, but giving people a reason to come out, stand in the sun and talk to other people that they couldn’t see anymore. You could see that, even at a social distance, it was making a real difference to people.”
It became so popular that Jason and Kerensa had to divert their customers to other local direct-selling fishermen, which they were more than happy to do: “We were probably the first boat on the north coast to offer this service, and we didn’t really consider the knock on effect,” Jason admitted. “So it made sense for us to pass our contacts on when we got busy.”
@kerensadagnall Looking forward to sunnier days #fyp #cornwall #padstow #sea #coast #boat #fishingtiktoks
Their business is still thriving, and just celebrated its two-year anniversary, but the pair have scaled back slightly to make more time for family, and their own lives. Fisherman Jason tours, sings and plays the accordion with Cornwall’s famous sea-shanty group, Fisherman’s Friends, while Kerensa runs her own beauty business. Kerensa’s sudden career change to the fishing industry has also attracted celebrity attention, with Stacey Dooley paying them a visit to feature the family on her BBC podcast Fresh Starts which, Kerensa said, is one of her “proudest moments”. In their free time, Jason and Kerensa have their hands full with a fishing obsessed, sea shanty loving, four-year old called Ollie.
The Padstow shellfish duo both said they couldn’t believe they didn’t start Lisa-Marie Shellfish sooner, with Jason owing a lot of the praise to Kerensa: “Bearing in mind she’d never really touched a crab or lobster in her life, she has turned it into a cracking little business. Starting the business was a real eye opener, because it showed us just how hard we were working before, when some of it had been unnecessary.”
If you’re in Padstow, or staying in the area, make sure to call on Lisa-Marie Shellfish for your fresh crab and lobster!
To place an order message Lisa-Marie Shellfish on Facebook and keep up with all the action through their Instagram.
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