GIVE YOU A POUND FOR THAT…
Posted by Stelios Theocharous August 17, 2010 - 11:33 pm
As much as it pains me to say this I am a big fan of the golden arches, I really think that they have reinvented the fast food market a few times over and every time they bring out a new product that doesn’t end up working for them they end up selling more Big Mac’s. You have to give them credit with a huge worldwide recession, refurbishing all their stores and reducing their portion sizes they have still managed to increase their turnover and profit margin. I know after writing this everyone will more than likely hurl the proverbial at me and say how McDonalds is everything evil about today’s food industry, however… Wait for it… We need to learn from them… Yes you did read that right, we need to learn from McDonalds.
The whole world is facing food shortages, with populations growing, and the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India & China) nations growing wealthier every day people around the world have more money to eat more protein and foods that we have been neglecting in the ‘Wealthier’ countries. So at the moment Wheat & Corn is at the highest prices point they have been for a while, prices of fish fluctuate all the time and petrol & diesel is on the increase, this is a recipe for disaster and whether we like it or not the price of food is going UP!
As much as I believe fish and chips are the BEST take away food in the country, I believe that it also has a ceiling price. We have to accept that with prices going up we will have to pass this cost on to the consumer. We can only moan at our suppliers so much, but they still need to pass the price on and they should too as they have staff and overheads like any other business. So what choices do we have, I believe many people will be reluctant to put up prices, but fairly happy to swallow the increases and it will dent their margin, however this has serious implications. Like anyone in business if the margin is not worth working for, the passion and drive is not there to make a business succeed. No matter how much people love an idea or business no one will work for a pittance.
There is a solution to this problem, and it lies in the portion sizes that some fish and chip shops are serving 14oz ‘Fish’ for around £3.00 – £4.00 which works out at a ridiculously low amount of money to be asking for a piece of fish that a fisherman has nearly died getting for people to eat.
I really do think that some of the best fish and chip shops in the world are in Yorkshire, seriously there is so much choice of good fish and chips, but I also like the way they do their portions. In Yorkshire the average size for fish is around 6oz for a regular and the average price is £3.00 give or take.
Most people will say ‘oh well I can’t do this’, sooner or later people will have to keep putting up prices or they will be dropping portion sizes. Can you afford not to make the choice?
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Great Blog once again.
I have always said we need to look at the big multinationals and learn from them. They spend millions of pounds researching the best way to market their products and the best way to present their outlets. We can use the techniques they have developed and adapt them for our own trade.
I remember being a child and going to birthday parties at McDonalds, as do many of my generation. The same birthday party guests in subsequent years spent many hours and £s in mcDonalds (usually in vauxhall corsas with big exhausts!).
We have a far superior, far more nutritious product than the humble burger and straw fries. We do however suffer from the wrong image.. something we need to change. We need to celebrate fish and chips, and more importantly inform the general public of how well fish and chips compare against other meals available from takeaways.
I feel the trade is changing, public awareness is changing. We MUST be proud of our national dish and charge a price that is fair for all. If you serve high quality and well prepared food, in a well managed, clean and modern outlet do not be ashamed of charging a fair price. We do have a ceiling price but we must also make a profit.
We can certainly learn from the multi nationals, one of the biggest lessons is to be aware of the customer base we have and are aiming at, the great yellow arches are set up for a different generation who often use them as meeting grounds as well, most fish and chip shops rely on “locals”.
We must not forget what they want, we need to provide a variety of menu choices to suit the individual needs of portion size, content and cost, many of the shop customers come in for a “meal” to save cooking at home, not just a snack.
Most traditional fish and chip shops serve their local community, but are we giving them what they want in the sizes they want?
How many times do we hear “just 1 bag of chips please” why? is it cost or are the portions just too big. Would we be happy charging 60p for a portion that our customers had for themselves instead of sharing? or would you think it’s too small? but isn’t that what many are already doing?
Of our regulars who likes to waste food?
How many have introduced OAP deals? If not, why not? and why? – because they don’t want to waste their money on food they can’t eat.
How many customers have asked for the OAP deal and are obviously not OAP’s?
At the multi’s, some customers don’t seem to care, if it’s too much throw it away, but few appear to protest about the cost, and how many go home to have their supper?
