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COMMENT NEWS Welcome T he news is out from Seaﬁsh - the National Fish and Chip Shop of the Year 2008 is open for entries! Closing date for initial applications is 4th of July (easy to remember!) so be sure to get your details to Seaﬁsh in plenty of time if you are thinking of entering. You’ve seen in our pages the impact that winning such a prestigious title can have on your business - many winners see anything up to a 40% increase in turnover - so if you think you’ve got it in you to be the winner, go for it! We have a treat for you this issue from the other side of the Pond. Lesley Peter, proprietor of a fast food and BBQ joint in northern Wisconsin, is this month’s “Our Place”. British by heritage, Lesley was a ﬁsh fryer for some years before becoming converted to the Southern tradition of long-smoked, slow-cooked barbecued foods. Read how she and husband Patrick (not forgetting 9-yr old “Miss Patrick”) have carved themselves a niche in the woods of Wisconsin, whilst still doing a Friday night Fish Fry. Also in the Chip Box, you will ﬁnd an uncanny and prescient piece by Michael Pili, which offers signiﬁcant food for thought for all ﬁsh fryers. The big story lately is fuel prices, which are impacting hard on our ﬁshing ﬂeets as the price rises ﬁlter down to the red diesel that the boats use. Richard Lochhead, the Scottish Fisheries Minister, is leaving no stone unturned to make sure that his ﬂeets get the best that can be found in the way of aid, even travelling to Brussels to promote the case of his people. We at FCFF hope that the UK government ministers will speed up their plans to alleviate the hardship beginning to be felt by the English ﬁsheries....... Because if even a few of our ﬁshermen go out of business, that means less - and more expensive - fresh ﬁsh! Wendy Durham Editor EDITORIAL & PRODUCTION WENDY DURHAM 30 John Morgan Close Hook, Hants, RG27 9RP 01256 764270 email – [email protected] ADVERTISING FRAZER CLIFFORD Publisher 01273 249751 email – [email protected] CIRCULATION WENDY DURHAM 30 John Morgan Close Hook, Hants, RG27 9RP 01256 764270 email – [email protected] Frazer Clifford Publisher ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION: UK: £28 Overseas: £37 Contents News 2 Fridges and freezers 36 The chip box 16 Kebabs 41 Case studies 28 New product roundup 42 Sausages 32 Chip on his shoulder 48 BRIGHTON PEARL LTD COVER FOCUS Nationwide Corporate Finance plc is a commercial ﬁnance business specialising in arranging and providing ﬁnancial solutions for every type of business. Leasing is now the fastest growing method of ﬁnance in the UK. Nationwide Corporate Finance plc are pleased to deliver leasing and lease purchase as a bespoke product tailored to your needs, which will enable your business to develop and grow. Fish & Chips and Fast Food Fish & Chips and Fast Food is published eight times a year in January, March, April, May, July, September, October and November on or about the 20th of the month, by 1 Crawford House 10 Queen Victoria Avenue Hove, East Sussex BN3 6WN Tel: 01273 249751 Fax: 01273 264413 www.brighton-pearl.co.uk Some of the views expressed in this magazine are those of individual contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher. May 2008 NEWS Illegal ﬁshers plunder the Arctic Fishing in Arctic Waters, shows that in the Sea of Okhotsk alone, illegal landings of Alaska pollock can reach a value of more than £36 million annually. The economic loss to the legitimate ﬁshing industry and public purse is estimated at £168 million. “Illegal ﬁshing in the Arctic is a serious international crime crossing many borders.” said Dr Neil Hamilton, Director of WWF International’s Arctic Programme. “Cheats are putting short-term proﬁts ahead of the longterm survival of Arctic ﬁsheries.” Barents Sea cod is taken mainly by Norwegian, Russian and EU ﬁshers, while the bulk of the Alaska Pollock catch, ﬁshed mainly in the Western Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk, is taken by Russian ﬂeets with China the largest buyer. With markets spread Cover image copyright WWF across the globe, the distribution of black market cod and Pollock is a global problem. WWF is alarmed that several EU member states are opposing the current European Commission proposal to address illegal ﬁshing, and are urging all EU countries to support the commission’s proposal to deal with illegal ﬁshing. “Companies should not trade with vessels known to ﬁsh illegally, and consumers should demand the seafood they buy comes from a certiﬁed, sustainable, legal source, such as MSC Alaska Pollack and Paciﬁc cod.” The full report can be downloaded from http://assets.panda.org/ downloads/iuu_report_version_1_3_30apr08.pdf A Grampian Sea Foods Ltd laska pollock, a species increasingly being promoted in the UK as an alternative to overﬁshed cod, is at threat from illegal ﬁshing says a new report by WWF. Whilst progress is being made in tackling illegal ﬁshing for Atlantic cod in the Arctic, huge numbers of illegal landings of both Atlantic cod and Alaska pollock are continuing to make their way to international markets. The UK is currently importing significant quantities of cod and pollock from the Arctic, due to depleted cod stocks in European waters. About 70 per cent of the world’s white ﬁsh supply comes from the Arctic, with the world’s last large cod stock found in the Barents Sea. According to Norwegian government ﬁgures, more than 100,000 tonnes of illegal cod, valued at £180 million, was caught in the Barents Sea in 2005. Concerted efforts by industry, government and environmental groups to clamp down on this illegal activity has seen illegal landings cut by 50 per cent, but illegal ﬁshing for Alaska Pollock in the Russian Far-East remains a problem. While investigation into illegal ﬁshing in the Russian Far-East is less exhaustive than in the Barents Sea, the new report, Illegal We are a company who takes pride in supplying the type of product required by today’s ﬁsh frying trade to maintain and enhance their reputation in this highly competitive industry. Having previously owned a ﬁsh and chip outlet which in only two years we merited the distinction of being runner-up in Scotland and in the Top Ten in the UK by the national Seaﬁsh Chip Shop of the Year awards, we know only too well the consistency of product needed to increase one’s sales. There is no shortcut to supplying best quality ﬁsh for today’s quality conscious customers as I am sure the leading ﬁsh fryers in the country will bear testament. We also agree that the skill of the fryer is paramount to his individual enterprise and again this will show in the turnover through both passing trade and regular customers. We as a ﬁsh processing ﬁrm will always work very hard at giving the customer exactly what they order and we don’t ever compromise on the freshness of our supplies. Daily deliveries can be made to most areas. Cross border row over quotas T he Scottish National party’s (SNP) ﬁsheries minister, Richard Lochhead, has introduced a moratorium on the sale of quotas held by Scottish trawlers while he carries out a controversial review of ﬁshing licences and quota controls which could greatly restrict the rights of English vessels to ﬁsh in Scottish waters. His moratorium provoked a furious response from ministers in the UK government and from ﬁshermen’s leaders in both England and Scotland. Barries Deas, the chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, said: “This move is provocative, highly irresponsible and probably illegal. There is no such thing as Scottish or English quota. There is UK quota. If the Scottish executive has any doubts over this, a brief telephone call to the European commission should allay any doubts.” The UK’s ﬁsheries minister, Jonathan Shaw, has formally warned the Scottish executive he believes the moratorium is illegal and had “signiﬁcant concerns” that the quota reforms breached its powers under devolution, which gives Scottish ministers limited rights to decide their own ﬁsheries policy. Lochhead said his reforms were intended to protect a vital industry under intense pressure from cuts in quotas, competition and soaring fuel costs. He wants to overhaul the current quota rules to favour Scottish-based skippers and ﬂeets – which currently control 70% of the UK’s ﬁsheries, and implied he wants to permanently restrict access to non-Scottish trawlers. Fishing was a “national asset” for Scotland, he claimed. “It is vital that we take steps to safeguard the historic rights for future generations,” he said. Grampian Sea Foods Ltd Cabels Lane, South Esplanade West Aberdeen AB11 9AD Tel: 01224 897048/897073 • Fax: 01224 871474 Fish & Chips and Fast Food 2 May 2008 NEWS Bold new design for Pukka Pies wrapped range P ukka Pies have introduced bold new designs for their range of frozen baked wrapped pies, pasties & rolls. The new wrappers are eye catching, modern & in keeping with the companies corporate colours. They feature a picture of the pie on top which makes you want to pick it up & eat it. Pukka Pies stress that there have been no changes to any of the products. The new wrappers are oven proof and create a striking presence when displayed in ranges. Pukka Pies have produced a new poster to advertise the new wrappers. Peter Mayes Marketing & Business Development controller explained: “We are very pleased with these new wrappers - we have gone to tremendous lengths to achieve this high quality print and dynamic new design and feel sure that they will increase sales. The new poster is also being extremely well received by our customers.” Call 0116 260 9755 for details Fish & chips weigh in with half the fat of a doner kebab in new tests N ew research by Hampshire Scientiﬁc Services has shocked some commentators this week, following the testing of 148 different types of takeaway meal over eight county council areas in the south of England. The tabloids joined in the fray, announcing that two doner kebabs a week will kill you, but as usual, the case has been vastly overstated. Doner kebab was indeed the worst offender of the meals tested, containing 139g of fat - or 199% of the average woman’s recommended daily allowance (RDA) of 70g. It also scored highly on salt, containing 10.2g of salt, again much higher than the RDA, which is 6g for adults. According to expert Denise Thomas, a dietician at Portsmouth Hospitals Trust, this represents about a wineglass full of fat! “If you were eating that meal twice a week on top of your ordinary diet it’s a ticking timebomb of coronary heart disease,” she continued. Though she did add that it depended on the rest of a person’s diet. “If you eat lots of fruit and vegetables the rest of the time, it’s not going to be a problem.” Of other takeaway meals tested, Chicken Korma weighed in next with 95.4g of fat, but only 1.1g of salt, whilst pizza delivered 81.5g of fat and 7.8g of salt. Unsurprisingly, cod and chips did pretty well in the tests, comparing very favourably with just 68.5g of fat and, at under a gramme of salt, was the lowest in terms of salt content of all the meals tested. Bearing in mind that the tests were conducted over a wide area, inconsistencies in preparation and cooking methods may have distorted some of the ﬁgures, but even so, it’s a good result for ﬁsh and chips! In spite of being a meal which is deep fried in its entirety, this latest survey shows that cod and chips contain half the fat of a doner kebab, only 70% as much fat as a chicken korma, and signiﬁcantly less than a mediumsized pizza. And at only 0.9g of salt, it’s a winner on that front as well. The ﬁndings are comparable with - and tend to bear out - the Seaﬁsh research which found that each 100g of the same foods in average portion sizes contained: Fish & chips • 9.42 grams of fat Average pizza • 11 g Chicken korma • 15.5 g Doner kebab • 16.2 g Only chicken korma fared better under the new tests than in the Seaﬁsh results, but it’s clear from the chart alongside that, with that exception, the proprotion of fat contained in the various meals is consistent between the two. Customers can therefore be reassured with conﬁdence that ﬁsh and chips will not - if eaten in moderation - give them a heart attack! Faroe celebrates record coley catches Seafood’s factories. News of the huge landings has been welcomed at Faroe Seafood’s UK sales ofﬁce which has been promoting the sale of coley for the last year. “Coley is a member of the cod family, it’s a lot cheaper than cod, it’s caught in a ﬁshery that’s sustainable and it eats well,” said Grimsby-based Sandi. Mann. “Our coley stocks aren’t under pressure so persuading consumers to switch from cod to coley is a very ‘green’ thing for our industry to do,” she added. For more information contact Sandi. Mann on 01472 265 000. or visit the website at www.faroe.com F aroe Seafood is celebrating a record landing for pair trawlers with its two new boats, Heykur and Falkur. They landed 285 tonnes, more than Polarhau and Stjornan (260 tonnes) and also ahead of Bakur and Stelkur (240 tonnes) and Lerkur and Rokur (214 tonnes). The boats all reached port in the same week. The ﬁsh, mostly coley, was unloaded at the Beta landing station by teams of thirty men and have since been processed at Faroe Fish & Chips and Fast Food 4 May 2008 NEWS Fuel aid for Scottish ﬁshing industry Task Force will be agreed at the Scottish Fisheries Council meeting on May 13. The fuel efﬁciency scheme will available from early September. Mr Lochhead has also visited Brussels ﬁve point action plan to help to draw the attention of the EU to the the Scottish ﬁshing industry was ever increasing plight of the ﬁshing ﬂeets announced on 12 May, following disturbing and demand urgent talks with the UK news regarding the impact of rising fuel Government over what can be done to help price on ﬁshermen in both the east and the Scottish ﬁshing industry over increasing west coast ﬂeets. Following a meeting fuel prices. He said that the Scottish ﬂeet is with the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation being particularly hard hit with the industry in Aberdeen, Fisheries Secretary Richard facing the prospect of having to pay an Lochhead announced that the Scottish increase of tens of millions of pounds in fuel Government would: costs over the last year. • establish a Task Force to quickly bring Richard Lochhead seen here with Environment Speaking before leaving for Brussels, forward steps to help the industry Mr Lochhead said: “The ﬁshing industry Minister David Russell • immediate help to offset fuel costs, is of vital importance to communities including £400,000 for the annual throughout Scotland and sustains maintenance costs of life rafts on every vessel in Scotland thousands of livelihoods. and £300,000 for the cost of the warranties vessels must pay “We need to make sure that we do not allow the renewed conﬁon their satellite monitoring equipment dence that has developed in the industry over the last year to be • seek a meeting with the UK Government to discuss wider undermined by the impact of fuel costs. issues of the impact of fuel prices “I share the industry’s concerns about the serious situation • continue to press the European Union to ensure a level facing ﬁshermen as the viability of many businesses is taken closer playing ﬁeld on subsidies to the brink with every increase in the price of fuel. • work with the industry to develop a fuel efﬁciency scheme “The Scottish ﬂeet is being particularly hard hit with prospect of Mr Lochhead said: “The ﬁshing industry and I share concerns removing tens of millions of pounds from the ﬂeet’s proﬁts. This is a about the serious situation facing ﬁshermen in these times of ever fuel dependent sector where the vessels simply cannot set sail and increasing fuel prices. That is why I have today agreed immediate go to work without using signiﬁcant amounts of fuel. action to both address short term issues and look for long term “I am doing all I can to help the Scottish ﬁshing industry but I solutions. The ﬁshing industry is of vital importance to people and also want to make sure the UK Government is also taking action. communities throughout Scotland. We need to make sure that we That is why I have called for urgent talks with Secretary of State for do not allow the renewed conﬁdence that has developed in the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Hilary Benn in Brussels today industry over the last year to be undermined. We must work with (Monday 19 May) to discuss what more can be done. I will also be both the UK and European Governments to help our ﬁshermen using every opportunity to raise the issue of fuel costs with the EU in these difﬁcult times. I want the Task Force to be radical in its authorities during my visit to Brussels.” thinking so we can all ensure a sustainable and proﬁtable future Meanwhile, UK Minister Jonathan Shaw has told ﬁshermen’s for the Scottish ﬁsheries sector.” leaders that he will provide support to help offset fuel costs, but The Task Force will report by the end of August on steps to be that this must be linked to to a long-term strategy for the industry. taken in response to the fuel price increases and by the end of February on longer term issues. The membership and remit of the See more overleaf..... A Seaﬁsh welcomes new Head of Communications S eaﬁsh has appointed James Wood as its new Head of Communications. His responsibilities at Seaﬁsh include media relations, internal communications, industry communications, the internet and the Seaﬁsh brand, design and print strategy. John Rutherford, Chief Executive of Seaﬁsh, said: “James joins us at a time when the need to communicate with all of our audiences, from industry to government and environmental organisations, has never been Fish & Chips and Fast Food 6 greater. I am sure that he will be able to put the skills learned as a senior communications manager in commercial organisations to good use in championing the UK ﬁshing industry.” James Wood added, “I was attracted to this role because of the wide range of responsibilities it includes, and the fascinating debates surrounding ﬁshing in the UK. It’s important to me that the seafood industry in general and ﬁshermen in particular should be properly represented in the debate about sustainability and the marine environment. Working with my team, I hope to be able to deliver improvements across the board in terms of how Seaﬁsh talks to its audiences, and just as importantly, how well we listen as an organisation.” May 2008 frying ranges frying ranges frying frying ranges frying ranges ranges frying ranges frying range frying ranges frying ranges frying ran frying ranges frying ranges fr frying ranges frying ranges frying ranges fr frying ranges frying ranges frying ran frying ranges and equipment �� Martyn Edwards - Frank Ford Limerick Works, Limerick Road, Dormanstown, Redcar, Cleveland TS10 5JU Tel: 01642 489868 Fax: 01642 492489 Email: [email protected] Web: www.me-ff.com frying ranges frying ranges frying ra frying ranges frying ranges frying frying ranges frying ranges fry frying ranges frying ranges fry frying ranges frying ranges frying ran frying ranges frying ranges f frying ranges frying ranges frying ran frying ranges frying ranges fryin frying ranges frying ranges frying ranges frying ranges fry frying ranges frying ranges frying ra frying ranges frying ranges fry frying ranges frying ranges fryin frying ranges frying ranges frying ranges frying ranges