THE
FishFriers REVIEW
Fochabers Fish Bar Training Down Under for NFFF Written by Darren Boothroyd, Fochabers Fish Bar I received an email in early December from a guy called Pete who had purchased a fish and chip shop 4 months ago and was struggling with all aspects of the business. “Hi my name is Pete and my wife and I emigrated to Australia from Scotland a few years ago. We bought a fish and chip shop in Perth, Western Australia from an English couple who’d run it in to the ground. It had dreadful reviews but since taking over we’ve had mostly good comments with some minor comments. This may seem a bit cheeky but I’m dropping you a line as we’d like to make our shop one of note. I googled your business and saw what you had achieved and I wondered if you would mind giving us some pointers to help us develop our product and achieve our goals” Over the next couple of weeks we exchanged many emails but Pete felt he needed face to face, one on one training and when he found out that I was a NFFF Training Academy Trainer he asked if I could possibly spare the time to go to Australia to give him and his team the training they required. As an NFFF Trainer, I sought approval before making up my mind and on the 20th Feb I departed Scotland for the start of an 8 day 18,000 mile round trip. When I left Glasgow it was 3 degrees so you can imagine, I was pleasantly surprised when I landed at Perth in the early evening
inside didn’t disappoint either. The shop was well kept with wellmaintained equipment but the one overriding aspect was that it was spotlessly clean. I think Ann has OCD, which is not a bad thing in our industry. All in all they had the foundations of a good business, they just lacked the experience of getting the best from their products. The first day was spent with Pete who demonstrated his practices for potato prep, batter mixing, fish filleting, oil management and frying skills. This enabled me to formulate the best training plan to suit his premises, equipment and what he wanted to achieve. The first area I looked at was his potatoes. Not only did Pete have quality issues but he also has extreme temperatures to contend with, (for the best part of my visit is was 35+ deg), 2 factors that don’t go towards making good chips. I introduced them to Drywite AllSeasons Potato Treatment and adapted their practices to get the very best from the potatoes they were being supplied with.
and it was 27 degrees... very nice. I was really pleased when I saw Pete and Ann’s shop for the first time as it has an eye catching exterior with excellent curb-side appeal and the
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Pete arranged a visit to his potato merchant the following day where we spent a good few hours looking around their huge processing site whilst building a good relationship with the site manager, Dennis. One of the things I have learnt is the importance of having and maintaining a good working relationship with your suppliers.
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