THE FUTURE OF OUR NATION’S CHIPPIES LIES WITH BRITFISH

The future of our nation’s chippies lies with Britfish. Codfish? Dogfish? What fish? National Fish and Chip Day – a 24-hour tribute to the celebration of our famous national dish. But with 1,500 chippies closing in the last three years (1), the Friday night treat we all grew up loving may soon be in short supply.

The ever-increasing cost of sector staples, cod and haddock – imported largely from Norway and Iceland – has risen over the last two years, with cod increasing by as much as 200% (2), thanks to reductions in quotas and restrictive global supply chains. Alongside inflation, rising energy and oil costs, it’s a struggle for many shops to survive.

In fact, running a business that’s reliant mostly on two species of imported fish alone is fast proving very difficult. So it’s vital for the sector to diversify and add new species to their menus to avoid supply chain volatility, stay resilient, take the pressure off cod and haddock and remain open for the long term.

And for those who are doing just that, ensuring the best of ‘Britfish’ are on their menu expansion is paying dividends. Adding more UK-caught species like hake, coley, monkfish, rock salmon and seabass, alongside cheaper frozen-at-sea imports, allows shops to future-proof their business, familiarising consumers with alternatives to the traditional choices (some for comparable prices), combating global supply-chain fragility and creating more market opportunities for domestic species at home.

“We offer a range of battered UK-caught species alongside other options on our menu. It makes good business sense for us. We have a diverse mix of customers and it means a bigger variety of fish for them at different price points, and more options for us now and into the future. And because it’s good for our UK fishermen too, it’s a no-brainer,” says Ryan Harrison, who has run Harrison’s fish and chip shop in Oxford for five years.

In the last 12 months, Ryan and partner April have diversified the menu, partly in response to quota challenges and cod cost hikes, but also because they believe UK shops should support UK fish for the benefit of everyone. Alongside some frozen-at-sea imports, the shop offers a number of UK species such as rock salmon, haddock, sea bass and Lemon and Torbay soles, all from Cornwall. And is it working? Well, the shop won the Menu Innovation Award at this year’s National Fish and Chip awards, so clearly it is.

“It’s simple really,” adds Ryan. “If people want their local fish and chip shop to survive, they’ve got to be flexible and try new things. We’ve found that giving customers more choices has made them more open-minded. As long as it’s quality fish, when it’s battered, it tastes great. And when it comes to domestic species, our customers love that we do something different, that they know where our fish comes from and which boat caught it.”

John Molnar has four shops across land-locked Nottingham, including The Cod’s Scallops, which serves over 20 species of fish daily. As an experienced chef, John wants to counter the lack of menu diversity in the trade, whilst also supporting UK fishermen. He sources fish from locations including Brixham, Peterhead and Norfolk, but acknowledges that the challenge is to get customers to try something other than cod and haddock.

“We have a wet fish counter at our shops where customers can see and learn more about the range of seafood we have on offer. This isn’t possible for everyone, but even a small sink with ice and a few local species helps consumers see what they could try – and at a reasonable price. UK tastes and habits are evolving all the time and once you put something different in front of customers, many want to try it – the younger ones in particular. Britfish for us has included Brixham monkfish goujons alongside baked hake and new experiments with seafood-loaded fries.”

Clearly Britfish offers a real solution for some shops. And launching today, an industry collaboration between Discover Seafood and The National Federation of Fish Friers sets out to work with both the trade and wider supply chain to explore how more people in the sector can embrace the opportunities that domestic species can offer.

Gavin O’Donnell

Gavin O’Donnell, a spokesperson from Discover Seafood explains:

“In the UK, we export 70% of the seafood we catch and import 80% of what we eat. Yet we have a national food strategy focused on raising the profile of British-grown and produced food, more resilient food systems and better environmental outcomes. So there are real opportunities for UK-caught seafood – with many under-utilised, affordable and tasty species that fish and chip shops like Harrison’s and The Cod’s Scallops are already successfully selling. This National Fish and Chip Day, we want to celebrate chippies using British fish and start to better understand how the sector more widely can follow their lead.”

Andrew Crook, president of the NFFF, says:

“This collaboration is really important. What Ryan and John and others are doing is great – they’ve proved there is a real commercial opportunity there. We will certainly always need imported fish, but the domestic catch can help us navigate current challenges in supply and benefit not just fish and chip shop owners but UK fishermen and coastal communities too.”

(1) Figures from National Federation of Fish Fryers

(2) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjwz14ezp3go

Main Image:  ©Seafish