fry frying ranges frying ranges frying r frying ranges frying ranges fry NEWS English ﬁshermen still suﬀering Seaﬁsh launches Seafood Information Network (SIN) W hilst Richard Lochhead has been swift to respond to the difﬁculties being experienced by Scottish ﬁshermen due to escalating fuel costs, his counterparts in London have been slower to act. As a result, the National Federation of Fishing Organisations launched a campaign at the end of April against the Government’s refusal to recognise the impact of rising fuel prices on the economics of ﬁshing. The ﬁshing industry’s reliance on the auction system for selling its produce makes it uniquely vulnerable to high fuel costs. Higher costs cannot simply be passed on to the consumer. But rather than supporting ﬁshing through this difﬁcult phase, that threatens the survival of large parts of the ﬂeet, the Government has hedged the industry about with further restrictions, refused to review light dues (unique to the UK), and has ignored the direct ﬁnancial support that could be paid through the de minimus provisions, which permits member states to pay up to 30,000 euros to each ﬁshing enterprise over a three year period, without having to obtain speciﬁc approval from Brussels. The NFFO campaign is one of simple non-co-operation. Fishermen are being advised to refuse to pay light dues, or refuse to sign maintenance contracts for their VMS equipment, and to write to Defra and their MP in protest. Whether as a direct result of the launch of this campaign or not, the NFFO met with the Fisheries Minister, Jonathan Shaw, on 14 May, where their representatives clearly spelled out that: • At current fuel prices many ﬁshing vessels were not viable - the consequences of a do-nothing policy would be catastrophic. • The ﬁshing industry is unique in being unable to pass on higher fuel costs to the consumer as most ﬁsh is sold through an auction system. • It was unacceptable for the UK industry to be put at a competitive disadvantage because other member states’ governments are providing short term support for their ﬁshing industries under explicit provisions contained in the EC state aid rules. • A range of other support measures were available. Speaking after the meeting, Barrie Deas, Chief Executive of the NFFO said that the Minister had stated quite unequivocally that: • He was committed to a proﬁtable, sustainable ﬁshing industry. • That he intended to provide support for the ﬁshing industry in view of the immediate difﬁculties that it faced - but that this had to be linked to a long-term strategy for the industry. • He favoured a cross government approach but tough decisions on competing priorities would be required. • He was reviewing costed options that would be discussed further with the NFFO as soon as the preparatory work is completed. Paul Trebilcock, Chief Executive of the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation added: “We stressed the urgency of the situation. We are looking for support in weeks not months, if it is to make any difference. The Minister recognised this as a national issue, affecting the whole ﬂeet and undertook to work with the national body, the NFFO, to provide a solution. I handed the keys of an under-12m vessel from Newlyn to the Minister because the skipper is quite clear that without support, the Minister might as well take the boat now.” Let us hope that Mr Shaw responds with alacrity. For a ﬁsh frier, the impact is evident. Fewer ﬁshermen = fewer - and thus more expensive - fresh ﬁsh. Fish & Chips and Fast Food • • • UK Sea Fish Industry Authority creates the most comprehensive single database available to the global seafood industry UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) commends Seaﬁsh SIN “key to the next stage of Seaﬁsh development” S eaﬁsh, the UK Sea Fish Industry Authority, today announced the launch of the Seafood Information Network (SIN), the most comprehensive single database of information available to the global seafood industry at http://sin.seaﬁsh.org. Everyday challenges faced by seafood businesses globally are often either incremental or long-term in nature, meaning that similar problems are usually being faced by other parties in the market. At the same time, data will often exist which will help provide an answer. “With the launch of SIN, Seaﬁsh has created a user-friendly tool for the industry to ﬁnd the relevant information from one source,” said Tom Rossiter, Research and Development Manager at Seaﬁsh. “Our network is multi-functional and offers our industry partners a vast array of capabilities, including a seafood industry search engine, user speciﬁc news updates, an events calendar, equipment guides, a bulletin board and desktop web conferencing facilities.” John Rutherford, Chief Executive Ofﬁcer at Seaﬁsh, continued: “The Seafood Information Network (SIN) is part of our renewed focus on listening to the needs of our industry partners and taking action. Consultation with industry revealed a requirement for a one-stop, easy-to-use comprehensive database of information about seafood, and that is what SIN delivers. “Together with our Account Management team and our new focus on better representation for our industry, the launch of SIN forms an important part of the next stage in the development of Seaﬁsh as the voice of the UK seafood industry.” Grimur Valdimarsson, Director of Fish Products and Industry at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), added, “I would like to commend Seaﬁsh on launching the Seafood Information Network. Finding unbiased and authoritative information relating to safety, quality, nutrition, as well as environmental proﬁles is becoming ever more difﬁcult. FAO will follow this industry initiative with great interest and we wish you all success in this challenging endeavour.” 8 May 2008 The Sonado. Fish and Chip Shop of the Year 2007–2008 winners Gordon and Sandra Hillan of Townhead Café, Biggar, have ordered a new Sonado range from KFE. A quality new design of stainless steel frontage which is available to both ranges and counters. A sleek new curved ﬁnish to the top sheet on both the customer and fryer’s side. New chip box design. The bafﬂe section of the Kiremko range and plenum has been redesigned to allow ease of drainage and cleaning. New advanced style robust stainless steel pan controls. Digital Filtration system. KFE Ltd Units A & B Bentley Business Park, Northfields Industrial Estate, Market Deeping, Peterborough PE6 8LD Telephone 01778 380448 Fax 01778 348558 Email [email protected] www.kfeltd.co.uk NEWS Seafood Fortnight supported by leading chefs Food without fear for coeliac sufferers Mitch Tonks S eafood Fortnight has landed an excellent catch of celebrity chefs to help support this year’s celebration of the UK seafood industry. Phil Vickery, Nick Nairn, Brian Turner, Mitch Tonks and Jo Pratt have all already signed up to get involved in Seafood Fortnight, which will run from 5 - 21 September. The celebrity chefs will be contributing new and delicious seafood recipes to help increase awareness of how easy it can be for everyone to eat their recommended ‘2 a week’. Speaking about the wonderful variety of seafood available in the UK, Phil Vickery said: “We are so lucky to have a coastline that supplies us with a vast array of ﬁsh and shellﬁsh. With so many delicious species available, consumers have an abundance of tasty seafood to choose from wherever they are in the country! “I’d love to see people trying out new recipes with some of the amazing produce Britain has to offer and Seafood Fortnight Brian Turner gives everyone the perfect opportunity to try some new seafood dishes in restaurants and kitchens across the country.” Nutritionists agree that everyone should aim to eat a minimum of two portions of seafood every week, as it is an excellent source of protein and also provides essential vitamins and minerals. At least one of these portions should be oil-rich, such as mackerel or herring, which supply valuable omega-3 fatty acids to help maintain a healthy heart. Seafood Fortnight presents the ideal opportunity for the industry to boost consumer awareness of the many beneﬁts seafood offers and drive sales, and remind customers of the importance of eating sustainably sourced species. Log on to www.seaﬁsh.org/2aweek for regular updates on what’s happening throughout the industry and across the country during the UK’s biggest celebration of seafood - Seafood Fortnight. Seaﬁsh oﬀers funding for Seafood Fortnight S eaﬁsh is offering ﬁnancial support to the processing, foodservice and independent retail sectors to help promote the ‘2 a week’ message during Seafood Fortnight, 5-21 September. To secure funding, applicants must describe how they will raise consumer awareness of the ‘2 a week’ message, the health beneﬁts of ﬁsh and shellﬁsh, the diversity of seafood available and the importance of sustainability. Businesses applying for funding must be prepared to at least match any funding received through a Seaﬁsh grant. Ben Bartlett, a foodservice consultant, sits on the Seafood Fortnight steering group. He said: “Seafood Fortnight is an excellent platform for foodservice, processors and retailers alike to raise awareness of their seafood offering. Businesses should make the most of any funding available, as it can be valuable in helping them stand out from competitors. The ‘2 a week’ and healthy eating messages are becoming ever more important to consumers, so it’s essential to maximise these and link them to the wonderful variety of seafood we have available in the UK.” The grant applications will be assessed by a team from Seaﬁsh and the seafood industry. For a ﬁnancial support application form, e-mail Dawn Sneddon at Seaﬁsh on d_sneddon@seaﬁsh.co.uk or call 0131 524 8641. Forms must be submitted by 5pm on Friday 30 May and clearly indicate the proposed budget breakdown against activities. They should also state the total amount of ﬁnancial contribution being made by the applicant. Fish & Chips and Fast Food 10 C oeliac UK, the national Charity for people with coeliac disease launched during May its new campaign, ‘Food Without Fear’, for the improved provision of glutenfree meals across both the public sector and commercial catering industries. Although diagnosis rates of coeliac disease are currently low, the potential catering market share of people with coeliac disease is 660,000 or 1 in 100 of the UK population. The commercial potential of this market segment is even higher because the need for gluten-free options can drive the eating-out habits of the entire family. Even the smallest trace of gluten can cause a person with coeliac disease to become seriously unwell. Often called ‘being glutened’, unwittingly eating gluten can lead individuals to be ill and off work for over a week. Part of the campaign was the Coeliac Awareness Week held during mid-May, when a number of ﬁsh & chip shops across the UK promoted their gluten-free service. Susan Ord of the award winning Land & Sea Fish & Chip Shop, was inspired to provide gluten-free ﬁsh & chips to her customers as she has herself never eaten them due to a ﬁsh allergy, and she understood what it would mean for people to be able to enjoy this great British favourite again. Susan now produces a range of gluten-free products called Glu-2-Go, created to help the ﬁsh & chip industry across the UK to get ﬁsh & chips back on the menu for everyone. Her success has inspired others to create gluten free batter, and gluten free ﬁsh and chips are now offered by many friers all over the UK. Sarah Sleet, chief executive of Coeliac UK says: “Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disease for which the only treatment is a lifelong strict gluten-free diet. The gluten-free diet is necessary to avoid the serious complications of coeliac disease such as infertility problems, bowel cancer and osteoporosis. We hope this work will show the way to the rest of the catering industry.” Get your Coeliac UK Toolkit from http://coeliac.org. uk/food_business/food_ Susan Ord of Land & Sea service/1043.asp May 2008 Daddies advert art:Layout 1 2/5/08 16:13 NEWS Page 1 Mystery celebrity dad to launch ﬁrst Daddies Day! W hile mums are showered with attention on Mother’s Day, with ﬂowers, chocolates or spa days, doting dads are generally happy to take a back seat when it comes to their ofﬁcial day of celebration. Not any more. Daddies, the everyday fast food family condiments brand, is taking charge of Father’s Day with the help of a mystery celebrity dad in a bid to give its unsung heroes a well-deserved, long overdue dose of recognition. So, it’s a big goodbye to Father’s Day and an ofﬁcial hello to Daddies Day!! Originating in the USA in the early 20th century, Father’s Day only made it to UK shores in the mid-70s and has since been considered the day to celebrate fatherhood. But let’s face it, dads get a raw deal, often missing out on the affection lavished on mums on Mother’s Day. To put this right, Daddies is ofﬁcially launching Daddies Day this June 15th, complete with a nationwide campaign to encourage families to embrace Father’s Day for all its worth. By renaming the day, Daddies aims to bring Father’s Day bang up to date, making it more modern and relevant to 21st century life. To kick-start the campaign, a celebrity model dad will be unveiled as the face of Daddies Day and presented with a trophy at an awards ceremony on June 15th. Watch this space! Why we love Daddies With a century of heritage and a renowned image - it is a sure-ﬁre fast food outlet winner, comparing pound for pound with own-label products while boasting the added value beneﬁts of a branded product. In essence, customers get a quality product and a recognised name, you get respect and more proﬁt. Daddies Favourite Brown Sauce and Tomato Ketchup are available in a range of formats for both back of house servings and retail formats in store. For more information visit www.heinzsight.co.uk or call 0800 575755 Fish & Chips and Fast Food 11 May 2008 NEWS Can YOU win in 2008? The National Fish & Chip Shop of the Year Compeition gets under way F ish and chip shops across the UK are now launching their bid to be crowned top chippy in the national Fish and Chip Shop of the Year competition. And it’s an extra special year as the event celebrates its 21st birthday. Organised by industry body Seaﬁsh, the competition searches for the best ﬁsh and chip shop in the UK, offering the highest quality of service, product, staff development and sustainable practices. The judging criteria is strict and the top shops go through several rounds of in depth judging before presenting to a panel of industry experts in London. The competition is split into 19 different geographical areas with a total of 95 shops being shortlisted in this ﬁrst stage every year. Derek O’ Hanlon from Frydays in Radcliffe made the top ﬁve in his area in 2007. He said: “The competition is the highlight of our working year and the publicity is worth every effort. The local newspapers and TV ran our story for weeks and helped promote our shop across the local area.” Winning the title is the ultimate industry accolade. Current champion, Gordon Hillan from the Townhead Café in Biggar said: “It’s been a whirlwind year for us. Our business has increased by at least 40% and we’ve seen customers visit from across the world. We entered the competition for years before reaching the ﬁnals and it’s an excellent way of improving standards across your business.” Fish & Chips and Fast Food To register for the competition, shops need to write, telephone or e-mail Seaﬁsh with their contact details, by 4 July. The competition gets fully underway in July and, following two rounds of judging, the details of the 19 area winners will be announced in October. A further round of judging will determine the top ten shops in the UK who will progress to the grand ﬁnal, to be held in London in January 2009. In its 21st year, the competition has gained support from a record number and a wide array of sponsors across the industry. This year, competition sponsors and supporters Previous winners from top: include nPower 2006: Mark & Pete Petrou pictured with Mark’s business, Middleton Food Products, Henry wife Claire 2007: Gordon & Sandra Hillan celebrating with Jones, Goldensheaf, Ainsley Harriott Dinaclass, Heinz 2005: Nigel & Linda Hodgson shown here with SqueezMe!, Brian Turner Blakemans, Seafood Scotland, Frozen At Sea Fillets Association (FASFA), Henry Colbeck Limited, T Quality, VA Whitley, Drywite, National Federation Of Fish Friers, Nortech Foods Limited, Preston and Thomas, Friars Pride and the National Edible Oil Distributors’ Association (NEODA). Andy Gray, project manager for the competition, said: “This is a special year as we are celebrating our 21st birthday. Since the competition began in 1987, we’ve seen winners from Peterhead to Poole, most of whom still run extremely successful businesses. “The ﬁsh and chip world has changed dramatically in the past two decades and our judging criteria has reﬂected this. It’s encouraging to see a consistent improvement in standards which can only be beneﬁcial to the industry.” To enter, contact Seaﬁsh by letter, phone or email. Full contact details are here: http://www.seaﬁsh.org/contact/default.asp 12 May 2008 NEWS 7,500 family businesses say no! The beauty of Heinzsight... A ccording to research, 45% of catering and hospitality professionals access the internet six or more times a day for business purposes1. New media has become a vital communication channel, which is why Heinz Foodservice is proud to present Heinzsight, the NEW cutting edge, online resource tool to help caterers grow their businesses more proﬁtably. Those in the ﬁsh and chip shop industry should log on and take a look... Decision makers in the catering industry want to be in the know. They want insight into how their business ﬁts into the bigger picture, who their customers are, which products they should be investing in and how they can proﬁt from their choices with a competitive edge. Heinz Foodservice has come up with the solution – an interactive new website giving the catering industry access to this kind of crucial information at the click of a mouse. Chris Cannon, head of marketing for Heinz Foodservice, said: “Heinzsight is the cutting edge online resource tool for caterers across the industry, beneﬁting from Web 2.0 rich media and an integrated approach. With best-in-class consumer understanding and through business proﬁling, Heinzsight ultimately aims to help foodservice operators understand more about their customers and grow their businesses as proﬁtably as possible.” Heinzsight’s key task is accurately matching individual businesses with the best products possible. A virtual shopping basket is then accompanied by suggestions on how to make casual dining menus more Fish & Chips and Fast Food appealing, more proﬁtable and more successful. Members can also take advantage of a dedicated ideas area which features tailored menu inspiration, merchandising know-how and promotional solutions. There are also video clips from companies who have reaped success through endorsing Heinz such as King’s Fish & Chips in Camberley, Surrey. To receive their unique insight, caterers simply have to log onto My Heinzsight, where they will be asked seven questions relating to their operation, for example, which channel in the foodservice market do you operate in, average spend per head etc. These answers will determine how Heinz can