opening Fish n chips place - good idea?
 

Has any of you had one or worked in one?

Looking for as much info as I can get my hands on, feel free to post qnything you know on the subject - are there many fish n chips places where you live, are they popular, do (you think) they make money, do they last and so on...

Where are you?

I'm in Bulgaria, Mcdonalds, KFC, etc are doing really well over here, pizza and doner kebabs are selling like mad too

This thread made me hungry :Oh crap

The key to making good fish and chips is the in the four main ingredients;

1. Excellent quality potatoes
2. Excellent quality fish
3. A delicious and golden batter
4. Excellent quality cooking oil (changed regularly)

Many fish and chip shops try to skimp on everything, and they end up selling a really shitty (and soggy) product. Having pride in your offerings will generate a large and loyal customer base (and word of mouth advertising).

I have eaten fish and chips all over the world, and the best fish and chips I have had are in Toronto (funnily enough).

Here is a link to have a look;

http://www.chippys.ca/

first one is free:

http://www.terrysmobilefishandchips...._and_chips.jpg

Good post dude :thumbsup

wouldnt bother personally restaurants are not going to be making any significant monies for the next couple of years due to the global economy tanking

in the us it is estimated that 19000 restaurants are going to close this year alone

couple that with the fact that most new places close within 6-9 months of opening it really isnt a good time to be entering the hospitality industry

Make sure you open it in England.

I hear the British birds really go crazy for the fish and chips. They bust out in a birdie dance, and brush their teeth.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

heres a tip...
pack the take-out fish and chips in a container with holes.
place we go to always seals the shit shut in styrofoam so the steam cant escape and by the time you get home the fish crust and fries are all mushy making me want to kill the wife cause she forgot to open up the damn containers yet again.

lol, funny you said that, I just came back from London and had fish and chips twice while there, both times the batter was a little soggy

what about number 5. newspaper

One right across the street like everywhere in the UK but these days they probably sell more kebabs than cod and chips.

I did when i was 18 and at university for a summer.

it was fun, I ate a whole lot of free food and drank heaps of free stuff. They didnt just do fish and chips, they also sold fresh produce like

things i remember:
- you will get covered in oil and grease and smell like the cooking oil.
- biggest day of the week is friday cos of the catholic fish eating thing.
- employees will steal a whole lot of stuff if you are not there
- the place would turn over crazy amounts at christmas and easter.
- the guy who ran it was loaded and made a LOT of money.
- the biggest margin is on the potato chips of course!


the thing is - if you work in there it sucks... and if you get someone else to manage or work there they will likely steal from you.

I think they only do that at Disney land at Ye Olde Fish n Chip Shoppe.

I like your idea, if you need someone to flip the fish lmk...

Definitely a good point, but you may be onto something with the fish and chips idea. I have worked in the restaurant business for ten years and am still involved in it. In New York the more upscale places that are new are going under like the titanic. They have no loyal customer base and if you are not putting out an exceptional product there is no money to be made at all.

but on the other hand people are not going out all the time to extravagant meals and are looking for food that is both good, fresh and reasonably priced. So I think you may have a decent shot at turning a profit. Remember one thing...location, location, location. With a bad location you will never survive and no matter how bad I wanted to go ahead and open a place if it took me 5 years to find the perfect location I would gladly wait for that opportunity

Best ones I have ever had came from a tiny little town north of Toronto :)

Open it here by me around Disney and such.. the Brits go nuts for them, Americans do too

do you really want to smell like a fish?

Turns out that the ink on most modern newspapers is just a wee bit toxic so that tradition is all but gone. :(

This thread makes me feel hungry!! No fish & chips places around here though

For a proper restaurant this is true, fast food not so much. People have less money to spend and are looking for a quick and cheap alternative to a $20 steak.

Mcdonald's i think was up 11% Q3 of last year they reported recently. If i can buy a nice quality fish and chips or burger and chips i would eat that over mcdonalds anyday and im sure most people would agree.

looks good :) now i am super hungry lol

There are a couple of other good Fish and Chip restaurants in TO that I know of. Harbour Fish and Chips at the Penut Plaza in North York (looks shit, but is VERY good) & St. Andrews Fish and Chips in Scarborough is excellent as well, and also looks like shit.

Lot of the real fish and chip shops look like hell, because they been around since the 50's or 60's, but they do offer an excellent product:thumbsup

KFC it would be well here, but we don't have...

ya man great idea!

pay a chef to make some great tasting batter that will be proprietary to your spot..

franchise

millions

=)

Do you really want to work this hard ???
 

OK if you are serious, the most important ingredient is the fish. I have more than 40 years experience of eating Fish and Chips in the UK and now my restaurants in the USA serve fish and chips to thousands of customers every year. To get an authentic texture and taste you should use North Atlantic Cod, its what the best restaurants in the UK use.
In the USA, California its almost impossible to get a fresh supply. Many restaurants in California use Pollock it's a nasty alternative wet greasy fish that they smother in thick chewy batter. I use the best cod I can buy, but it's only available in small pieces, the texture and flavor are very good. I also use a real beer batter that I have my staff mix fresh each day. We use real brown ale beer as it imparts a great flavor to the batter.

