New Stockist: Friars Pride
Posted by Stelios Theocharous February 10, 2011 - 6:44 pm
We are now happy to announce that you can now purchase our batter mixes from Friars Pride limited.
If you buy from Friars Pride and would like a sample please get in touch with us on 024 7676 0734 or email us on info@thebattercompany.co.uk alternatively please call your rep at Friars Pride. All details have been added to our wholesaler map.
We are also pleased to be taking part in the Save + Select Points Scheme.
Call Friars Pride’s Sales Team on 01733 316 400
Simpson’s Fish & Chips
Posted by Stelios Theocharous February 4, 2011 - 9:32 pm
Names of Key People: James, Bonny, Jan, Brian
Established: Simpsons since 2008, fish and chip shops since 1976.
How many sites: 3
Ranges: 2 Hewigos and one second hand Florigo (soon to be 3 Hewigos)
Batter Mix: Natural
Supplier: Kassero Edible Oils Ltd
Typically what are your shops like and what do they serve?
They are sleek and modern with a slight American diner feel. Most customers buy fish rather than other savouries; we serve mainly Cod and Haddock. We’ve just started serving Pollock, Hake and the famous Mackerel Baps, but we believe this is only temporary. We also sell bucketfuls of homemade tartar sauce.
How many people do you employ?
Over the three shops we have around 36.
What have been the major achievements since you have been established?
Mainly the 5 star seafish award, Cheltenham is the only one in Gloucestershire. We also sponsor the kit for a local football team, and are getting large orders (50+ meals) about once a month. We have settled into our communities very well and have great customers, which is really our biggest achievement.
What made you come into the industry and do you think you have achieved this goal?
Fish and chips have been in our family for decades so it seems natural to carry on the tradition. Yes we’ve definitely achieved our goal. We have wonderful staff who care about our business and we sell a great product, we’re confident of this because our customers return week after week.
What efforts do you go too to source the best products?
We get lots of samples and keep on top of all products that can lack consistency. Anything we’re not happy with we just send back and try something else. As with most shops these days we only buy fish from sustainable stocks, with everything else we try to keep our food miles as low as possible. I also get great advice from others in the industry that may use different products to us.
How did you come across The Batter Company™ products?
I met Stelios at the Chippy-Chat.co.uk BBQ in the summer and he converted me shortly after.
Why do you like using The Batter Company™ products?
Mainly because it’s a great product, but also because it’s so well marketed that you can pass the information on to customers so easily. I love Stelios’s passion for what he does and that shows in his batter mix.
Where do you buy your batter mix from?
When we first started to try the batter we asked our supplier Kassero Edible Oils & Fats to supply us and they got in touch with Stelios and arranged this for us.
What is the next challenge?
We have a new Hewigo range going in at the beginning of March, Then we’ll go for the new NFFF award.
What do you love about this industry?
The food! :0)
What do you hate about this industry?
It is definitely the misconception about our products. People still think fish and chips are fattening then go and buy a pizza!!!
CUT TO THE CHASE
Posted by Stelios Theocharous January 27, 2011 - 8:15 pm
There is a very big storm brewing at the moment, and it probably cannot be avoided either. I am sure everyone seen the riots in Tunisia on the news and how the president had to flee his country and how thousands of british holidaymakers had to return back to the UK early, oh how they complained about cutting there holiday short. The truth is it only probably made the news because british tourists were over there and there safety was in jeopardy.
Its shocking to think that at least 14 people died in the riots in Tunisia and all for the most important commodity in the world, the thing that humans can not do without, yes I am talking about food not energy. You would be surprised to know that food and energy can be interchanged one way but not the other, we can use food for fuel but not fuel for food unfortunately this is not so obvious to some.
In this day and age we can go to a supermarket 24 hours a day, we can buy a vast amount of food for generally quite cheap. Some of the figures that have been been thrown around is that 8.3 million tonnes of food is thrown away each year in the UK alone. Can you imagine how many more people could eat that food and also how much cheaper the food would be if that was circulating.