help you with your business. As an example, for a ﬁsh and chip shop: • Relevant products - in product list shown include: Heinz Tomato Ketchup, HP Curry Sauce and Daddies Brown Sauce • Relevant insight - Your customers are eating out less frequently but will be prepared to spend more per visit so it is crucial to offer great quality as well as great value • Relevant recommendations - When disposable incomes are tighter, it’s crucial you offer appealing menus they really love and by using their favourite brands, you are signalling the quality of your menu with no compromise • Relevant meal occasions - Lighter Eating/Snacking/ Main Meals To ﬁnd out more, visit Heinzsight at www.heinzsight.co.uk or call 0800 575755 13 F amily businesses and husband and wife operations in the fast food sector - especially ﬁsh and chip shops, which traditionally operate as small family-run units - will be delighted to read the latest news from the Professional Contractors’ Group (PCG) regarding the proposed outlawing of income-splitting. The online petition against the Government’s Family Business Tax proposals achieved over 7,500 signatures – putting it in the top 20 of all petitions on the 10 Downing Street website. The petition, launched by PCG, attracted more support than calls to reduce fuel duty, not to extend pre-charge detention, and to protect small shops. PCG’s managing director John Brazier said, “PCG would like to thank everyone who signed the petition. Communicating the strength of feeling among the business community played a huge role in persuading the Government to delay and rethink their proposals; this e-petition was a key part of that, along with the Early Day Motion and the letters sent by PCG members and others to their MPs.” When it postponed the Family Business Tax, the Government admitted that “clarity and certainty for businesses and their advisers” was needed – the lack of which was one of the major criticisms levelled at the proposals by the petition. The petition will be passed to ofﬁcials for a formal response; signatories can expect to receive a copy of the response by email. Meanwhile, PCG is continuing to consult with HMRC, tax and accountancy experts and politicians from all parties on the future of the Family Business Tax. May 2008 Harlequin House, Coed Cae Lane Pontyclun, South Wales CF72 9EW Manufacturers of Printed Matter A Harlequin Company R E FF O Tel: 01443 222219 Web: www.harlequinprintgroup.co.uk Email: [email protected] 1 3 MENU BOXES for £699 1600mm x 530mm ER F F O 2 5000 LEAFLETS PLUS LED or All This For £499 Terms & Conditions Apply. Please Call for Details Call Now: 01443 222219 Web: www.harlequinprintgroup.co.uk Email: [email protected] THE CHIP BOX Our Place...USA style Regular chippychatters will know Lesley from the USA, and the ﬁnger-lickin’ food she describes. Here she tells us how a Virgin ﬁsh fryer became a convert to southern style BBQ. P atrick, my husband, and I conceived of the idea to open a mobile restaurant about four years ago. We lived in the Virgin Islands for many years and there was a mobile place there that served BBQ. We decided that the Northwoods of Wisconsin would be a great place to open our own version of the tried and true place in the Islands. After running the mobile successfully for two years we decided to put down some permanent roots and bought the restaurant we now operate. We are coming up on two years at this location come November. Patrick and I both come from food industry backgrounds. Patrick grew up working in his family’s restaurant, The Corner Inn, from the time he was about 12. In the eighties, my ﬁrst husband and I had a ﬁsh and chip shop in the Virgin Islands, on St. Thomas, known as Fryer Tuck’s Fish n Chips. It was a very simple structure, carry out only, and the food was very good. To make a long story short, we closed that when my ﬁrst husband became ill and passed away. I actually met Patrick a few years later while I was tending bar in a restaurant in his hometown of Mercer WI., where my parents had retired. The rest is history. By the way, my Mother is from England, as were her parents, although they all ended up here in the States. My Mom was born in South Shields, but lived between there and Staines, Middlesex. So what made us start this venture? I would have to say that it was a strong desire, maybe even a passion, to work for ourselves, create wonderful food and there was also that desire to introduce BBQ to an area of the country that is actually very unfamiliar with it. I need to explain BBQ to you though! BBQ to us is not grilling out in the back yard. It is a Southern tradition of smoking food with wood, low and slow. We have our fair share of converts to BBQ now, but ﬁsh n chips is pretty high on the demand scale, and come Friday nights the northwoods really like their ﬁsh fry.... Our place, Porky Pine Pete’s, is in Hawkins, Wisconsin. We’re up north. We have long cold winters and short moderate summers. Fish & Chips and Fast Food Beautiful country, with lots of lakes, forests, wildlife and clean air - God’s country! Hawkins is very small, just 319 in population. We have our regular locals, but we are also located on a fairly busy highway that leads into Minnesota. When passersby see that big red BBQ sign out front, they have to swing in! We have had guests from South Africa, Poland, England, and even the USSR. We keep a guest signature book on a showcase counter and we are always surprised where our customers come from. We also have regulars that got to know us from our mobile days, and happily travel for hours to come and ﬁnd us. When we decided to open this BBQ joint, as they call us, we thought of a small place, come up to the counter, order, ﬁll the order, take it out or use the informal tables set up to eat, no wait service. But that isn’t what happened! While surﬁng the web for real estate I found this place in Hawkins, about 46 miles from our last base and home. The place was a bit neglected, horribly decorated (in my opinion anyway!) but loaded with wonderful kitchen equipment. The price was staggeringly cheap. It was a ﬁxer-upper by all means, but my ace in the hole is dear husband. A marvel of a man. His other occupation is contractor, so anything electrical, wood or mechanical is up his street. So, we bought the place on a whisper and a prayer and little to no ﬁnancial backing. We heard comments of “months of work” but we had a deadline of one month, zero bucks and we did it. Cleaned, redecorated and inspected on a shoe string after lots of long hard nights. The restaurant and residence is 5,700 square feet in size. We wanted to run this with just the two of us. That is what we ﬁgured would turn the tide ﬁnancially. Employees would kill the nonexistent budget. So, we have this place that has two dining rooms each seating 40 to 50 people, another area that was originally for an all-you-can-eat buffet, consisting of three counters about 18 feet long each, bedecked with hot and cold units for food holding. An area with a showcase, credit card sales and cash register. And the small bar with beer taps behind it. I also have two full sized kitchens, three storage rooms, one with four walk in coolers, and then the residence in back. We also have an ofﬁce up front and sit on about 5 acres of land. That’s a massive area for one little BBQ joint! We had to turn this full service 16 Top: Beef brisket Middle: Front of house Bottom: Hank Hawkins the robot sheriff! restaurant into something we could manage ourselves, which meant some compromises, including having the customers come to the counter to order. Boy did they ﬁght us on that one, but we prevailed and they are used to it now. They sit down, Patrick or my daughter Miss Patrick, who is now nine, takes out drinks, silverware and whatever. I get the order in the kitchen and have at it. When I ﬁnish the order one of the two Patrick’s takes it out. If I am under heavy ﬁre in the kitchen and either Patrick is free they lend me a hand. It is all a team effort, just a very small team! We have a cowboy theme, with red checkered tablecloths and wanted posters on the walls as well as cactus that Patrick has cut out of wood and painted in bright greens. There are a lot of fun accessories like our singing deerhead and even a robotic continued overleaf May 2008 THE CHIP BOX from previous page sheriff! We also take digital pictures of our customers, and I make them into wanted posters like the old western ones and give them funny names and crimes as well as a price for the reward. They go up on the walls. They LOVE that! Makes them a part of the restaurant. We do a lot of carry outs too or take away as you call it. Fridays are big for carry out with the ﬁsh fry. We are a big ol’ friendly place that is casual and fun, at least that is our aim. I guess we try to bring that renowned Southern Hospitality to the north. We serve slow cooked food, fast. Part of what we try to serve along with the food is an atmosphere of fun and entertainment. We are family friendly, we love the kids, we love the parents, we love everybody mostly! They seem to like it .. they keep coming back! Our menu is pretty diverse with BBQ, burgers, and of course, the Friday night ﬁsh fry. Come summer, we will add our Crawdad boil, which is a southern favorite. Crawdads in a red broth of spices, with potatoes, corn on the cob, onions, sausage all spicy and hot. This is served in an unusual way. We line the customers table with white butcher paper, that gets their attention, then bring out a big metal bowl piled with the drained crawdads etc. and just literally dump it on the table. This is ﬁnger food at its most primitive. They dig in, take the shells off the crawdads, dip em in butter or seafood sauce and have one heck of a good time eating it all. This year we are adding blue crab boil to the menu. It will be done in a similar fashion, just with less spice and blue crab and a nifty little wooden mallet to crack open the crab. More fun!. Pork sandwiches are top dog here. I sincerely wish I could set you down with one right now. Tres Banditos are a major attraction. They are big and a good sample of all the meats we BBQ - brisket, ribs and pork. I make our coleslaw sauce and slaw is an attraction in itself. We fresh cut the slaw on an hourly basis. It is served in cold dishes, a little matchstick helping of carrots on top and the sauce on the side. This is the recipe that most people try to wheedle out of one of us, but it’s top secret around here! We do Shameless Drunken shrimp, cooked in beer and spices, peel and eat. The dinner that gets most laughs on the menu is “Butter my butt and call me a biscuit if this ain’t real Texas Brisket”. Our brisket is cooked at least 18 hours in the smoker. People seem to really like our battered ﬁsh too. I am never satisﬁed with it though. That is what brought me to Chippy Chat Forums where I have made so many friends and had so much help from all of you across the pond. On a business level Patrick and I have made it past the formidable ﬁrst year when most restaurants close and we’re proud of what we’ve done. In the year and a half that First Friers Quality Award for Anglesey Lesley Peter Porky Pine Pete’s, Hawkins, WI the ﬁrst Seaﬁsh Quality Award for Anglesey, so I am extremely pleased and also very excited that we are putting Cemaes and Anglesey on the ‘good frying’ map.” Ieuan Wyn Jones A.M. commented: “I congratulate Y Wygyr Fish and Chips Shop on achieving this Quality Award. It is an excellent achievement and a reward for all the hard work that has been put into the business.” From left to right: Shop owner Mr John Williams, Assembly member for Ynys Mon Mr Ieuan Wyn Jones and Mr Bill Crook from the National Federation of Fish Friers. Y Wygyr Fish & Chips shop in Cemaes has joined the ﬁsh frying elite from across the UK after being presented with the prestigious Seaﬁsh Friers Quality Award by Ynys Môn Assembly Member, Ieuan Wyn Jones. The Seaﬁsh Friers Quality Award scheme is a way of rewarding and promoting shops that provide a good quality product and high standards of hygiene, as well as friers who show a high level of competence. To qualify for the award, the shop had to go through a thorough inspection by a Seaﬁsh Approved Inspector who assessed the shop’s image, design and condition, staff training, equipment, frying and sales skills, and most importantly, the quality of the cooked product. John Williams of Y Wygyr Fish and Chips Shop said: “This award is Fish & Chips and Fast Food we have operated the land based restaurant we have fully paid for our property, so that is an achievement. We are pretty proud of how we have revamped the place. Created a certain air of fun and entertainment here. I’d say success is what I am most proud of in a business aspect, that and the reputation we have worked so hard for of serving great food and giving great service. Are there differences in business between the UK and the US? Oh, we are so alike and so different all at the same time. The perfect oxymoron! Some differences are simple ones - weights and measures, stove settings, brands available, language, money and even the temperature ... C or our F. But reading your magazine, I found our two cultures to be very alike in so many aspects. We care about what we serve, in quality, portion control, pricing, healthfulness, and appeal. We are both concerned with energy, advertising, the economy and so many basic issues. How do we cut costs but keep integrity? In the long run, it is more about personal experiences and adapting them to ﬁt our own business. We may do small things in a different manner, but the big picture is much the same. We share the greatest common denominator ... we want to be successful entrepreneurs in one of the most difﬁcult industries you can ﬁnd ... food. And needless to say, any ﬁsh fryer from the UK who ﬁnds his or her way up to northern Wisconsin will ﬁnd a friendly welcome and an intro to the ﬁnest BBQ around at “Our Place USA”. 18 May 2008 THE CHIP BOX Food without fear - Andy’s takes the gluten-free route T here are estimated to be 600,000 people in the UK who cannot tolerate gluten. Victims of coeliac disease, they are therefore denied the pleasure common to the rest of us of eating good oldfashioned ﬁsh and chips. But several gluten free batters are now available on the market, including Glu-2-Go, developed by Susan Ord of Land and Sea, and The Traditional English Fish and Chip Company’s offering from Paul Simpson of Green Island Chippy, which means that friers can now offer “food without fear” to customers who may not have eaten ﬁsh and chips for many years. One of the latest ﬁsh and chip shops to have taken the plunge is Andy’s Fish Bar in Gresley, run by Toni and George Constantinou. Toni now runs special gluten-free days on the ﬁrst Monday of every month, and says the response has been excellent. “People come from all over the Midlands,” she told us. “From Ashbourne, Leicester, Northampton...miles away. And one lady from Loughborough said that she hadn’t eaten ﬁsh and chips for 32 years!” Andy’s took part in the recent Coeliac Awareness Week (see News), part of the Food without Fear campaign. “And that’s exactly it,” said Toni. “It really is food without fear for these people, because they can be sure they can eat our ﬁsh and chips without any worries about becoming ill.” “We’re not going to get rich doing this,” she continued, “because although the gluten-free batter mix is about three times the cost, we don’t charge any more than for our ordinary meals. And we have to be careful about cross contamination. But that’s not the point. As we’ve been voted the best ﬁsh and chip shop in the Midlands, we felt we ought to be improving our service - you know, going the extra mile! The Awareness Week was good for us - we got plenty of publicity in the region, so more and more coeliac sufferers now know where to come for their ﬁsh and chips!” Since Andy’s started offering gluten free ﬁsh and chips, Toni has been steadily adding to the menu, so that gluten-intolerant customers can now choose from ﬁsh and chips, sausages, a range of vegetables and some specially developed curries. “We want to make it as easy as possible for them to ﬁnd something else they can enjoy as well as the ﬁsh and chips,” she said, “because that’s one of their biggest difﬁculties, especially when eating out with family and friends. Many customers have said they are always on the lookout for safe places to eat. They are so grateful to us for providing the gluten-free menu which lets them go out to eat instead of always having to cook at home.” “Though, of course,” she continued, “they are so glad to have found gluten-free batter that they often buy some from us so that they CAN cook at home!” For more information visit: www.batterbox.co.uk www.glu2go.co.uk www.coeliac.co.uk Fish & Chips and Fast Food Take away some of the cost for your business and for the world npower business could help you save your business money. We’re one of the UK’s leading energy suppliers which means we have the power to give competitive prices – and our e3 initiative will provide energy efficiency advice and support that could reduce your energy usage and therefore help reduce your bills. You could benefit, so could our world. We’ll even give you an energy monitoring device so you can track just how much energy you’re using. For more information and an instant quote call us on † quoting AI062 or visit 0845 120 1451 npower.com/e3 All facts and figures provided by The Carbon Trust †Calls may be monitored and recorded for training and security purposes. Calls from BT landlines will be charged up to 5p per minute. The price of calls may vary with other operators. Please check with your operator for exact charges. npower business is the registered trademark of Npower Direct Limited (registered in England and Wales No. 3782443) and Npower Commercial Gas Limited (registered in England and Wales No. 3768856) and associated companies. Registered office: Windmill Hill Business Park, Whitehill Way, Swindon SN5 6PB. THE CHIP BOX The way I see it FQAs in the news... Stelios Theocharous of Pete’s Chippery, one of the UK’s new generation of young fryers, tells it as he sees it... Mayor visits Status Fish and Chips T S ince writing these columns I have started to think about whether people read what we say. I know Mark Petrou often wondered this and Bernard Anghelides wrote about it a few issues ago and wanted people to write into the magazine. Everyone who writes for the magazine take time out of our lives to write and keep you all informed of day to day goings on in the industry. I would personally love to see what you all think about today’s industry, our personal columns, and editorial, so please write it with your thoughts. So this month I have been thinking of a CHALLENGE…. How eco friendly is your shop? What lengths do you go to to save on waste? There are many shops in the United Kingdom that have started to step up to the plate and start swapping items in their shops for more sustainable products. The media are putting a lot of emphasis on the increased use of plastic carrier bags and the effects on the environment. Tesco probably distribute the most carrier bags in the United Kingdom if not Europe, and Marks & Spencer are the ﬁrst retailer to charge for plastic carriers. All retailers are now implementing the new cotton bags, however I’m sure you have all already realised it is not that easy to transform these ideas into the ﬁsh and chip shop industry. Some