When was the last time a customer complained that they still felt hungry after eating from your shop.
Our locations don’t always allow us to offer the car parks and how many times have we cleared a group of youths from the shop because they’re filling it up and potentially turning people away, not everyone has the space available to allow these groups to congregate.
Customer awareness, portion size, nutrional content and value for money, together with the pride we have in the product needs to be celebrated, but collectively and nationally.
Between us we have a greater number of outlets in this country than any of the competition but we are recognised by our individuality. We should be able to work together with the same message and celebrate the value of the local Chippy? Are the occasional joint promotions annually good enough to unite us? do they get enough coverage, how many individuals unite to promote them?
Wherever we go we all recognise the multi’s, can we promote a united identity for the industry as a standard nationwide, can we all be recognised like the multi’s under 1 big banner? and support each other?
Wow! brilliant blog this week and many questions to answer, stirred our emotions!
Mcdonalds is only 56 years old, Fish and chips are over 150 years old. Mcdonalds run a big business and we have seen lots rise and fall. They have done well to reinvent themselves but time will tell if they win the race. I see Starbucks made big losses this year, and the government is looking into how they exchange goods for money so they could be paying less taxes. Remember food and is far cheaper in the USA due to Government subsidies on food. Will they be selling cloned beef next?
Looks like you opened a can of worms here Stelios and it’s attracted some very interesting and sensible comments. However what you say about portion sizes related to price is very important. Speaking as a customer I find that portion sizes are now so large that I, at 16 stone and with a good appetite, can’t eat even a regular size portion. One of the biggest selling lines in my last business was an OAP portion of fish and chips. This was priced to reflect the fact that this was half a portion of chips with a regular fish and it was very popular and was introduced after questioning my older customers who told me that they liked the fish but couldn’t eat a regular portion of chips. And this remember was when a regular portion of chips was half the size it is now.
This practice of competing to see who can give the largest portion must stop before friers lose their profit margin and before we customers get fed up of paying for a portion of chips that we cannot eat. I know that you will all say that you have to compete with your neighbours but unless someone has the courage to reduce the portion size by half and to match that with a similar price reduction, I fear for the future of the trade.
Joint promotions is the future and should be a key role off the NFFF. A campaign has more impact if it is coordinated, with everyone pushing the same message. The support from the suppliers is there, they just want the initiatives to get behind.
There is definately a more proactive team at Leeds but the more input and ideas we can get the better.
Andrew, We’re totally behind you with joint promotions and coordinated approaches, we have seen the small companies try to take on the multi’s and lose out because they can’t complete at the marketing and coverage.
The small trader cannot afford to employ a marketing company and local papers are just keen to take in an advert to sell the space, with the help of the NFFF and many of our reputable suppliers we can certainly try to change it and promote quality, consistency and value.
We’re all facing tough times and we all want the best share of the business, we would also like to see the business grow and prosper. Hope we can start a change of attitude.
We would like to be involved with any initiatives.
Hi guys. I do think it’s a valid point Stelios has made. I can hand on heart say I give too much but over recent months have cut back on portions added smaller chips, and now take more money from this. The idea of a meal deal is good like Mcdonalds do, if you can give something in and do a smaller portion for what you are doing why not??
I for one am not looking forward to the increases but they have to be done!
found this link that was retweeted on twitter.
as a customer of fish and chip shops I would rather have less portion and better quality, surely it would be healthier also and if I wanted more I could buy extra.
I find sometimes that fish and chips are hit and miss.
The great thing about this blog is that we get customers feedback also. Its good to see that customers appreciate quality, the general public is far more educated when making their choice of where to eat nowadays. There are a few things planned for next year which will make it easier for people to find good, well run shops. This does not mean just the large award winning shops, but also the smaller shops who care about what they serve and how they operate.
Dont worry John we are hoping so input from all the trade on future initiatives. The NFFF needs to redifine its function, but this can only be achieved with the help of its members and by gaining more members. There are some other campaigns in their early stages, the more people there to help and be involved the better. I will certainly keep you and Lee up to date and hope to get lots of input from you both.
I can’t say too much on the business side of things but wholly agree that portions, of most “take away” meals, could quite easily be reduced without anyone suffering in the slightest; in fact, in the case of many customers, it would only be a good thing!