Global authorities are concerned that these food riots might start spreading – especially if the extremely harsh weather all over the globe continues to damage crops.
In fact, there are some signs that economic unrest is already beginning to spread….
*In the nation of Jordan, peaceful demonstrations were held in several locations around the country on Friday to protest rising food prices.
*Economic protests also been reported recently in Mozambique, Morocco and Chile.
Sadly, the desperate economic conditions that are sparking these food riots did not develop overnight. Rather, they have been building for decades. The truth is that the new “global economy” is designed to funnel more and more of the wealth of the world into the hands of the wealthiest 0.001% of the global population. Everyone else is left to fight with one another to divide up a pie that is increasingly shrinking.
Just consider the following facts….
#1 Approximately 1 billion people throughout the world go to bed hungry every single night.
#2 Approximately 28% of all children in developing countries are considered to be underweight or have had their growth stunted as a result of malnutrition.
#3 Every 3.6 seconds someone starves to death and three-quarters of them are children under the age of 5.
#4 “Least developed countries” spent 9 billion dollars on food imports in 2002. By 2008, that number had risen to 23 billion dollars.
So if things are this bad already, what kind of food riots are we going to see if all of this weird weather continues and global harvests are much lower than anticipated in 2011?
Most of us have a really hard time even imagining such a thing, but the truth is that we are just one really bad harvest away from mass starvation in many areas of the world.
I am not trying to scare people, but these are facts that people in the food industry need to be aware of, especially when dealing with consumers who have less money to spend. What options do you have ?
PIC ‘N’ MIX
Posted by Stelios Theocharous January 22, 2011 - 5:49 pm
I think sometimes the fairest tax the UK government can put up is fuel tax because in the end it equally affects everybody, however it doesn’t mean that these extortionate prices we currently pay with another 4p a litre coming in April is fair.
The United Kingdom is currently in debt and just the other week it topped £1 Trillion, and if your not sure what that looks like on paper it this….£1,000,000,000,000
Figures suggest that it increases by £7000 every second, and it is a known fact that it will take decades not years to shake of this debt.
The unfortunate thing is that it is the ordinary people that have to pay for this enormous debt, mostly our customers through buying food, putting petrol in to do the school run or even when they pop onto the bus.
I seen on the news today that a environmental campaigner was in favour of the 4p duty increase in April because he thinks people will start using cars less and use more public transport. I was watching it thinking what an absolute tool, public transport is going to be too expensive too, with fuel being energy and all that.
However the global crisis with food is getting worse all the time, last year and this year we have global catastrophes which have pushed food prices further than anyone imagined. First there was the poor harvest from USA, then Russia had a very poor harvest, so we were all waiting for the Australian wheat harvest to come through and drop the global wheat price a little and then La Nina rainstorm struck and you all seen the news.
We all have to accept that we live in a world where food now competes with energy on many different levels, you may not like it but we have no choice. People invest there money into food commodities including wheat, corn and coffee to name a few and those people investing want to make money on there return.
There is a lot of people blaming the coalition government, although we owe that much money as a country we have to remember we are ‘still’ a very wealthy country and when we go to supermarkets there is still food on the shelves and we can still afford to buy them.
Campaign Group FairFuel UK are campaigning hard to the Government, they say that we might even see fuel blockages like we had in 2008. I wonder when the camels back will break?
Its all about priority, what deserves what more than the other? the answer is yours.
CATCHING UP WITH DAVID BLACKBURN
Posted by Stelios Theocharous January 12, 2011 - 6:35 pm
I thought it would be interesting to meet with David Blackburn after three years of trading and to see how he has been getting on. I must say David was quite ambitious when I met him for the first time I wanted to see if three years in the business has hardened or softened his ambition.
Questions for: David Blackburn
Business Name: Alfie Grimshaws
Range: Florigo
Batter: The Batter Company Natural
How many people do you employ?