of the key problem areas for wastage in the ﬁsh and chip shop industry are; Packaging This is a big problem in our industry. We all use a lot of trays, paper and carrier bags. Although there are many alternatives do you think we can actually change our packaging? It is proven that paper bags will not make the ﬁsh and chips sweat. Another option is the new corrugated boxes that are now available that keep the food hot and looking nice. Even the traditional wrapping paper will soon start to take a knock. All packaging needs to be seriously looked at and we need to trim back on how much we use – I’m sure there will be lots of incentives stop us using less plastic in the future. Utilities Gas, electric & water utilities are all increasing – even though the large companies who sell Fish & Chips and Fast Food them are actually making more proﬁt each quarter. They will never drop your prices but we need to start looking at how much our equipment costs to run. I challenge range manufactures to write in to the editor or make this information available to the ﬁsh shops how much it costs to run. Also, how much gas does a kebab machine cost to run? I’m sure the editor will be interested to ﬁnd out all of this, as will I. What new and exciting technology are the range and kebab companies are coming up with to help us save money? Equipment & Lighting Do you walk around your shop every night to make sure that all lighting is switched off? Are things like your fridge seals in good order? If not, your fridge will be working harder to keep it up to temperature. If the other equipment has not been pat tested (if electrical) or tested for its efﬁciency then problems will most deﬁnitely occur. So back to the challenge…. What do you guys do to innovatively save money? On www.chippy-chat.co.uk a lot of members have recently been talking about eco friendly initiatives that save them money and increase there public proﬁle. One chippychatter feeds his batter bits (strained) to birds in his garden. There was another who recycled his rainwater. Another who gives out his ﬁsh off cuts and sells them as a moggy bag, and another that puts all veg and potato waste into a composter. As you can see I haven’t written a great deal this month – I thought I would take a different approach and give you a few issues to consider instead. I would really like to see people writing in to the editor and letting us know what you do to make your business more efﬁcient, how you save money on waste and also initiatives on recycling. Even if I have mentioned them above I would love to hear your approaches and even see some photos of what you’re doing to help our environment. he Lord Mayor of Bradford was still required to wear his chain of ofﬁce as he rolled his sleeves up and helped out at a ﬁsh and chip shop. Councillor Robin Owens tried his hand at ﬁsh frying at Status Fish and Chip shop, in Lindley Road, Little Horton, which has been awarded the Friers Quality Award from the Sea Fish Industry Authority. Owner Ahmed Thakur is also celebrating after being given the thumbs-up by Bradford Council, which awarded the shop four stars for hygiene. The chippy is just one of three in the Bradford district to be awarded the certiﬁcate from Seaﬁsh, which promotes good-quality, sustainable seafood. Lucie Bryan, of Seaﬁsh, was delighted with the food and improvements made to the premises. She said: “Anyone can apply for the award, but it is not easy to achieve. We look at the quality of the food and hygiene. It is particularly good to see in an area like this, where it may not usually be typical to ﬁnd proprietors who want the quality award.” Mr Thakur said: “I am delighted with the award and will continue to work hard to maintain the high standards.” Councillor Owens said that he had enjoyed his day as a chef, but has no plans to give up his day job just yet! St Johns goes for the treble W arwick mayor Councillor Martyn Ashford has presented two awards to an Emscote chip shop. St Johns Fish Bar has received both a gold hygiene award from Warwick District Council and the fryers quality award from the Sea Fish Industry. The gold award means the restaurant must score highly for hygiene, safety and management. Owner Michael Michaels believes completely refurbishing the shop has helped him bring the premises up to standard. He added that he now plans to enter the industry’s national Fish and Chip Shop of the Year competition - an annual nationwide hunt for our ﬁnest ﬁsh supper. Mr Michaels said: “A gold award is very hard to get. It’s the highest you can receive and it is an honour for me to have won it.” Stelios 20 May 2008 THE CHIP BOX Spotlight people are prepared to pay a little extra for this. Stelios: What is your response as a company to people’s eating habits changing more to the healthier side? Michael: We believe that all of our products, if eaten as part of a healthy balanced diet, are not bad for you! We have reduced salt in line with the FSA guidelines and we have discovered other ways in terms of our process to bring out the natural ﬂavours of meat and vegetables in our products. Stelios: Im not a big fan of football, however my brother in law tells me that he can get your pies at old Trafford - now this is quite strange is it not? Michael: No, it’s not strange at all! We were invited to tender for the business just over three seasons ago and won against some very stiff competition. We won on product suitability, quality, service and ﬁnally of course, price. They do love their pies at Old Trafford and we have received many compliments directly via emails from happy fans to conﬁrm this. The usual question from them is “Where else can I buy your pies from?” Stelios: What are the biggest challenges that a company of your scale and ethics faces on a daily basis? Michael: At the moment the biggest problem we face is escalating raw material prices and with no real end in sight as to where they will settle out. In addition to raw materials we have a large ﬂeet of vans and our fuel bill is again rising rapidly on a weekly basis. Some companies have been known to counter the above by reducing product quality and indeed we have been asked to quote for business for pretty cheap inferior products. But I am personally not comfortable making and selling products that I would not be happy to eat myself. My view is that we all need to give food in this country a bit more respect and I am 100% behind the young celebrity chefs that are trying hard to educate people about the beneﬁts of healthy eating good quality food. Stelios: You are very involved with ﬁsh and chip shops in your personal life as well, so what advice would you give to people in the industry today that are not making the proﬁt they used to and are facing new challenges week by week? Michael: I was brought up in a ﬁsh and chip environment, even though I went off to study Civil Engineering, I do love (and miss) the atmosphere and buzz of frying especially on a Friday teatime! I think that a lot of chip shops, particularly in the Midlands, run their businesses like they used to 30 years ago. Times have changed, competition is ﬁercer than ever before. The range of product quality from one shop to the next is shocking in my view. There are shops that are doing well, but they are the ones that have invested back in the business and brought the whole experience up to date. So my advice is that people need to have a fundamental look at their business, talk to other shops, upgrade their offer in every respect, the look of the shop, the product range on offer, the staff serving the customer. After all I am sure we all agree – the customer demands and expects more these days and if you don’t give it to them, they are mobile and will ﬁnd someone who will. Not content with contributing his column to every issue of FCFF, Stelios Theocharous has now put on the hat of roving reporter, and from this issue onwards will be putting leading ﬁgures in the industry under his Spotlight. This issue he talks to Michael Tzirki of Shire Foods. Stelios: Michael please tell us a little about how your family got into the pie industry. Michael: My father and brother-in-law bought shares in Shire Foods back in the early 80’s. It was as simple as that! Stelios: How long have you been working at Shire Foods now and what role did you start with? Michael: I have been employed by SF for around 15 years – started off as a project manager on expanding and developing the previous site in Warwick. I formally joined the Board in 1994 as Commercial Director and handled some major accounts, and then became MD around 1998 after the “disaster years” of BSE in 1996. Stelios: What have you noticed that is different today compared to when you became MD? Today the consumer expects far more in terms of product quality and provenance and they do not mind paying a little more for it. We believe our product range is in the “affordable premium” category. I see little value in producing products that purely meet a speciﬁc price, in other words commodities. For a small company like ours we can be far more innovative and nimble than the bigger companies out there. Stelios: Who is responsible for creating the all steak pie and the balti pie, which for the last ten years have been all the rage? Michael: The Chicken Balti pie was developed as a direct result of our tremendous links to football clubs. They wanted something a bit different to offer their fans so we trialled a few variants of products and soon realised that only an authentic Balti would be good enough. After gaining a strong reputation in the Midlands the CBPie is now sold in over 70 stadiums around the country! The Steakn-Ale pie was developed by our in-house NPD team (New Product Development) to meet the needs of consumers who wanted a no-compromise product, where price is absolutely not an issue. So this product ticks all the boxes in this respect. The sauce in this pie is made up of pure Ale! – we do not add any water whilst making the ﬁlling and we use ﬁnest patissiere butter to make a rich pastry. Stelios: If inventing the groundbreaking all steak pie and balti pie was not enough, you have now adopted a clean declaration policy and square, yes square, pies. Tell us a little more. Michael: Once we removed hydrogenated fats from our pastry some years ago – we then embarked on a challenge to ensure that we lowered salt levels, and removed ﬂavour enhancers such as MSG. This was difﬁcult and some companies still use it but we now have products that are truly “clean” in terms of the ingredients we use. The only downside is there is extra cost, Michael (left) and Stelios at the Chippychat Grand Prix last October but again more and more Fish & Chips and Fast Food 22 May 2008 preston&thomas_fcff_ad 24/8/06 9:21 am THE CHIP BOX Page 1 An unlimited Range At Preston & Thomas we have been manufacturing high-quality custom-made fish and chip frying equipment for over 90 years. Every frying range produced in our south Wales factory since 1913 is unique – expertly designed and crafted to each of our customer’s specific requirements, to suit their location, premises and budget. Although we’ve made and installed over 11,000 frying ranges since the end of the Second World War, we are constantly updating and innovating so that our products offer the very latest in range design and technology. Our tailor-made Counter, Island, Wall and Canteen ranges are hand-built using the highest quality materials. Combined with your choice of finishes and burner systems, Preston & Thomas can offer a proven, reliable, quality product with a nationwide Sales, Installation and After Sales Service that is second to none. For a brochure please call 029 2079 3331 • www.prestonandthomas.co.uk • [email protected] The UK’s leading quality range supplier Fish & Chips and Fast Food 23 May 2008 THE CHIP BOX Then and now... Following up on the report last month regarding the ﬁrst Friers Forum, held in the West Midlands, and some animated online discussions, we asked Michael Pili for his views on the subjects of pricing and portion sizes. Michael is a former ﬁsh frier and head of the Midlands Seaﬁsh Training Association, and his opinions and advice are valued by operators throughout his area. He sent us this article by way of response.... F ish is the most expensive commodity used in the ﬁsh and chip shop yet it seems very strange to me how friers treat this most precious natural food. Why do some friers sell ﬁsh as a loss leader? How can it be that in some areas of the Midlands, ﬁsh and chips is sold to the public cheaper today than it was 20 years ago? We as friers may acknowledge that the British Fishermen and others are going through a difﬁcult time with ever demanding regulations and cuts in quota. We may even understand that to put right a problem that has been allowed to continue for years, some very hard decisions must be made. Everybody agrees, so long as it means, “that our section of the trade does not suffer”. Logic means a good balance between conservation of species of ﬁsh, the immediate interest of the ﬁshing industry and dependent communities Men’s lives are lost every month to bring to these shores the last of the hunted food. From the sea to the frier, everybody wants quality ﬁsh, at the right size and price, all the year round and that everybody demands that at every stage, the ﬁsh is handled and stored correctly. All this adds to the cost. The majority of ﬁsh and chip shops in the Midlands use fresh ﬁsh (wet ﬁsh) and for years have paid erratic prices. Many ﬁsh friers have spend thousands of pounds to upgrade their premises and equipment and we now have a great number of outlets that are on par with any other type of food establishment and are a credit to the trade. But when it comes to portion control and selling prices, we badly let ourselves down. In Birmingham and district, we appear to have an unofﬁcial competition to see who can “give” the biggest portion of ﬁsh and chips at the cheapest prices. Who are the winners? Who are the losers? Fish & Chips and Fast Food Ten years ago, I watched with dismay, when a shop in north Birmingham put on a special opening offer of ﬁsh and chips at 99p, (less vat 84p). This “special offer” then became the norm, has been applied to other meals and has spread to a great number of takeaways right across the city and surrounding neighbourhoods. Some shops even cut these prices to 89p and 79p. (Less VAT 76p and 67p respectively. What are we trying to achieve? What sort of image does this portray to the media and public? Every month we read reports that ﬁsh is in short supply and expensive. Labour costs and overheads keep rising. Why do we insist on ﬁtting out businesses to the highest standard yet our methods of sales are more in line with a market stall? How can the whole industry move forward into the 21st century when some of us are still stuck in the 19th century? Is the customer always right? Keeping the customer satisﬁed is sound business credo. Can it be carried too far? Has a business ever gone bankrupt by allowing its customers to dictate the style of service, variety of product or its prices and trading policy? Well the line has to drawn somewhere this side of running a charity. The Director of Italy’s biggest chain of Fish Restaurants often tells the story about a rather un-imaginative thief who plans to rob one of their outlets. He needs an excuse to go up into the Manager’s Ofﬁce so he thinks, “I’ll complain about the choice on the menu”. He walks in and there’s the Manager on his knees putting the night’s takings in the safe. “I want to complain”. “Yes sir, what’s your complaint?” “You’ve got no bricks”. “Bricks? In a Fish Restaurant? Are you mad? Go to the builders yard. We don’t sell bricks.” The Manager turns away to close the safe and the thief seizes his chance, pulls out a cosh and cracks him over the head – THWACK! And the Manager says, “Okay, okay! I’ll get some in tomorrow”. Italy gave us the Latin motto, which is implicit in all customer-related trading, CAVEAT EMPTOR, let the buyer beware. I would add, let the vendor beware too. When you cut back on your prices, you may have to cut back on your quality and so eventually on the number of customers. A bargain takes two and both should beneﬁt. In the short term, some of you believe that by working twice as hard for pennies, you are gaining, but long term, as raw materials and overheads continue to rise, your proﬁt margins on ﬁsh will be squeezed dry. A solution will not be found overnight, but it will be to everyone’s advantage to start talking, now. Happy Frying Michael Pili EDITOR’S NOTE This article reads as if it were written yesterday, doesn’t it? However, it’s ELEVEN years since Michael wrote this piece. In the intervening years, it would seem that very little has changed. Public perception of ﬁsh and chips as a cheap and cheerful takeaway is still being allowed to control the businesses - and the pricelists - of many ﬁsh friers up and down the country, often inhibiting their ability to make a good living from their hard work and dedication. Until the general public can be educated and “retrained”, so that they can see the value inherent in a nutritious, natural, perfectly cooked and perfectly presented meal - and pay the proper price for it - ﬁsh and chips will continue to be the poor relation of takeaway food. Eleven years on, friers are now talking, and a National Promotional Fund to raise the proﬁle of ﬁsh and chips as a generic brand nationwide is slowly emerging. 2008 may be the year when the man in the street begins to wake up to the value wrapped up in a portion of ﬁsh and chips 26 May 2008 THE CHIP BOX The Friers Quality Award - what you think! Seaﬁsh announce the results of the Friers Quality Award survey T he Seaﬁsh Friers Quality Award scheme has been in existence for almost 12 years and was originally set up to improve standards and promote the shops within the scheme. Over a period of 12 years the scheme has seen almost 1300 shops audited. Shops that obtain the Friers Quality Award are classed as some of the best in the country and this is evidenced when we look at the shops reaching the ﬁnal stage of the Fish & Chip Shop of the Year competition. In the last two years all the ﬁnalists have held the award. To obtain information from the scheme members, a questionnaire was and issued to all members during mid to late 2007. this addressed: - The general business issues of the friers (in the past and looking to the future). - The beneﬁts of being a member of the friers quality award scheme. - How the scheme can be developed for the future. The data gathered has been used to produce a comprehensive report and given Seaﬁsh an insight into what it needs to do, in order to take the scheme forward. In addition it provides information on how Seaﬁsh may help meet the needs of the members. All feedback from individual responses has been held in the strictest of conﬁdence and the feedback has been aggregated in order to produce the report. The full report - written by Jim Hyam of Seaﬁsh`s Training & Accreditation department with the assistance of Angus Garrett and Kate Graham from Seaﬁsh Economics - can be obtained from the Seaﬁsh website at: http://www.seaﬁsh.org/whatsnew/news.asp Key highlights:  In mid 2007 when the Questionnaire was issued there were 470 members in the scheme. - There were a total of 91 respondents to the survey which represents a response rate of 19.4% - More than 50% of the respondents have had the award for 5 years or more.  