Beyond the Board with Fable Fish [Trend Spotlight: Year of the Female Farmer]

In this special episode filmed at Expo West 2026, we sit down with Meghan Luck, co-founder of Fable Fish, to explore how a childhood spent on Alaskan fishing boats transformed into a mission-driven snack brand. As part of 2026's Year of the Female Farmer trend, Meghan represents a new generation of female entrepreneurs reimagining traditional food systems by turning her family's smoked salmon recipe into an everyday snack that makes wild, nutrient-dense protein more accessible.

Fable Fish isn't just about functional snacking, it's also solving a problem in the seafood industry. When Bristol Bay's 2022 sockeye run reached a historic 79 million fish, Meghan and her dad, a longtime Alaskan fisherman, saw an opportunity to add value to underutilized byproduct: the perfectly good "necks and tails" that didn't meet retail specs for center-cut fillets. Meghan shares how Whole Foods Market's Local and Emerging Accelerator (LEAP) program has provided a community of founders facing similar challenges from packaging decisions to scaling sustainably. Her advice? Trust your gut, never cut corners on quality, and surround yourself with people who know what you don't.

At a glance:

00:46 – Inspiration for Fable Fish

02:32 – Historical Bristol Bay sockeye run

03:32 – Salmon byproduct

06:12 – Early iterations of product development

07:08 – Career history and evolution

11:45 – Whole Foods Market LEAP Program

16:10 – Business challenges

19:50 – Backstory on Fable Fish packaging

21:03 – How customers are consuming the product

22:58 – What is sockeye salmon?

26:50 – Meeting customers where they are

27:50 – Where Meghan hopes to see Fable Fish in 5-10 years

31:54 – Impactful drivers for Success

33:40 – Family ties

35:24 – Building the brand and responsibly scaling

38:51 – Delightful customer stories

40:26 – Lightning round