To what does Seattle’s Pike Place Fish Market owe its success? According to owner John Yokoyama, a generous mother-in-law, a positive attitude, and a powerful vision.

Yokoyama told a packed audience at the Closing General Session of the 2012 APTA Annual Meeting in Seattle that in 1986 he was facing bankruptcy. Because he had never applied for a loan, he was unable to secure one from a bank. His mother-in-law stepped in and gave him a $50,000 loan.

“I pulled my team together and told them it’s either sink or swim,” he said. “I had a choice: have a good time or not.”

He hired Jim Bergquist, a business consultant, whose wife worked for the market, for three months to help improve his team. Bergquist still works with him to this day.

What’s unique about this partnership and the success of the market is that no one spent a dime on advertising. Instead, Yokoyama made a deal with Jim “that we would become world-famous. “One kid, Yokoyama explained, said, ‘Let’s be world-famous.’ And the more we talked about it, the more we all got excited about it. So, we committed to this.”

The extraordinary success that followed, he said, “has come to us because we are playing,” and “we are committed, individually and as a team.”

Today, Seattle’s World Famous Pike Place Fish Market is renowned—truly worldwide—for its high employee morale and legendary customer service. When people ask how to copy Pike Place’s success, Yokoyama tells them it’s not about copying. Rather, it’s about finding their own way and doing what inspires them.

Bergquist, consultant/coach with bizFutures Consulting, Bellingham, WA, told the audience: “What differentiates [the Pike Place Fishmongers] is that they have created a game to play and they find ways to express what this means.” He added: “I told them, once they declared their commitment, things would just unfold.”

The session ended with an unorthodox, but fun, team-building exercise. Two fishmongers from the market divided the audience in half, lining up one team along one wall of the large conference room and the other along the opposite side. The goal: to see which team could pass a fish down the line the fastest.

Not one person dropped it along the way!

Annual Meeting photos by Heather Trimm Jim Bergquist, left, and John Yokoyama address the session.	Closing General Session participants pass a fish hand to hand as part of a team-building exercise.

APTA Chair Flora Castillo joins other APTA Executive Committee members and staff as she prepares to catch a flying fish. From left are Yvette Conley, APTA senior program manager-foundation development and member support; Castillo; Karen Harvey, APTA director-human resources; Executive Committee member Angela Iannuzziello; and Joseph Niegoski, APTA director-educational services.