The majority of respondents had a weekly turnover of between £5,000 and £7,500 per week. This translates into £325,000 annual turnover taking £6,250 as the mid point and assuming a 52 week working year.  Employment in respondents shops ranged from 0 to 23 employees with an average of 7 full-time equivalents (FTEs) per shop. This average is taken from the raw data and is based on 91 respondents employing 672 (FTEs)  The majority of respondents (81%) are owner-managed as opposed to being run by a manager. Fish & Chips and Fast Food  The three main business issues faced by respondents over the last two years were: - Staff recruitment and retention - The rising costs of raw materials - The rise in costs in general.  The three main beneﬁts arising from the Friers Quality Award were: - Raised proﬁle of the shop to customers (90%) - Raised standards within the shop (84%) - Raised proﬁle of ﬁsh and chips generally (72%)  64 out of 90 respondents stated that turnover had improved as a result of holding the Friers Quality Award.  Based on 39 respondents (in the raw data), having the Friers Quality Award led to an average increase in turnover of £403 per week (which equates to £20,956 per annum) per frier. (A net proﬁt of around £6,000)  In addition if we average out what the impact of having the award has had on the increase in turnover and compare this with the numbers of years the respondents have held the award, the average increase in turnover per year equates to £2,075 each year the award is held.  90% of respondents believe the Friers Quality Award is value for money.  The three main business issues respondents expect to face in the coming years are the same as those currently being experienced : - Staff recruitment and retention - The rising costs of raw materials - The rise in costs in general However, there is increasing concern when looking forward on issues regarding bureaucracy, bad publicity (the negative health image of ﬁsh and chips) and product availability  Of 66 responses, 27 suggested the Friers Quality Award could be improved by offering greater promotional support. The most frequently mentioned improvements were: - National media coverage - More Annual visits/inspections - Local media coverage  Of 77 respondents, 74% were prepared to pay a higher annual fee in return for additional beneﬁts through the Friers Quality Award. Conclusions The results of this survey suggest the following main messages  The Friers Quality Award is currently viewed as value for money.  The beneﬁts of having the award are important but not at the top of the friers list of concerns.  Friers tend to equate the award with promoting the shop. Action to be taken Each of the categories analysed will be taken up and discussed by the steering committee for the award scheme. This group will take the ﬁndings and incorporate as many ideas as possible. The aim is to develop a better package which helps friers with their most pressing concerns. 27 May 2008 CASE STUDIES Its really bizzy here! T he Bizzy Plaice in Edenﬁeld, Lancashire certainly lives up to its name. The takeaway and 20 seater restaurant , which opened just 30 months ago, has just extended with the opening of an additional 26 covers. And this in a village of just 1,200 people with no major link roads running through it. From the start of their business Gary and Wendy Bispham decided that their aim was to provide consistent high quality food and excellent customer service. “We entered the business two and a half years ago with no experience of frying but with some great training from a local fryer, Fred Bowen. With his help we established certain procedures and we have always followed them. “This means the meals we serve are of a consistent high quality and our customers know what they are going to get. To maintain this consistency you need to buy quality ingredients from reliable suppliers whose standards will not vary. “We put quality above price and buy the best ingredients we can , be it batter, gravy, curry sauce etc, in order to produce the best results consistently. Our ﬁsh is fresh daily, mainly haddock, and we follow stringent procedures in our potato preparation. We then fry in Frymax, the best and most consistent frying fat. Frymax simply helps us to cook great tasting food everytime. “ There are twelve shops within two miles of The Bizzy Plaice and customers travel not only from these surrounding villages but also up to 23 miles from Colne, Rochdale and Cheadle, to enjoy the quality food prepared by Gary and Wendy. “Although our village is the bedrock of our business, we knew we had to attract customers from a wider area and that this could not be done on price but on quality. Customers will travel to enjoy a good quality meal; they won’t travel to save 50p.” Gary has lived in the village all of his life and Wendy for 14 years. “We live in the village, we employ our staff from the village and we are part of the community. This is something unique to a local ﬁsh and Wok2Go: franchise success For more information about Frymax, call 01322 444836 or email [email protected] George worked with Tony to create a franchising manual, with details of every aspect of the running of the outlet, including all the recipes, before developing an eight week intensive training package for all new franchisees. Franchisees will also receive ongoing training to support them, in addition to new recipes and marketing support. “Working with Tony helped to clarify exactly what the offer was and how it would work for new franchisees,” said George. “And going through the process of putting the franchise together with Tony helped us to improve our core business offer as we reﬁned and deﬁned the processes. “Wok2Go is a great opportunity for anyone who is passionate about food and you don’t have to be Chinese or have any experience of cooking. Two franchises have already opened in Ilford and Rochdale since the franchise offer launched and I am conﬁdent we can open a further six to eight franchises this year.” The success of the offer comes from recognising a consumer need, according to Tony Urwin. “George and his team have recognised not only the changing face of restaurants and takeaways, but have also tapped into the movement in consumer trends towards healthy eating and minimising additives,” he said. “This, combined with a distinctive brand, has created a powerful franchise offer which I am conﬁdent will succeed.” FDS Northern gives businesses in the North of England and Scotland support in developing their business into a franchise. For more information on franchising your business, please visit www.fdsnorthern.com. W ok2Go, a Chinese takeaway which offers high quality, MSGfree Chinese food, has opened two new franchises since it began working with Franchise Development Services Northern (FDS Northern) last year. The Wok2Go brand started in 2000 in Hale Barnes when restaurateur George Leung recognised a niche in the market for restaurant quality takeaway food, without MSG. “My family has owned a restaurant for as long as I can remember and I started up my own in my twenties, before setting up a business supplying major supermarkets with own label products,” he said. “It was clear to me that there was a substantial difference in quality between the food served at restaurants and that supplied by takeaways. So I used my experience in the food trade to create Wok2Go, a Chinese takeaway which uses fresh ingredients, prepared in an open kitchen, to offer the customer an MSG-free, low sodium, healthy meal.” George had already successfully launched three branches of Wok2Go when he started to develop the franchise offer, working with Tony Urwin, director of FDS Northern. “I knew there was a real opportunity to grow Wok2Go through franchising, because the brand and the product were strong enough to sell anywhere in the UK,” said George. “But the challenge was always going to be taking more than thirty years of cooking experience from out of my head and getting it on paper so a potential franchisee could understand it.” Fish & Chips and Fast Food chip shop which the multiple groups can never attain. Our customers are our friends and neighbours and we only serve them the quality we would eat ourselves.” Gary and Wendy see a good future for the trade provided that friers focus on quality and consistency. This was the message given to them by Fred Bowen when they started their business and Gary and Wendy are now passing these same principles onto Matt Orange who has just opened The Codfather in Northwich. “We appreciate the help we were given in the early days and we want to encourage other friers to take the quality route and build a successful business in a respected trade.” 28 May 2008 CASE STUDIES Short queues at West Park Alcombe Fish Bar P aul Foster has had a varied working career from professional trumpet player with BBC orchestras to running pubs before eventually joining T Quality “I have always loved the ﬁsh & chip industry, said Paul even as a child on the Tyne where my family had a wholesale ﬁsh business, so it was inevitable that I should want to own my shop.” Paul and wife Jill had their ﬁrst ﬁsh & chip shop in Amesbury near Stonehenge, and although it is a big tourist area, the tourists didn’t buy ﬁsh & chips. Apparently, the coach trips go straight to the Henge, get back on the bus and travel to Stratford and London, and that, our American friends believe, is ‘doing the UK’! As Jill came from Minehead, they decided to buy a business there and have been extremely successful. They took over a business that had recently had a ﬁre, so the exterior and interior was all new and needed no refurbishment. It did however, have a traditional range which, because of their success, could not keep up with the trade. It was decided therefore to buy a Kiremko High Efﬁciency range which has reduced the queues dramatically. “In fact, said Paul, I was worried ﬁrst of all that business had gone down until I counted the takings in the till and realised that it was because we were able serve customers a lot quicker.” Living in such a beautiful area where Exmoor can be seen from the shop, there are many regular customers not only from the local area but also from Cheltenham, Birmingham and other parts of the UK because they visit every weekend and stay in their caravans. There is also a large Butlins camp whose customers demand good ﬁsh & chips so Jill and Paul run the business themselves with a part time helper on a Friday and Saturday. Paul believes that his business is successful because of the efﬁciency of his frying range and his wife, who serves and makes every customer feel special! The lovely Grade II Listed building found that in the ﬁrst week of February when many businesses were not doing so well, they had the best trade since opening, even though the shop had been closed for 2 ½ weeks before that as the couple took a well earned holiday. This Paul puts down to changing his range which not only offers a higher efﬁciency but a more consistent product. For further information about Kiremko High Efﬁciency ranges, contact KFE Ltd on 01778 380448. J ohn Shute, along with his brother, Brian and his nephew, Andrew runs the West Park Chippy in Plymouth, Devon. John joined West Park Chippy in 1965 after his father bought the business in 1962 and built it up with Brian. Now with 20 staff they serve an extensive menu from breakfasts to ﬁsh & chips; in fact everything that the café next door which has also been in the family for 25 years requires. The partners recently had a Kiremko high efﬁciency range ﬁtted which was a complete difference from the three traditional ranges previously in operation in the take-away and café. When asked why they decided to make such a change, John said, “Kiremko has a good service package where as the traditional company does not.” A Kiremko high efﬁciency range has a basket frying system for chips, and John admitted that he was doubtful as to whether this would work for them. But he has now realised that it does work extremely well, and John stated, “in fact, we save on chips because we can cook a basket at a time because the frying time is so quick. This means that we reduce waste.” John continued, “Although the range has not been in very long, we are saving approximately 25% on gas bills.” Although West Park Chippy has been refurbished to complement the range, it was done on a shift basis because the family did not want to close and upset their customers. So when the shop was open, the builders didn’t work and vice-versa! Being on a main road, they attract local and passing trade and have noticed that the queues have become minimal since the installation of their Kiremko range. For further information about Kiremko ranges, contact KFE Ltd on 01778 380448. Fish & Chips and Fast Food 29 May 2008 CASE STUDIES Underneath the arches... could do an amazing shop ﬁt for the Chip Inn. John Regan came down for a site visit and together they planned a shop with a new frontage, superb tiling and a feature mosaic counter with a gorgeous glass top, “Tony & Anna were fantastic to work with,” said John, “and together I think we have created a shop that will stand the test of time – modern, functional and stylish.” “Robert took me to see other fryers, including Mark Petrou,”said Tony, “and I was totally impressed with the consistency of the product – they showed me how good the product can be and I was convinced my only option should be a Florigo.” Tony chose a bespoke, hand crafted Island range with High Efﬁciency Fish Pans and Basket Pans equipped with the new generation Flotronic computer controls, integral ﬁltration with separate return pipes, halogen & ceramic heaters in the hot box which was also complemented with mirror doors and even a 6 pot bain marie. The install was accomplished as planned, with Steve Beckett, the chief engineer for Florigo, ensuring that everything went smoothly and The Chip Inn opened its doors once again in April 2008. The ﬁnal word to Tony: “I am glad I made the right choice because Florigo really are THE winning team” For more information contact Deborah on 01527 592000 or see our website www.ﬂorigo.co.uk T he town of Kidderminster lies in the district of Wyre Forest, just 17 miles south west of Birmingham and is surrounded by beautiful countryside with many peaceful and secluded villages. The town itself is famed for its carpet industry, which is still the major employer in the town, and the Severn Valley Steam Railway. Situated on the Old Chester Road, just under the imposing railway viaduct, the Chip Inn has been a ﬁsh and chip shop for many years and has gained an enviable reputation in the area for its friendly staff and quality product. Tony & Anna Trachonitis bought the shop 10 years ago and in 2007 Tony decided it was time to replace the existing range and revamp the shop at the same time too – as he knew Robert Furey from Florigo and trusted his advice, that was who he called, and as always, Rob was very pleased to help Tony but this was a little different…. “I know the shop, the area and the locals because it was my ﬁrst shop and I had owned and operated it for many years,”said Robert, “so it was great to see it reborn with a new Florigo and a fantastic shop ﬁt”. Florigo have worked with Design Mach for many years and Rob was conﬁdent that they Wrapid response from MCR H igh street food chain Wrapid has purchased MCR Systems’ Symphony Reporting EPOS software product for its business, which has outlets across the UK. The Symphony Reporting package offers ﬂexible and scaleable user-deﬁned EPOS reporting for growing businesses in the retail and hospitality sectors. “Remote access is key for me as a director, I was aware of the functionality available from the product, but having that amount of control over the every day operations allows me to know what’s going on at a local level,” said Bhasker Dhir, managing director and founder of Wrapid. “Wrapid was looking for an EPOS system that was ﬂexible, intuitive and easy to use, as well as giving electronic audits and control of the business, meaning we can stay abreast of what is going on without having to be at each outlet.” Fish & Chips and Fast Food Wrapid is a fast growing ambitious company with the simple philosophy of preparing hot food crammed with ﬂavour in a wrap, whether that’s British, Chinese, Indian, Italian or Tex Mex food. Mr Dhir continued “Symphony Reporting, allows us to set up reporting in any format that we choose, and can mimic existing reports if need be. It’s real time and can create a report to look at the sales mix during any time period, I literally press three buttons and have a report to hand, in terms of sales reporting it’s fantastic. 