Next the fries, In the UK the fries are supplied frozen and pre cut, they take about 7 minutes to fry at 340 F. In the USA, I wanted something a little different so I use the Belgian method to fry my "Chips" thats what the Brits call fries. First you must use unfrozen potatoes to make your fries, if you use spuds ( potatoes ) that have been chilled or frozen your fries will go very dark before they are cooked. This is because all the starch has turned to sugar when kept too cold.

Anyway fry you chips at 340 F until you just see them turn very light brown, this will take about 2-3 minutes. Take them out of the frier turn them out on a sheet pan and dry off as much oil as possible with a clean towel. Leave for 2-3 hours Then when you are ready to serve toss them back in the frier with the temperature set to 370 F until they are a golden brown ( about 4 minutes) I should have said we don't peel our spuds we wash the skin 3 times in running water and cut them in a machine to about 3/8" square.

Experiment with oils, we use Canola clear not creamy but in your part of the world you will need to test to see that the oil does not add a nasty taste to the fries .

OK last thing in the UK we used to use old newspapers to wrap our fries, now they use unprinted news paper to overcome the ink problem. In the USA I have had news papers especially printed with vegetable oil inks so they look authentic and are safe to eat from.

P.S.
Second most important thing is the location of your restaurant, you can have the best Fish and Chip in the world but without a great location you can fail.

Good luck :thumbsup:thumbsup

I remember I had this hot meat sandwich from an old wrinkly vendor there in Sofia....It was good as hell...Didn't LOOK good but tasted good.

Why in all FUCK would you live in Bulgaria?...I don't know about the rest of the country but Sofia is the most colorless non-architecture having gloomy looking city that I've seen in my entire life.

Have you been to Holland ?

if you are thinking about doing that. Do yourself a favor and go work part time in one. It gives you an idea of the business and if its something you like. I had a friend who bought a restaurant no experience just fell in love with the idea and lost his shirt.

bump for more answers. great job so far

In my hometown, there's a fish and chips place that delivered until about midnight or so. They were always busy, so I imagine the shop made good monies. The food was pretty good too.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Some guy opened a fish and chips place here in a little pull trailer. Set up shop in a park near a bunch o office buildings and seems to have booming business. I know the city tried to cause problems because it was a portable trailer but the customers were pretty vocal and it was allowed to stay.

I can't imagine what you would smell like at the end of the day. Gross.

Open a White Castle :thumbsup

There was a fucking phenomenal one here in my neighborhood and they closed.

I would open a burger joint before I ever opened a fish n chips place.

I tried a long time ago, but failed miserably - I could never get my priorities straight, and did everything ass backwards...

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...t800/chips.jpg

Check with Juicy. I hear he knows at thing or two about such establishments:

http://www.asiandivagirls.com/gfy/juicyfrycook.jpg

Good luck Mate! :thumbsup

ADG

There are 5 fish and chip shops within 2 km's of me. I think a location by the sea goes a long way to make a successful store myself.

i always wondered about that

I love Halibut and Chips.

I think the ink on modern paper is actually safer than what was used before. Often now it is vegetable or soy based. Still some people have to bitch about something ya know.

Agree on location, in NYC deep fried stuff like fish, chicken, fries, and shrimp do real well in areas where Black people live or areas with a lower income. Not trying to be funny, these fried food places are packed here...and you will make a lot of $$$. This is comfort food and very addictive...I try to get something healthier instead like a slice of pizza.

id love hale berrys butt to was never fond of the show chips though ;)

:1orglaugh

why? just like in the porn biz niches work in the restaurant biz - if you're in any city over 50,000 people you're competing with 10 national and regional hamburger chains and god knows how many independent burger joints. Fish n' Chips you may have one or two competitors - might even be lucky and have no competitors. Best to do some research and see if ethnic food joints do well in the place you're considering setting up biz.

the only big fish n' chips fast food chain i've ever seen were Arthur Treacher's - they went outta biz many moons ago when I was a kid I think.

you should open a restaurant! you have a passion for food and cooking.

Fish n' chips wouldn't be at the top of the list if i was going to open a fast food joint.
If I were in a country like Bulgaria which is relatively new to fast food I'd stick with the most popular ones, pizza, burgers and mexican - and just make better food than the big conglomerates.

i'd go with Chinese before fish n' chips.

if i had a couple million to piss away i'd do a fast food restaurant themed on state fairs - All American junk food - burgers, hot dogs, pogo pops, pies, candy apples, candy floss, fries - and put in a bunch of the games from the midway. nostalgic - but different than the many restaurants that are retro American diner theme.