THERE’S MORE COMPETITION THAN YOU THINK.

Posted by Stelios Theocharous March 1, 2010 - 8:06 am

Written for Fish & Chips & Fast Food Magazine, March 2010 Issue

In the last issue I touched on competition and how it is not just fish and chip shops we should be concerned about, but other food options in general rather than fish and chip shops all the time. If we look at the big picture we have to now compete nationally but also, at the same time, locally.

So let’s face it we need to realise there is direct competition within our industry. I hear every day that there are new fish and chip shops opening next to established shops every day, but this is the way life is – we have to just get used to it.

To take a quote from someone I recently spoke to: “Who said there is a god given right to no competition?”

And you seriously have to consider, if there was no competition within the trade what would fish and chips still be like? You could imagine how shops would never be stylish, they would be old fashioned with old ranges. As operators you have admit that competition is one of the reasons that makes you want to keep your shop looking trim and clean, do refits and buy the latest preparation and frying gizmos and other technology, including the modern ranges on offer today.

I know that a lot of people in the trade don’t agree with me and my ideas about competition in the industry, but that’s life. I don’t really write this for people’s approval, but to get people thinking! I know there are some shops that really get along with competitors’ shops in their area, however this is not the case everywhere.

Last month I thought I would rattle a few cages, however I had a few text messages of support which does not usually happen! Usually people avoid conversation with me when it comes to my articles. I don’t really have the history of many others, I don’t have the flair of that posh Fen person, but I like to show a different side to the industry.

Yes, it may be a little negative from time to time, but that’s life, the balance needs to be restored. I really think competition is good and healthy for business, and after all it’s better for our customers.

So the flipside is that after you get over the fact that you have competition within the industry, how will you rise to the challenge? Or will you just sit there and take it and have the odd grumble? Maybe then it will dawn on you that the food sector is huge and everyone wants a piece of the action when it comes to fish and chips, and that’s NOT just other fish and chip shops!

I have seen so far the following companies doing fish and chips:

• Tesco store restaurant

• Asda store restaurant

• Frankie & Bennies

• Beefeater Restaurants

• Pubs

• Gordon Ramsay Pubs

• Marks & Spencer Ready Meal

• Youngs Ready Meal

Isn’t it strange how the nation’s favourite is being imitated by so many different companies, some better and some worse than our offering? Some people will say that you cannot beat fish and chips from a chippie, but customers are still buying from elsewhere, whether we like it or lump it.

So there we have the imitators copying our great national dish, which is bad enough, but what of those “all you can eat” offerings? There is a new (or at least, new to me) company called Taybarns which is owned by the Whitbread group. They do a staggering “all you can eat” selection of grilled foods, salad, pasta, chip shop, the spice rack, carvery…the list is endless and all for £5.99 – all you can eat.

This is their chip shop menu:

• Chips (of course!)

• Battered fish

• Fish cake

• Minced beef & onion pie

• Saveloy sausage

• Plain roast chicken

• Mushy peas

• Curry sauce

Could you serve this in your fish shop for as little as £5.99, and let customers keep coming back for more?

I could not tell you about the quality of the food, I have not eaten there. (If anyone has and can pass a judgement on the quality of the food, do let Wendy know).

All I can say is be ready.

Fish and chips is now not a specialist product. Believe it or not, it has been simplified. There are multiple ways being used to cook them, with chips being par fried and fish either being fried or oven cooked. Frying ranges now lift chips when they are ready and the timer has finished. The timer also lets you know when fish is ready. Frozen fish comes portioned and with a consistent thickness. I expect to start seeing fish and chips growing faster and faster outside the traditional fish and chip shop.

Ask yourself this – how are our customers going to separate the cream from the milk?

Answers on a postcard, or preferably to the Editor!