30 “Moreover, it helps us appraise staff performance through a variety of KPI’s which are based on real time performance. So, for instance we could set average spend as a measure of performance and then put that into real time. “For us, software as a service hosted by MCR Systems makes it fuss free, and we now have access to our data from anywhere in the world. Basically our ﬁnancial information will be more accessible and more useful, to the right people across the organisation. I believe this product will give us a stable base to work from, create efﬁciencies across the company, allow us to easily interrogate the data and hence drive an informed approach to decision making.” Based in Leicester, MCR Systems offers fully integrated EPOS solutions for the hospitality, catering and leisure sectors, covering point of sale and back ofﬁce management software. For further information visit: www.mcr-systems.com May 2008 www.florigo.co.uk - new year, new range, new website! Download our brochure... See our latest installations... Check out our new TurboChef... Read all the latest Florigo news... Design your new e... Florigo range onlin Since the launch of www.florigo.co.uk, the site has become number one in the frying industry - delivering detailed Frying Range designs online to all those determined to get the best out of their business. Not only is the website a working tool but also a wealth of information for all existing owners and those wishing to finance their new Florigo range too. There are Parts Diagrams, Service Details and an exciting Gallery of recent installations from all over the country. If that's not enough, read all the latest news about Exhibitions and what’s happening in the industry. Try designing your new Frying Solution online now - it’s what you’ve come to expect from a company like Florigo! FRYING SOLUTIONS Florigo UK Limited tel: 01527 592000 fax: 01527 585626 email: [email protected] web: www.florigo.co.uk SAUSAGES Premium sausages are convenient T he Premium range of fully cooked and frozen sausages from Snowbird foods is adding a new quality dimension for cost conscious caterers – and it is also adding convenience. The sausages will cook from frozen in seconds, delivering the no waste solution of only cooking to order yet not making a customer wait. Made with top quality pork and store cupboard seasonings, four sizes are available – 100g Jumbo, 80g Gourmet Cumberland, 50g Standard and 12.5g Cocktail. All are in four kilo cases. All the food safe sausages will oven bake as well as microwave, reducing ﬁre risks and cooking odours as well as cooking times. For more information, contact Roy Anderson on 020 8805 9222 or visit www.snowbirdfoods.co.uk New serving suggestions from Westlers W estlers, one the UK’s leading independent manufacturers of convenience foods, has launched a new range of serving suggestions to accompany an increasingly popular hot dog offering. The new range of serving suggestions is perfect for giving your customers even more variety and choice. The range includes The Original, a Westlers beechwood smoked hot dog topped with onions and sauce, as well as The Big Cheese, The Hot Shot, and The Meat Feast, topped with hot cheese, jalapenos and cheese, and Westlers chilli respectively. There is also a 12 inch Frankfooter option, aka The Big Daddy. The new range is backed up with a comprehensive POS selection designed for maximum impact, drawing the consumer’s eye and increasing sales. The Westlers 95g Premium Pouched hot dog, beechwood smoked ﬂavour hot dog, boasts the highest meat content on the market with 87% pork. The pouched hot dogs are available in four sizes; regular (55g), large (75g), extra large (95g), and the frankfooter (170g). Westlers supply a range of toppings to accompany their hot dogs, including chilli, mustard and of course the ever popular tomato sauce. A wide range of branded cooking equipment is available to suit operations of all sizes, all of which require minimal culinary skill and staff training. New to the equipment options available from Westlers in 2008 is a brand new hot dog steamer. The self contained unit is ideally suited to venues selling hot dogs ‘front of house’ on a kiosk or back bar. The steamer has a small footprint, taking up minimal counter space, while also utilising glass panes at the front and back, tempting customers by safely and hygienically displaying the hot dogs. The unit is also fully branded, driving uptake even higher due to the unmatched levels of consumer recognition that the Westler brand offers, and even includes space for the buns to be kept. For further information call Westlers Customer Services on 0800 027 6336, visit www.westlerfoods.com or email [email protected]. Fish & Chips and Fast Food 32 A 30 year pedigree J ames T Blakeman and Co Ltd has been supplying its ‘Supreme’ sausage brand to the ﬁsh and chip market since 1977 – and the recipe’s hardly changed. Apart from adapting to legislative requirements it’s the same product, it’s a leader in the market and there are customers that have been using it for over twenty years. That’s a remarkable record, Managing Director, Philip Blakeman explains how that pedigree has been achieved: “There’s no secret, it’s hard work and application. We haven’t had to change our recipe signiﬁcantly because we developed a quality product in the ﬁrst place, one that the ﬁsh and chip shop market wanted. We committed to delivering the quality consistently by sourcing the ﬁnest ingredients, investing in the latest production processes, and ensuring our management and staff are fully trained. We’re continuing to work hard and aim to serve the market for many years to come.” For further details please contact Cherry Ward on 01782 577733, email [email protected] or view the website at www.blakemans.co.uk May 2008 SAUSAGES Bigfoot! A great start with Brakes A new concept in serving sausages to make your Fish & Chip Shop stand out from the crowd B rakes has launched a brand new range of Red Tractor and RSPCA Freedom Foods-assured sausages to its chilled and frozen meat portfolio. Ideal for breakfast service, there are four new varieties to choose from. Added to its frozen product range are Brakes Premier Cumberland, Pork & Leek and Pork & Thyme Sausages. All made from succulent cuts of top quality fresh pork shoulder and belly, each boasts a minimum content of 85 B attered Bigfoot & Chips – now there’s a challenge for your customers and something to make your Fish & Chip Shop stand out from the crowd. The Legendary McWhinney’s Bigfoot is a giant 12 inch sausage made with 70% pork, rusk, water and fresh spices, You can be conﬁdent that the Bigfoot is a quality sausage you can be proud to serve. When ordering your free sample (see below) you can request one of McWhinney’s complimentary glossy A2 posters. This really does create interest and boost sales when your customers see McWhinney’s friendly Bigfoot Yeti smiling down on them. Traditionally served in a baguette with fried onions as a handheld snack, many Fish & Chip Shops are reporting success with a new trend in battered Bigoot & Chips for the ultimate eating challenge. Battered Bigfoot was pioneered by Mark Petrou of Petrou Brothers, Chatteris, the winner of the 2006 Seaﬁsh Fish & Chip Shop of Year Award. Mark, a long standing customer of McWhinney’s reports high levels of interest in this ‘eating challenge’ which is a major talking point with his customers. Designed for the Fish & Chip Shop market McWhinney’s sausages will deep fry from frozen without splitting and will hold in the cabinet without shrivelling or bending, whether that be the giant foot long BigFoot; the extremely popular Gold sausage (42% meat content, a competitively priced sausage with a hint of spice); or the Award winning Premium Irish Pork Sausage, with 70% meat content. McWhinney’s are very well established, with a reputation for quality in the Fish & Chip Shop market. This support is evident in the number of award winners choosing to stock McWhinney’s over the years. In 2006 the top 3 winners all stocked McWhinney’s. This is no Fish & Chips and Fast Food co-incidence and to back this success up the trend has continued in the 2007 awards with seven out of ten ﬁnalists choosing McWhinney’s including second place Andy’s of Swadlincote in Derbyshire, and thirdplaced Seniors, from Thornton Cleveleys, near Blackpool. We are very proud of this fact and would like to pose the question can any other sausage manufacturer match this achievement and challenge McWhinney’s as a leader in the quality sausage market. The very fact that these shops made it through to the ﬁnal reﬂects the importance that they all place on quality … be that quality of service, quality of standards, or quality of product that they serve over the counter. Hundreds of other ﬁsh and chip shops throughout the country who care about giving their customers the best have also made the change to McWhinney’s.” There has never been a better time to convert to McWhinney’s and beneﬁt from serving a quality sausage you can be proud of. McWhinney’s are conﬁdent that when you and your customers sample their sausages you will want to put them on your menu. So here’s a no-strings introductory offer to shops who haven’t tried them previously – just make your request before the end of May, and you can have a case of the legendary 12” BigFoot, the popular Gold 42% meat content, or the Award Winning Premium 70% Irish Pork Sausage absolutely free of charge. Simply call Wendy on 0161 765 3300, and agree to accept delivery and subsequent service from one of McWhinney’s designated distributors. 34 per cent. The Cumberland sausages are infused with black pepper and sage and traditional breadcrumbs, while the other new bangers also both use fresh herbs to give a full and rich taste. All are available in packs of 30. Brakes Premier Pork & Herb Sausages are made from fresh, outdoor reared pork sourced from Suffolk. Finished with fresh herbs, breadcrumbs and lemon in a natural pork casing, the sausages are available in packs of 12 and are the latest addition to Brakes’ chilled product line. For further information on any of these products, please contact Brakes Customer Service on 0845 606 9090. Alternatively, visit the website at www. brake.co.uk. May 2008 FRIDGES & FREEZERS Serve you right! Special Offer from Husky Grab a half price Husky Stainless Steel chill unit! Husky is offering the ﬁrst 100 ﬁsh and chip caterers to contact its sales team the opportunity to purchase its stainless steel range of freezers and refrigerators at half price. To qualify, all you need to do is complete a product report after six months – valuable feedback for Husky quality control. One of the secrets of ﬁsh ‘n’ chip excellence is good freezer and chiller practice – Geoﬀ Thomasson, Chief Executive, Husky Group Ltd, takes a look at how to chill out eﬀectively. CALL 01455 555 340 TODAY An additional method of refrigerating ﬁsh products is the chest freezer, such as the Husky Jumbo (770 x 2036 x 936mm or 770 x 2536 x 936 mm) range, with heat-reﬂective sliding doors providing greater insulation and less misting than conventional units. The Husky Chest Freezers offer locking castors, making them easy to relocate and bumper strips to help protect the investment, and the units come with integral storage baskets. F or an industry that thrives on serving food that is piping hot, it is perhaps surprising just how much ﬁsh and chip shops rely on freezing and chilling. In fact, the effective storage of frozen ﬁsh is integral for its commercial success, particularly now that Frozen At Sea ﬁllets are the norm. FAS ﬁllets have captured the market by offering consistently high quality in taste, in the ﬁrst instance, plus numerous other consumer beneﬁts. In particular, they are “ocean wild” rather than farmed; they have no “E” numbers; they are offered as skin on, skinless and skinless/boneless and they are ﬁlleted and frozen within ﬁve hours of being caught. Importantly, the price of FAS ﬁllets (including cod, haddock and Greenland halibut) is consistent, the products do not smell, there is minimal wastage and they circumvent the supply problems often associated with adverse weather conditions. Additional wider beneﬁts are that the ﬁsh is caught in well-managed waters: around Iceland and the Barents Sea and, thanks to the advanced freezing techniques, are effectively “fresher” than conventional “fresh” ﬁsh. Maximum display At the same time, the pressure on ﬁsh ‘n’ chip shops to diversify over the past few years has led to chill display cabinets becoming an ever present accessory for canned drinks and, increasingly, ice-creams to accompany the main course. The Husky C-range of upright can and bottle chillers meet customer demand for chilled, ready-to-go drinks for immediate consumption – not usually available in this form at a supermarket. The C-range of single (2050 x 600 x 690 mm) and double door (up to 2050 x 1200 x 690 mm) units offers proven minimum running more overleaf Freeze ideas Behind the scenes, therefore, any ﬁsh ‘n’ chip worth its salt needs an efﬁcient freezing and refrigeration system, capable of meeting the chilling requirements of a busy catering environment. Husky Stainless Steel Freezers, for example, in single-(1964 x 610 x 808 mm) or double door (1971 x 1255 x 808 mm) variants, provides the highest speciﬁcation for food safety, with “304 food grade” stainless steel used throughout - not just in food contact areas. Similar design rigour applies to the Husky Stainless Steel Refrigerator range. Other features include safetyconscious rounded edges, no gaps in the ﬁnish, soft castors (two lockable) and self-closing doors as well as a digital temperature controller and display. We’re offering a special deal on these units (see Box below) Fish & Chips and Fast Food 36 Kingﬁsher opts for FAS ﬁllets C elebrating 30 years’ business this year, the Kingﬁsher Fish & Chip shop and restaurant is one of Stratford-upon-Avon’s most popular eateries. Proximity to the Bard’s home does no harm, but it is consistent quality and good service that has led to the shop being a stop for travellers from all corners of the globe and having a page to itself in one of celebrity chef Rick Stein’s books. Owner Andreas Panayi takes deliveries of Frozen at Sea ﬁsh two or three times a week, putting the labelled blocks into a stainless steel freezer: “The best ﬁsh is undoubtedly FAS – we defrost overnight on a covered specialist unit, then place them in our refrigerator ready for use. Our frozen ﬁsh turnover is quick thanks to FAS.” For cod, Andreas takes delivery of FAS skinless with a bone that he ﬁllets himself, while the haddock is ready to use once defrosted. “Naturally we rely on our freezer and refrigerated units for storage and preparation and we also have a chiller display unit for our soft drinks.” On a chip note, Andreas recommends the Lincolnshire Piper potato for producing excellent chips: “Over the years, it remains the best and most consistent chip-making potato.” May 2008 FRIDGES & FREEZERS and was impressed by the quality and reliability,” he says. “But what impressed me more was the ﬂexibility. Precision could tailor the units to ﬁt the space in the new kitchen. I’d recommend them to all restaurants.” Included in Joe’s new kitchen is the PPC 307 3-door prep station underneath the service hatch, for making up main courses - complete with 12-well ingredient makeup - and HCU 211 gastronorm counter refrigeration, serving as the restaurant’s dessert station. Both were customised by Precision to ﬁt the kitchen’s exact needs. The PPC (Precision Prep Counter) uses a special ‘bi-ﬂow’ system to cool the lower cabinet storage area and blow cool air around, up and over recessed wells, which hold ingredients in easy reach for chefs. It meets the latest HACCP standards, even in high ambienttemperature environments. Insulated lids are placed over the wells overnight, and the fans’ power reduced, so the unit saves 30% on energy costs compared to standard prep counters. Space in the kitchen is always at a premium, and the PPC prep counter is more compact than standard units, allowing a frame, gantry and pass shelf to be added without increasing the overall footprint. In the case of the HCU dessert station, Precision was able to supply the unit with the main refrigeration unit switched to the left hand side, to better suit the kitchen’s working layout. Underneath, the dessert selection is held at a steady 4C, while on top Precision added an eight-well pan grid for holding extra dessert ingredients such as toppings. Precision’s Back-Bar Refrigeration BBS range were the units of choice for the bar. The BBS range are functional as well as good looking, can pull down temperatures extremely quickly after ﬁlling, and have a host of automatic features. For more information check out the Precision website (www. precision-refrigeration), or call the company directly on 01842 753 994. Precision comes to new Chester restaurant T he brand new G.A.L. Restaurant and Bar in Chester broke new ground in restaurant design when it opened last December. An interior of pastel blue with light African wengi wood décor, combined with elegant booth-style seating, gives G.A.L. a stylish international ambience to match a wide-ranging, very eclectic food menu. This isn’t a ‘theme’ restaurant in the sense of a particular type of food, says head chef Joe Lynch, who came from an existing high street restaurant group to explore new ideas and varieties in dining at G.A.L. “We are a city centre location and wanted to offer something to appeal to everyone. It has to be affordable, but at the same time it’s all freshly prepared and top quality.” So in the brand new kitchen at G.A.L. there’s a focus on counter refrigeration and refrigerated preparation wells. As the dishes are being created, the fresh ingredients need to be not only kept cool, but ready for immediate cooking and plating. And when it came to refrigeration, there was one key choice - Precision. Says Joe Lynch: “I’d worked with Precision before, in my previous jobs, Fish & Chips and Fast Food 37 May 2008 FRIDGES & FREEZERS continued from previous page costs and a stylish design with, for example, self-closing doors, fully adjustable shelving and integral locks as standard, as well as optimum temperature control features. It would be an unusual – even revolutionary – step for a ﬁsh ‘n’ chip outlet, but why not capitalise on the same kind of “impulse” buy techniques used next to all supermarket checkouts? A well-positioned self-service ice-cream display freezer would provide the opportunity for impulse purchases of desserts to accompany a ﬁsh meal. Husky’s VIS range (895 x 1025 x 834 or 895 x 1233 x 634 mm) features baskets that ensure the stock remains separate and easy to re-stock, an easy-to-clean design, a lightbox for maximum visibility and sliding glass lids (with locks ﬁtted as standard) to ensure high stock visibility and easy access. If your outlet includes pizzas, Husky provides pizza preparation tables in its range, as well as the essential conventional prep counters for ﬁsh and other food. Just as the crucial process of storing and then defrosting frozen ﬁsh depends on a combination of good working practices and effective equipment. Front-of-house success relies on a similar combination of vision, in terms of display ideas, and accessible, but well-designed chill units. Keep those assets frozen!  For optimum storage efﬁciency, maintain a frozen minimum temperature of – 18 degC and chilled below 5 degC.  Never store foodstuffs for longer than the guidance found on the packaging.  For freezing large amounts of ﬁsh (or other product), turn the control dial to “Super” for a few hours prior to stocking up the freezer. This helps in freezing faster and to a lower temperature.  Always thaw frozen foods at room temperature. Thawing it in warm environments may encourage bacterial growth. Discard any liquid produced in the thawing process.  Keep frozen, chilled and pre-prepared foods separate; do not use the same work surfaces.  Never freeze carbonated drinks, or liquids in sealed glass bottles.  Clean as you go! Food contact and hand contact surfaces need cleaning and disinfecting before and after use. Use a detergent to remove grease, oils and dirt and a disinfectant to reduce bacteria to a safe level.  