Proprietors of Market Seafood

Meet Ashley Cawdle! Growing up in New Brunswick on Canada’s East Coast, seafood was a big part of her childhood. After finishing high school, she moved to P.E.I. to study at the Culinary Institute of Canada while working at Flex Mussels, a restaurant known for its nearly 30 mussel flavors and catering to large cruise ships from around the globe. Following her first year of culinary school, she completed an internship at Buffalo Mountain Lodge with the esteemed CRMR group in Banff, where she first experienced Alberta and realized she wanted to bring seafood flavors to the mountains. After graduating, Ashley relocated to Calgary, marking the start of her journey as a fishmonger. Over the years, she gained valuable experience with several prominent restaurant groups in the city, including the Vintage Group, Concorde Group, and Teatro Group, advancing from a budding Sous Chef to Head Chef by the age of 25. During her time at The Nash under Chef Michael Noble, she met her future business partner, Brian Robertson.
Ashley was managing the Teatro Group restaurant, Royale, when COVID hit, leading to a complete shutdown of the restaurant industry and leaving her out of work for several months. She discovered a job opening at Market Seafood that was specifically looking for chefs and was hired, quickly advancing from prep cook to stall manager. As the months went by, the business thrived, and Market Seafood brought on Brian Robertson to help support its growth. Over the next couple of years, former owner Brian Plunkett gradually entrusted Ashley Cawdle and Brian Robertson with more responsibility and offering them to take ownership and run the business.

Meet Brian Robertson! He has spent most of his life in Calgary, where he learned to cook from his mother and grandmother, developing a love for creating delicious dishes from the fruits and vegetables grown in their garden. Throughout high school, he worked part-time in various kitchens, igniting a lifelong passion for the culinary craft. He attended University in Lethbridge for Computer Science, cooking in different from-scratch kitchens, including golf courses, pubs, and Red Water during the summers to help fund his education. Eventually, he discovered a charming from-scratch restaurant in Lethbridge called Mocha Cabana, where he worked his way up to lead service over the next two years while completing his Bachelor’s degree. After Brian graduated and returned to Calgary, the job market in computer science was quite unstable. He decided to pursue his passion for cooking instead and began working at a small sister restaurant to River Café called Boxwood. There, he learned how to design menus and effectively lead a team. When the owners sold Boxwood, he took a position at The Nash, where he met Ashley. She trained him on various stations, and he became the restaurant’s tournant, a versatile team member, leading to a fast friendship and strong partnership. It was at The Nash that he became comfortable with butchery and developed a particular passion for seafood. After gaining all the experience he could there, Ashley offered him a job at Royale, where they often worked long hours, sometimes up to 15 hours a day, seven days a week. When COVID struck, Brian took advantage of the restaurant shutdown to care for his mother-in-law, who was battling cancer. Once his father-in-law assumed caregiving responsibilities, Ashley reached out to Brian with an opportunity to work at Market Seafood as their fish butcher. Over the next couple of years, former owner Brian Plunkett gradually entrusted Ashley Cawdle and Brian Robertson with more responsibility, resulting in asking if they would be interested in ownership of the business. They have numerous expansion plans for the future and are excited to develop Market Seafood into something they can truly call their own and take pride in.