Around 15 in three teams:
Front of house – Customer engagement and serving food
Back of house – Preparation and cleaning
Chefs – Cooking of all food
How long has Alfie Grimshaws been established?
We first opened our doors in September 2007 so just over three years now.
What have been the major achievements since you have been established?
Learning how to operate a Fish and Chip business and then working hard to achieve industry accreditation and start to understand the issues of sustainability.
What made you come into the industry and do you think you have achieved this goal?
A real desire to open a very traditional shop focused on a simple menu based on fish and chips,
It has been a significant education process to get customers in the Midlands to appreciate true Fish and Chips along with the limited menu.
I believe that I have built a strong customer base of people who really appreciate and understand the difference of the product we serve.
What efforts do you go too to source the best products?
Price is never our primary consideration with sourcing new products which enables us to focus on quality, ingredients and provenance.
We will question everything and ensure that we fully understand what we are buying and therefore what we are serving.
How did you come across the batter company products?
I fully understood the primary approach of the batter company to create a wholly natural product that you can trust which is ideal for the Alfie Grimshaw approach.
Why do you like using the batter company products?
I have consistently great quality products with no chemicals or extra additives.
What is the next challenge?
We have to achieve a fully sustainable and consistent supply of all core species.
You have recently come top ten in FSCOTY, tell us about your experience.
It is fantastic to be one of the top ten shops in the UK,
The greatest part of this year’s competition for me was the trip to Norway which was fantastic.
What do you love about this industry?
This is a very historical and well respected industry which has great opportunity for growth and development.
What do you hate about this industry?
Too many owners too obsessed with price and /or large portions to the detriment of quality and sustainability of supply.
After talking to David its clear to see that his ambition is paying off, he is using the best quality ingredients and having an honest and upfront approach with his customers. We wish David the best of luck for the Fish & Chip Shop of the year awards.
HUGH’S FISH FIGHT EPISODE ONE REVIEW
Posted by Stelios Theocharous January 12, 2011 - 6:09 pm
Courtesy of Channel 4
I am quite impressed that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has chosen this topic, I might also add that I thought this should have been done well before his chicken campaign.
After watching it this morning on channel four online, I logged on to chippy-chat.co.uk to have a look what the industry was thinking and it seems that a lot of people think that it may show fish and chip shops in a negative light. I think its best to assure people that the fish and chip shop is not the criminal, they are a retail outlet that supply what customers want to eat and i would say 99% of customers know what they fancy before they even go to their local chippy.
Here is a breakdown of what I thought of the show..
Discards:
I think that this is a criminal activity, there are millions of starving people in the world and we have scientists telling the public not eat cod because it is unsustainable and imagine if the real amount of cod was being caught how much cheaper it would be for the public to buy as an alternative to meat and poultry.
Holy Mackerel …
Im going to just lay this out there, this was the most pointless thing of the show. Why choose a fish to make us sell less cod when there is crabs and seagulls eating discards from the boats??? also Hugh is a chef, so you would think that egg and flour would be great for pan frying but to actually cook it in a commercial frying range, come on…! If you do fancy trying mackerel let me suggest a way to do it, dust it in seasoned flour and then batter lightly in a batter mix, this will protect the delicate fish and also decrease the leakage from the fish and it shouldn’t spoil your oil oh and do us a favour and lob the bun in the bin…
What Next?
Well, we will have to see what episode two brings, but I do think Hugh needs to embrace the supermarkets rather than trying to annoy the supermarkets, they have the power to change laws in their favour and they can change peoples buying habits with their huge marketing spend.
Come back to read episode two review…
Yorkshire Batter, finally released to the world..
Posted by Stelios Theocharous November 19, 2010 - 7:36 pm
Yorkshire 1.5kg Bag
In November 2007 The Batter Company launched the Natural batter mix which has a loyal customer base and a strong following. The Natural batter mix is renowned for being good quality, consistent and although it is light when mixed when cooked it is a natural golden color.