Assume all raw ﬁsh is contaminated and prevent cross contamination. About Husky H usky Group is an international leader in refrigeration sales and service, with companies in Europe, the US, India, China, South Africa and Australia, plus an ofﬁcial distributor network in many other countries. Husky Group designs, manufactures, services - and ultimately disposes of effectively - a broad range of chillers and freezers, with over 200 model types for commercial and domestic use. Having established itself as an expert in refrigeration over half a century of innovation, Husky is a full service partner to almost every FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) brand worldwide. To ﬁnd out more about the Husky range of freezer and chiller products, visit www.husky-group.com or call 01455 555 340 Fish & Chips and Fast Food 38 The Icepod 2 cometh T he Husky Group has launched the IcePod 2 modular freezer and chiller at the Convenience Retailing Show 2008 held at the NEC last month. The IcePod 2 is an innovative refrigerated display unit that comprises three separate, stackable pods, making it completely ﬂexible in its use and positioning in the store. Each pod or module can be designated a chiller or a freezer through simple thermostatic adjustment. Each module works singly or in a stack and is designed for ease of use, movement and relocation. The top unit is 426 x 1360 x 510 mm; the middle unit is 426 x 1260 x 650 mm, while the lower deck is 528 x 1260 x 790 mm (net h, w, d) and each unit weighs 11.6 (net)/13.1 (gross) Kg. Like all Husky Group cabinets, the IcePod 2 comes with one-year parts and labour warranty, plus free disposal of a customer’s old cabinet. Moreover, Husky Group is offering free insurance on retailers’ ice cream stock on all freezers including the IcePod 2, with any purchase made before the end of April 2008. Welcoming the addition of the IcePod 2 to the Husky Group range, Geoff Thomasson, Chief Executive of Husky Group Ltd, said: “The IcePod 2 represents the state of the art in ﬂexible refrigerated displays. It will provide our customers with additional options in the way their products can be presented, offering a highly stylish, but robust and energy-efﬁcient design.” May 2008 New solutions from Foster Massive energy savings L eading commercial refrigeration manufacturer Foster Refrigerator has just launched its Eco range of Premier and Pro Cabinets, which offers a staggering 47% saving in energy usage compared to the ranges a year ago when they were already top of the class. Once again, Foster’s innovative design and engineering team have developed signiﬁcant advancements in technology which generate huge energy and carbon reductions at no extra cost to the customer. A new, highly efﬁcient and advanced ECM fan and a clever circuit design ensure much lower energy consumption, optimised performance of the refrigeration system and vastly improved air movement. All products in the range are listed on the Enhanced Capital Allowance (ECA) Scheme and are independently tested to ensure they meet the necessary requirements on energy efﬁciency, performance and capacity. Foster products also offer huge savings on carbon emissions making them the greenest refrigeration available. The new Eco cabinet saves more than 4.6 tonnes in CO2 emissions over its lifespan, and customers can be safe in the knowledge that the eco range cabinets are manufactured locally, meet internationally recognised environmental standards and are 99% recyclable. Naturally the cabinets are also built to last and of the high quality customers expect from Foster, as well as providing high capacity without compromising food safety. John Savage, Foodservice Director for Foster Refrigerator said: “By championing the environment and developing new technologies we can guarantee ours is the greenest commercial refrigeration available. We never rest on our laurels but ensure we are constantly exploring groundbreaking new technologies and systems which we can apply to our products and manufacturing processes. It is this approach that has meant we have maintained our position at the forefront of the refrigeration industry for so long and are the benchmark against which other refrigeration is measured. Our new Eco range is testimony to the success of our dedication and whole-hearted commitment to delivering quality, green refrigeration to our customers.” FRIDGES & FREEZERS It’s just where you want it! Apuro delivers Atlanta fridges and freezers into the kitchen at no extra cost A puro, a leading distributor for some of the biggest equipment brands in the UK, offers its customers a free bespoke delivery service on new Atlanta gastronorm fridges and freezers. Apuro takes the equipment to the customer’s door and delivers it right into the kitchen. Once there, Apuro unpacks the units, plugs them in and takes away the packaging. All the customer has to do is wait for the unit to cool down to working temperature and then stock up with food. The Atlanta gastronorm fridges and freezers are available in single (630 litres) and double (1300 litres) versions. All are made from high quality stainless steel with lockable self-closing doors. Low-cost drawer solution to undercounter storage F oster Refrigerator has launched a new refrigerated undercounter cabinet with drawers for optimum use of space in small, busy kitchens. Ideal for smaller caterers such as pubs, take-away outlets and cafes, the new HR150 is the latest edition to the full range of high performance, low cost undercounter cabinets from Foster. The new 3 drawer cabinet is designed to provide easy access to foodstuffs meaning caterers can now easily and quickly reach food to prepare starters and snacks for example, and its size and affordable prices make it ideal for smaller kitchens and smaller budgets. The cabinet’s three drawers give simple access to contents, reducing prep time, food wastage and ensuring the best use of limited storage space. The front breathing, forced-air refrigeration system means the cabinet is suitable for use even in enclosed areas. Foster has designed the cabinet with the busy caterer in mind and therefore it is also very energy efﬁcient and easy to keep clean. John Savage, Foster’s Foodservice Director, said: “At Foster we pride ourselves on forwardthinking designs that provide practical solutions for our customers’ kitchens. The new HR150 is no exception - the innovative design means it is perfect for caterers working with limited space and budget. Not only that, the new cabinet is robust, easy to use and competitively priced making it the obvious choice in the kitchen.” Practical, tough and reliable, the HR150 is also easy to use featuring a digital display on the front of the unit and contents are kept at +3°/+5°C in accordance with HACCP regulations. For further information, please visit www.fosterrefrigerator.co.uk or call 0500 691122. Fish & Chips and Fast Food 39 Both fridges and freezers are designed for reliability and simplicity of use with a built-in evaporator, ventilated cooling and an automatic defrost facility. An electronic thermostat ensures the units maintain optimum performance over a working temp of –2 to +8 degrees C for the fridges and –18 to –22 degrees C for the freezers. All models are ﬁtted with castors and have Apuro’s comprehensive one-year parts and labour warranty. Prices range from £1295 for the single fridge to £2045 for the double freezer excluding VAT. Apuro is a division of the Cranham Group plc and is an ISO 9001:2000 accredited company. For more information on the company’s range of products contact Apuro on 0121 744 0968 or visit www.apuro.co.uk May 2008 FRIDGES & FREEZERS Energy eﬃciency from Gram G ram, the leading supplier of environmentally friendly refrigeration equipment, combines the latest technology with sleek design, durability and incomparable quality. Glenn Roberts, managing director, Gram UK, comments: “It may seem obvious, but it is extremely easy to miscalculate the amount of space you have available. The Gram COMPACT refrigeration range is both versatile and economic, making it the ultimate solution for out of home operators. Providing maximum storage capacity, whilst taking up little ﬂoor space, they are ideal for small kitchens where space is limited.” Cabinets are available in two heights – 83cm (Under Counter COMPACT) and 178cm (Upright COMPACT). The Under Counter COMPACT units can be positioned side by side or stacked on top of each other. Available in a stainless steel or white ﬁnish, they are easy to clean, environmentally friendly, and feature adjustable shelves on the refrigerators and sturdy pull out baskets on the freezer versions. The Upright COMPACT is an extremely spacious unit despite being only 60cm wide and 62cm deep. With a built in air duct at the outside rear wall, sufﬁcient ventilation can be achieved, even when positioned against a wall. The COMPACT range also features the option for glass-doors, ideal for displaying products or storing items, which need to be easily visible. Gram have a total of 33 different units on the Energy Efﬁciency List (ETL). Managed by the Carbon Trust, an independent Government organisation set up to help reduce UK carbon emissions, the ETL provides valuable information to operators looking to purchase the most energy efﬁcient commercial refrigeration. For further information please call 01322 616900 or view the website at www.gramcommercial.com Husky goes ‘deal or no deal’ crazy! H usky Group is calling on customers to have fun and, at the same time, have a great chance of picking up some remarkable bargains with its latest advertising initiative. Noted for outstanding value, Husky Group refrigeration units are nevertheless normally only available at non-negotiable prices. A new advertising campaign, however, is breaking all the rules and offering a host of Husky Group products for sale in a breakthrough ‘Deal or No Deal’-style arrangement in which the customer decides the price. For example, the starting bid on a brand new Husky C45 counter top impulse bottle chiller is £145. A customer can approach Husky Group direct - 08700 62 2010 - and make a bid for the chiller. They can offer any amount – the starting bid is a guide price only – and discover whether it is a ‘Deal or No Deal’. Among the items on offer are brand new stock, from beer frosters to air conditioning units, as well as reconditioned (cleaned, packed and tested) units with free stock and some ‘as seen’ products (sold as seen with no warranty). Everyone involved in retailing refrigerated products – from independent retailers and caterers to forecourts, fast food outlets and sandwich shops – can take advantage of the ‘Deal or No Deal’ offer while stocks last. Successful bidders can collect their purchases from Husky Group’s Lutterworth depot in Leicestershire or, for a small charge, have them delivered to their door. Geoff Thomasson, Chief Executive, Husky Group Ltd, said: “At Husky Group, we believe in offering our customers exceptionally good service and value for money, so we never n offer ols! us an a Make crazy speci negotiate on price. This new advertising campaign is an these entertaining one-off special that enables customers to obtain proven products for a price they decide.” RS • 1 TERE Page • CA OPS H SH DWIC /SAN FOOD FAST • TS COUR FORE ALL v2 2/4/ 08 3:14 pm ERS TAIL T RE NDEN DEPE S • IN PARK VAN RA CA ned renow on are igerati value so d ky refr for Hus ionally goo – except Prices ept otiable ng exc er neg for bei are nev specials! prices zy with one se cra e the for ty. ts com warran produc All new ts and labour nants of re rem ally the year par rs are the so usu ilable of offe tions, These ! ava promo units served earlier er than ten come first que t are few strictly firs d by che t of it’s ordere receip . each: t goods only upon immediate tha ret ed are s! We reg med reserv cards debit t bidder lies are dee Credit and ear . to the cheque es go est pric The low . af now overle Check To ﬁnd out more about the Husky range of freezer and chiller products, visit www.husky-group.com or call 01455 555 340 Fish & Chips and Fast Food 40 Foster updates blast chiller range F oster Refrigerator, Europe’s market leading commercial refrigeration manufacturer, has announced technological enhancements to its ever-popular range of Blast Chillers. Using the latest technology, Foster has developed a clickwheel touch pad to further advance its innovative Surf Navigation control panel. The “Touch Pad” is a modern, sleek design and is even more responsive and ergonomic, than Foster’s previous navigation control panel, allowing caterers to select the desired programme by ﬁnger movement rather than pressing buttons. John Savage, Foodservice Director for Foster Refrigerator said: “I am very excited about the new technology Foster has developed to help make blast chilling even easier for caterers. We pride ourselves on being innovators within the refrigeration industry - not only are we the greenest refrigeration manufacturers but we are also leading the way when it comes to technology and usability for caterers.” Apart from the new click-wheel technology, Foster Refrigerator’s Blast Chillers remain the same and caterers can still expect to receive the high quality, robust, value for money piece of equipment they expect from the British commercial refrigeration manufacturer. The range from Foster includes the Roll-In Blast Chiller that is compatible with the Rational 201 Trolley and ideal for banqueting, as well as a wide range of cabinet and modular Blast Chillers and Blast Chiller Freezers to suit all kitchens large and small. For further details of the full range of Blast Chillers from Foster Refrigerator call freephone 0500 691122 or visit www. fosterrefrigerator.co.uk May 2008 KEBABS Rollover have taste all wrapped up N Brakes’ kebabs and skewers B rakes offers caterers a wide range of kebabs and skewers perfect for alfresco dining. Its selection ranges from Sweet Chilli Mini Kebabs to Lemongrass Marinated King Prawn Skewers, whilst also offering a range of mini kebabs and skewers suitable for buffets and starters. Great for grilling on the barbeque is the recent addition of Brakes King Prawn Skewers. These raw headless, tail on king prawns are skewered onto bamboo sticks making them perfect as a starter or part of a combo. They can be grilled or cooked on the barbeque and caterers can easily add their own marinade. Available in packs of 1 x 1kg (20g). Also available is Brakes Lemongrass Marinated King Prawn Skewers in packs of 1 x 1kg. Brakes Salmon & Pepper Kebab in a Lemon & Pepper Dusting is made from hand prepared, cubed Atlantic salmon ﬁllets, skewered with red and green peppers and a light lemon and black pepper coating. Available in packs of 1 x 24 (120-140g). Ideal for a main course are Brakes Monkﬁsh & Salmon Kebabs. Chunks of skinless boneless monkﬁsh and Scottish salmon ﬁllet skewered with pieces of green pepper, red onion and smoked streaky bacon, they are available in packs of 1 x 10 (125-140g). Alternatively, Brakes also offers a great selection of mini kebabs including Brakes Sweet Chilli Mini Kebabs which are cooked marinated chicken inner ﬁllet with yellow and red peppers on a skewer, available in packs of 1 X 20 (25g). Also available are Brakes Lamb & Mint Maple Skewers, Brakes Cooked Chicken Kebabs and Brakes Lime & Coriander Mini Chicken Kebabs. For further information on any of these products, please contact Brakes Customer Service on 0845 606 9090. Alternatively, visit the website at www.brake.co.uk. ew from Rollover, the company that offers the best hot dog in the world, Wrappas are the healthy hot snack alternative for the foodservice industry. Available with four tasty ﬁllings (chicken, chicken tikka, mixed kebab and kofta), served with a choice of three exciting sauces (smokey BBQ, peri peri or minted yoghurt) and wrapped up in a delicious Lebanese kiln ﬁred ﬂat bread, Wrappas are the new, fully branded hot wrap concept for pubs, clubs, sports events and leisure facilities, universities and convenience food outlets. The skewered meat ﬁlling is a frozen cooked product that can be heated in a microwave, steamer or a baine marie. Wrappas are easy to prepare and fully supported with eye-catching marketing at point-of-sale, and free on loan equipment. Low in salt and sugar and made with all natural and additive-free ingredients, Wrappas offer the convenience food market a high GP in this expanding food category. Rollover products, which also include hot dogs, pre-cooked ﬂame-grilled beef burgers, the innovative new PizzaCone and a variety of popular sweet snacks, are currently sold at most of the UK’s top tourist attractions, hundreds of universities, schools, colleges, pubs, nightclubs, restaurants, convenience stores and the majority of the UK’s sporting arenas. Tony Owen, sales and marketing director at Rollover commented: “Like all Rollover products, Wrappas were created with quality and taste in mind as well as convenience. More and more, customers are looking for the Rollover name when purchasing food across the UK and these new wraps certainly prove a new success.” Call 01753 575558 for more details. Fish & Chips and Fast Food 41 May 2008 NEW PRODUCTS New Italian pizza product Kuroma introduce stainless steel pressure fryer 2 008 sees Westlers exclusively launch Kono Pizza to the UK foodservice market. The ﬁrst and only authentic Italian Pizza in a cone, Kono Pizza takes the much loved taste of classic Italian pizza, and presents it in an effective, hand-held format suitable for catering operations of all descriptions. In 2002, renowned Italian chef and hotelier Rossano Boscolo created the Kono Pizza concept. The ‘eureka’ moment came as Rossano drew the three main symbols of Italian cuisine; pasta, ice cream and pizza. Rossano drew pizza on top of the ice cream, and Kono Pizza was born. Exclusive to Westlers, Kono Pizza provides an authentic tasting, innovative and quick service snack product, and is created like every authentic pizza; from a dough made up of ﬂour and water. Only then is the dough moulded into a cone, ready to be baked and hand ﬁlled with an abundance of fresh, wholesome ingredients. Kono Pizza is available in three ﬂavours; Margherita, Pepperoni and Chicken, with each ﬁlling layered throughout the cone, ensuring a consistently enjoyable eating experience. For further information call Westlers Customer Services on 0800 027 6336, visit www.westlerfoods.com or e-mail [email protected]. K uroma are pleased to announce the arrival of our newest family member the Kuroma Counter Top Stainless Steel Pressure Fryer For more information please contact us at Pandet Ltd on 0116 2772372 Taking temperatures - a chore or a simple task? O ne of today’s chores that caterers have to undertake is the taking of fridge, freezer and food storage temperatures. Current legislation means that temperatures have to be taken on a regular basis, therefore it makes sense both economically and timewise to utilise the technology available. ETI manufacture a range of temperature data-loggers to save both time and money by monitoring temperature in critical areas 24/7. The ThermaData loggers will record the temperature of fridges, freezers etc. at regular intervals speciﬁed by the user, i.e. six times a day or more, the data can then be downloaded onto your PC for analysis. As standard, the ThermaData loggers are supplied with white seals but optional coloured seals can be purchased. The colourcoded seals can help prevent cross-contamination by allowing the user to allocate a colour to a speciﬁc product or application as part of HACCP and due diligence procedures. The seals are available in packs of seven colours: black, blue, brown, green, red, white and yellow. For further information visit www.etiltd.co.uk or contact the ETI sales ofﬁce on 01903 202151. Fish & Chips and Fast Food 42 May 2008 NEW PRODUCTS New ideas from Brakes New sandwich ideas.... T o help caterers with their sandwich offerings Brakes has introduced two new ready prepared ﬁllings as well as a new panini baguette. Made from chopped, hard boiled free-range eggs is Brakes Free Range Egg Mayonaise. This savoury ﬁlling is mixed with a ﬂavoursome, seasoned mayonnaise and can be purchased in tubs of one x 1kg. Alternatively, Brakes Chicken and Stufﬁng Savoury Filling is made from slices of cooked chicken breast meat with sage and onion stufﬁng. Bound in a seasoned mayonnaise, it is available in tubs of one x 1kg. For an impressive and popular snack offering try Brakes Panini Baguette. Which is a part baked, unsliced white panini, made with extra virgin olive oil. Simply ﬁll with parma ham, smoked mozzarella cheese, tomato and freshly torn basil and grill in a panini grill until piping hot. Available in packs of one x 50. Italian ready meals W ith Italian cuisine remaining a popular choice out of home, Brakes continues to add delicious products to its portfolio, helping caterers keep their menus up to date with the tastiest Italian dishes. Brakes has now introduced its Lasagna alla Romana. A new pasta product made with a rich beef and pork meat sauce, layered with fresh lasagna sheets, it’s topped with a rich mascarpone sauce and pecorino cheese. Oven cooked or microwaveable, it’s available in packs of one x 12(450g). Made with Arborio rice, onion, garlic and delicate herbs and spices is Brakes Plain Risotto Base. This new Italian risotto base is ready for caterers to personalise and is available in packs of one x 12 (350g). For further information on any of these products, please contact Brakes Customer Service on 0845 606 9090. Alternatively, visit the website at www.brake.co.uk. Calamares, anyone? B rakes is extending its selection of seafood by introducing its Lightly Dusted Squid, a product perfect for starters and tapas. These delicious squid rings and tentacles are coated with a savoury ﬂour dusting, which gives them a unique ﬂavour and great visual appeal. Simply deep fry in hot oil at 180˚C for approximately two - three minutes from frozen. They are available in packs of 1 x 500g (30-40 pieces). For further information, please contact Brakes Customer Service on 0845 606 9090. Alternatively, visit the website at www.brake.co.uk Fish & Chips and Fast Food NEW PRODUCTS Hearthstone Pizzamaster ovens from Sweetheat Worktop convenience with extraordinary capacity PizzaMaster multi-purpose countertop ovens combine convenience and ﬂexibility with performance and capacity like no other oven. Designed to bake and roast a wide variety of foods, they are built to last and capable of continuous duty 24 hours a day. This, together with their user-friendliness and very smart appearance, makes them the ideal solution for restaurants and frontof-shop applications where safe, efﬁcient, unobtrusive equipment is needed. When space is limited but the demand for quality is high. To bake quality pizza easily, you need and oven with a proper hearthstone, high temperature, proper heat distribution, quick recovery and good visibility. That means that you need a modern oven built with traditional pizza in mind. If your menu is varied, your oven must be ﬂexible, able to roast meat, potatoes and lasagne, and bake quality bread, cakes and cookies. PizzaMaster ovens meet all of these demands in a unique and superior way. They can be supplied in single or twin chamber, and each chamber can be split into two genuine cooking decks with addition of an extra hearthstone and heating element. Special clay hearthstone with crisping function All good chefs know that pizza is special; that the crust must be baked light and crispy, while the topping are roasted to give full colour and ﬂavour. That is what makes pizza perfect. One of the secrets is to have a traditional hearthstone, but PizzaMaster® take it a step further. The stones are made from a special natural clay that is textured ﬁnely to induce a small airﬂow under the pizza, and is ﬁred to give optimum strength and porosity - The results speak for themselves! And if it can bake a good pizza, it can bake anything else to perfection as well. It is simply a matter of control, one of the best features of PizzaMaster ovens. Optimum power and total controllability. With PizzaMaster countertop ovens, you have all the power you need and total control, thank to stepless, independent electronic controls for oven temperature, top and bottom heat. This lets you set the oven to give you exactly the results you want. There is also a turbo-start function to heat up the oven quickly and a double clock timer that lets you set the time either manually per bake or automatically for all bakes, at the press of a button. And if programmability is important to you, your oven can be equipped with a 7-day digital clock-timer to start an stop the oven automatically at different times on each day of the week. Ergonomics, good looks and high performance. PizzaMaster countertop ovens have a strong, easy Keep the coat on your spuds for a healthy alternative to chips! jacket potatoes to your menu? Boasting a high proﬁt margin and with toppings only as limited as your imagination the humble spud can be transformed into a healthy meal. Using the newly launch Parry EPO potato oven offering jacket potatoes has never been so easy. Compact in size and easily placed onto a counter top the machine simply plugs in and away you go. With two cooking drawers each capable of holding up to 30 potatoes and a storage drawer to keep them to temperature once cooked, the unit is an ideal solution. Attractive in styling you will want to keep this unit front of house for all of your customers to see and with a one year on site warranty you can be conﬁdent that the Parry EPO potato oven will produce the results you want and the healthier alternative your customers could be looking elsewhere for. W ith customers striving for the healthier option and always wanting more choice why not add Fish & Chips and Fast Food to open door, ergonomic handle, big viewing window and halogen lighting. They have a sleek brushed stainless-steel surfaces, very close ﬁtting joints and not a screw or rivet in sight. This beauty also has function. It conceals a unique and effective spatial insulation concept, improves the environment, interfaces perfectly with the user and makes it very easy to clean the oven. It reﬂects the quality that runs to the heart of every PizzaMaster oven, where performance is what matters. In this respect, the oven is engineered to do exactly what we promise, enabling you to deliver professional results in every situation where convenience is essential and quality is paramount. For further information contact Parry Catering on 01332-875544 44 May 2008 Sweetheat ad 04.08 17/4/08 NEW PRODUCTS 12:29 pm Page 1 Premier puddings T his April Brakes is adding two delicious new desserts to its neverending range of mouth watering puddings. A traditional addition is Brakes Premiere Clotted Cream Rice Pudding. Made in Devon using Cornish clotted cream and West Country milk, this prepared rice pudding is in convenient individual portions. Simply defrost and serve cold or heat through to offer a warm option with fruits, compotes or jams. Available in packs of 1 x 12 (160g). Alternatively, Brakes Big Carrot Cake is an impressive, pre-cut, three layer carrot cake. Filled and coated with cream cheese frosting, it is then topped with glazed carrot pieces and edge coated with roasted hazelnuts. This is a cake that delivers superb visual impact and is available in packs of 2 x ind (16ptn). For further information on any of these products, please contact Brakes Customer Service on 0845 606 9090. Alternatively, visit the website at www.brake.co.uk. New stainless steel tables & accessories M offat has launched two new ranges of fabricated stainless steel tables and wall benches for catering kitchens. A variety of optional extras are also available, including banks of runners and drawers. The two ranges are almost identical in design and deliver a huge selection of options and accessories. The main points of difference are their quality and price, with a choice allowing buyers to match the product to their budget. The E range is made using type 430 stainless steel and is aimed at caterers looking for an economic solution. The S range, using 304 grade stainless steel, delivers premium quality at a value for money price. For example, a standard economy E range 600 x 600 x 850mm table, with undershelf, retails for about 13% less than the equivalent S range model. Both ranges are constructed and designed to the highest speciﬁcations and will give robust service in commercial kitchens for many years. Thus the tables feature double tops, reinforced with a galvanised plate giving added strength and stiffness to the work surface, and are supplied with adjustable legs or castors. E & R Moffat is one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of quality foodservice equipment, designing and manufacturing in-house. Based in Bonnybridge, Scotland, the company manufactures standard and bespoke servery, regeneration and storage equipment with a full nationwide after-sales engineering team. E & R Moffat is accredited to ISO 9001:2000 and many of the products have gas approvals and are EMC tested. For more information on E & R Moffat visit the website on www.ermoffat.co.uk Fish & Chips and Fast Food Brakes new non-food portfolio B rakes has added a large selection of non-food products to its portfolio. Its new range consists of a wide variety of front of house and back of house products including mops, dustpan and brushes, packaging and even knives and forks. For front of house use is Brakes Biodegradable 10” Baguette BoxBrown Earth. Perfect packaging for fresh baguettes with the environmentally friendly beneﬁts of being biodegradable, they’re available in packs of one x 125. Also offered is Brakes Biodegradable Salad Box – Brown Earth which come in packs of one x 250. Another great product for front of house are Brakes Wooden Knives, Brakes Wooden Forks, and Brakes Wooden Spoons which are all provided in packs of one x 1000. Meanwhile for back of house use, Brakes has added a selection of new cleaning products. Including All Purpose Cloths in packs of one x 50, Brakes Red Bucket and Wringer is a 12ltr bucket available in blue or yellow in packs of one x one and Brakes Red Cotton/ Synthetic Socket Mop in blue, green and yellow. Brakes Blue Prairie Kentucky Mop Bucket & Wringer 20ltr includes a dirt sump to keep grit and dirt away from the mop head and is available in packs of one x one. Also added to Brakes’ list this February is Brakes Hygienic Brush, Soft Broom Head, Stiff Broom Head, and Brakes Dustpan & Brush, which are all available individually. For further information on any of these products, please contact Brakes Customer Service on 0845 606 9090. Alternatively, visit the website at www.brake.co.uk. NEW PRODUCTS Bunzl Catering Supplies introduce Greenlineplus to the foodservice sector PEELERS AND CHIPPERS BOLD - EQUIPMENT A new ecological cleaning product range B 56lb PEELER R1 CHIPPER unzl Catering Supplies, a division of Bunzl HoReCa, will launch the Greenlineplus ecological cleaning product range by Delphis Eco to the foodservice sector this month (May). Greenlineplus not only complies with the current and forthcoming cleaning product legislation being introduced under the REACH agreement (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances), but is also the ﬁrst range in the UK to be accredited with EU Eco Label, known as the ‘Flower’. The Greenlineplus range presents a breakthrough in ecological cleaning and claims to be more powerful and safer than the multitude of cleaners currently on the market. The products are made from environmentally friendly ingredients, are easy-to-use and readily biodegradable. All the products are non-toxic, nonﬂammable, non-carcinogenic and non-harmful to marine and aquatic life. The range has been developed by Delphis Eco, a leading company in the development and manufacture of ecological cleaning products. There are ten* core products in the line which includes cleaners, maintainers, gels and soaps. Bunzl Catering has a wealth of experience in the distribution and handling of products into the UK hotel, catering, restaurant, vending, leisure and travel sectors and believe that Greenlineplus meets the growing demands of this market. Over the past ten years the ‘Flower’ has become a Europeanwide symbol for products that satisfy the most stringent controls with respect to their effects on the environment and is the premier European award for the production of ecological products. The Greenlineplus range is the ﬁrst in the UK to be awarded this prestigious symbol which is administered by Defra and supported by the European Commission and all 27 member states of the EU. Paul Willcocks, Commercial Director of Bunzl Catering Supplies, says: “We already provide an extensive range of sustainable products in food packaging and disposables, so the Greenline Plus was a natural extension to our range and ensures that we continue to provide our customers with a choice of product and help them make informed decisions when selecting the right products to do the job, yet still being aware of the environmental impact of these decisions” BATTER MIXER LEASING - 12 - 24 - 36 MONTHS RECON. EQUIP – CRYPTO – IMC – HOBART EYEING TANKS PEEL TRAPS S.S. SINKS/TABLES SPARE PARTS KNIFE BLOCKS DRIVE SHAFTS ETC CRYPTO C28 CRYPTO F2F Dorset Food Machinery We Buy Your Surplus Equipment 01202 423754 - or - 07850 378220 For more information on Greenlineplus, visit www.bunzlcatering. co.uk Fish & Chips and Fast Food 46 May 2008 CLASSIFIED BATTER MIXES FRYING RANGE ENGINEERS FILTER SUPPLIES Kieron Robertson Independent Financial Adviser Autumn Financial Management Tel: 0845 329 3079 Fax: 07092 252 390 Mob: 07711 329 256 www.autumnfm.co.uk Autumn Financial Services is a trading style of Positive Solutions (Financial Services) Ltd Positive Solutions (Financial Services) Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. CURRY SAUCES & GRAVIES FROZEN FOOD PRODUCTS Your risks may be complicated, but the solutions don’t need to be………give us a call! ONLINE SERVICE: Inexpensive 24-7 online Human Resource, Health & Safety and Business Continuity guidance AUDITS: Detailed risk management audits, supported by a written report offering speciﬁc recommendations CONSULTANCY: Hands-on analysis of the risk issues relevant to your business and provision of effective solutions Tel: 020 7725 4320 • Fax: 020 7724 7338 [email protected] • www.lmrisk.com FRYING RANGE ENGINEERS FRYING RANGE ENGINEERS INDEPENDENT ENGINEERS SERVICING ALL MAKES OF RANGES, COVERING EAST ANGLIA, EAST MIDLANDS AND LONDON/M25 • ANNUAL RANGE SERVICING • INSURANCE CERTIFICATES • DUCT STEAM CLEANING • REPAIRS • MODIFICATIONS FOR PROMPT, EFFICIENT SERVICE 01553 772935 To advertise in this section call Frazer on 01273 249751 or email [email protected] Fish & Chips and Fast Food 47 May 2008 CHIP ON HIS SHOULDER “F” stands for ﬁsh Bernard Anghelides wonders if Gordon Ramsey could be persuaded to do something constructive about McDonalds’ menu now that Bruce Oldﬁeld has famously rejigged their uniforms...... M cDonald’s hit the national headlines last month when the burger chain released the new look for its staff in the UK. The uniforms were designed by top name Bruce Oldﬁeld, whose clients include Jemima Khan and Catherine Zeta-Jones. And don’t the black suits and the shirts (choice of white or biscuit) look nice when matched up with any of the selection of three ties? But it won’t encourage me to visit McD more regularly. I’ll still go along reluctantly with the kids every month or so. My eating habits wont be changed by a celeb designer’s uniforms. What would encourage me to partake more often would be if the chain brought in Gordon Ramsey to redesign its menu. I n the previous issue, I raised the issue of celebs visiting fast food joints. (Amy Winehouse had been spotted by the paparazzi in a chippy). Like other more mundane members of the great British public, footie stars, actors and actresses and D List celebrities all hanker after ﬁsh and chips and sundry other takeaway meals. So who, I asked, was the most well-known person to frequent your establishment, dear reader? I was fully expecting an inﬂux of letters naming the great and good who have graced the fast food counters of the UK. Alas, the response was somewhat limited. The best came from Martyn Jupp of Jupps Quality Fish & Chips. He sent our editor a compliments slip bearing the words “Sir Norman Wisdom, Sir Jimmy Hill and Howard from the Halifax adverts”. Whether the three had visited during the long and illustrious history of the Burgess Hill establishment, or whether Martyn was browsing through his copy of Fish & Chips & Fast Food mag, glanced up, grabbed a compliments slip and jotted down the names of the trio queuing then and there for cod or rock (and probably overlooking Sir Jimmy Saville and Lulu who were, at that very moment, loitering outside debating whether to go for a chip supper or opt instead for a pizza from up the road), I know not. Maybe readers are keen to protect their esteemed visitors’ privacy. Which is fair enough. But wouldn’t it be fun if Old Windsor Fish Shop on St Luke’s Road dropped us a line to tell us whether or not Prince Philip, when he pops in for cod, chicken and mushroom pie and a large chips, always orders mushy peas on the side for the missus? I never allow the staff in the local chippy to put salt and vinegar on my chips. Nor do I do it myself in the shop. The reason is simple. I like salt on my chips. My son is more concerned with the vinegar. The wife? She goes for both. The baby is incapable of saying what he wants and the four year old will eat anything as long as it is coated in tomato ketchup (beans on toast, roast lamb, cornﬂakes and milk… you name it). And, even if I did take account of everyone’s taste before heading down to the high street ﬁsh and chip shop, it would make no difference. The size of the chip portions has been rising over the past half decade faster than the price of petrol. Hence, when it comes to the chips for ﬁve, I only order two large. Thank goodness my local shop doesn’t read Stelios’s column and treat their store like a business. On returning home, I allocate the chips to plates and everyone applies their own salt, vinegar and ketchup. Worryingly, despite my vitriolic dislike of the EU, I have found myself going Belgian and slapping on Mayonnaise. But it’s the domestic salt shakers that worry me. We have a salt and pepper set but they don’t match. The salt pot is a cheap plastic bit of tat but, hey, it works. The pepper pot is in the shape of an oast house (I live in Kent). The reason is that the former was given to me 20 odd years ago (along with a matching bit of plastic tat pepper pot) by my mother as I headed off to university. The salt dispenser was purchased at a nearby store far more recently. It came with a matching pepper pot which didn’t last very long. After leaving the local salt and pepper dispenser dispenser, my (then two year old) son asked: “Daddy can I carry them? Seemed like a good idea at the time until a dull thunk followed by “Daddy, I’ve dropped the bag” conﬁrmed that only one of the cruet set would make it back home in one piece. My wife recently suggested that I go out and buy a decent salt and pepper set, which I did. To my surprise, there’s an offer of salt and pepper pots in the shape of HRH and Prince Phil (a possible add on sale for Old Windsor Fish Shop?). There were other royals available and a smattering of politicians. What struck me though was that some of them were rather passé (they were only launched last month - I know, I checked). Ex PM Anthony Charles Lynton Blair? Former Mayor of London Ken Livingston? I can’t see them being in much demand these days. And, if the May council elections are anything to go by, I expect retailers will struggle to shift all those salt and pepper pots in the shape of one Gordon Brown. A lso new on the market are pint mugs bearing the names of thoroughfares in London, one of which matches Fish Street (EC3) and Chip Street (SW4). “Britain’s history speaks through its street names,” explains mug makers Tosh. “If they were shoe makers, they called their street Shoe Lane. If they sold ﬁsh, they called it Fish Street… We’re just not entirely sure what went on up Cock Lane.” Sorry to disappoint, chaps, but it was more likely to be something to do with chickens.What surprises my good self is that the “ﬁsh and chip” mug, along with “milk and sugar” and “bacon and sandwich” are says Tosh, “created especially with hung-over blokes in mind.” What’s so blokesy about ﬁsh ’n’ chips? My wife loves them and there’s nothing masculine about her. And, if the target audience is lads, where’s the mug bearing signs for “Lager Lane” and Vomit Street”? McDonalds new uniforms Wilding is on holiday Fish & Chips and Fast Food 48 May 2008

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