The time has come to launch the Yorkshire Batter Mix which is Yorkshire through and through. This batter mix is Yorkshire through and through, it represents the region because it is a quick batter to cook, it is rippled with not a lot of lift and a lovely natural golden color with great texture.
If your not from Yorkshire don’t be put off by the name. If you like batter mixes that are rippled then this is the one for you, it is perfect for cook to order frying and our tests in a real fish and chip shop show us that it will also hold well in the hot box.
The bag isn’t just pretty either, we have now added our Buy 9 get 1 Free Loyalty Scheme to the Yorkshire Batter too, all you have to do is collect the tokens and either send them back to your wholesaler or post them to the batter company and we will arrange your free bags to be sent out. A new addition to the bags is from 1st January 2011 we will be donating 10p from every bag to the Royal Fishermen’s Mission because we believe the work they do is very important and now by using our batter you will be helping the Mission.
Here are some handy pointers:
- Mark Petrou winner of the Fish & Chip Shop of the Year 2007 uses our Batter Mix.
- David Blackburn from Alfie Grimshaws in Kenilworth is currently in Top 10 of the Fish & Chip Shop of the Year 2010 and uses The Batter Company Natural.
- 2 of the 5 best shops in the UK, in the book “Fish & Chips a National Treasure” uses Natural Batter. (http://www.thebattercompany.co.uk/blog/fish-and-chips-a-national-treasure/)
- No GM ingredients
- No MSG
For your FREE Sample call us on 024 7635 0734 alternatively email on stelios@thebattercompany.co.uk
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION…
Posted by Stelios Theocharous October 7, 2010 - 10:20 am
To read the 3rd instalment of my online blog for BusinessWings.co.uk please visithttp://bit.ly/d3Ob4u
WHICH PROPERTY / BUSINESS TO CHOOSE?
Posted by Stelios Theocharous September 6, 2010 - 11:43 pm
To read the 2nd instalment of Stelios’s BusinessWings.co.uk article please follow this link http://bit.ly/bJYsC9
A UNLIKELY COLLABORATION
Posted by Stelios Theocharous August 19, 2010 - 7:50 pm
I am pleased to announce that The Batter Company are now associate members of the National Federation of Fish Friers (NFFF). What the deuce…? Why, you say…?
I honestly believe that I have given the NFFF some stick over the years, however most of my articles about them has been to inspire some action and rally the troop. Like always I noticed that people were not actually batting down the door of the NFFF HQ. I will not be coming into this apologising for any comments I have made in the industry about the NFFF, the point is I have seen a massive swing in direction and I can see the effort that is being made by all people involved.
After having an interesting conversation with Bill Crook the President of NFFF my mind was made up that we would love to show some support and lend a hand by becoming a NFFF Associate Member. I hope to be able to get involved and show them my unique style of opinion which I am sure those of you that like me love to bits but those that don’t well, just don’t. I would firstly love the chance to sit in a meeting and see what happens on a day to day basis because I am sure I don’t know half of what the executive committee have to deal with.
I honestly believe that the NFFF is now on the right path and I feel confident that they have the right executive council in place and with their enthusiasm, the NFFF should flourish. The fryer needs to understand that for £2.55 per week they will get all the services that you could not get by being alone in business and also if you put the effort in you will be rewarded with friends and knowledge in the industry.
This shows that The Batter Company cares about the industry we operate in. We are always developing products to make the fish and chip experience better, and we are passionate about natural batters. We think that if the industry can get together to sort out their differences and move forward in one united force then our product can only get better.
- received a fantastic nutritional report today from a user that uses beef dripping...
- Three more nutritional reports in the pipeline and a few being started next week too..
- Started in Walsall this morning, then to Mansfield, then to Leicester, then to Nuneaton, then to Rugby, Back... http://t.co/llXwcqY3
