BEST UK’s CHIPPIES 2019 REVEALED

Norebo Europe sales team attended the annual Fish &Chips Awards 2019. The Awards, also known as the ‘Oscars’ of the industry, took place in Lancaster Hotel in London on the 24th January. The biggest industry players gathered together for the 31st time since 1988 to celebrate people and businesses across the UK that work hard to offer us the best fish & chips.

Some interesting statistics from the Awards organisers demonstrates that fish & chips businesses are on the rise: “independent fish and chip shops remain the largest outlet for fish and chip meals in the UK, with 109 million servings in the year to September 2018; taking a 54% share of all fish and chip servings in the GB food service sector. In the year to September 2018, total fish and chip servings across the whole of food service totalled 201 million, up +13.5% from 2009 and up +5.7% from the previous year”.

So, it is no surprise that a great number of fish &chips shops across the UK entered the competition this year. A few key performance elements, such as sustainable sourcing, quality, menu innovation and diversification, customer service, staff training processes along with marketing techniques and capabilities are assessed and reviewed by the judges.  

Fish and Chip Shop of the Year Award went to Krispies from Exmouth in Devon. Congratulations from Norebo! To see the full list of winning businesses and individuals in the various award categories of the 2019 awards please click here.

The origins of fish and chips as a dish remain a mystery. Most likely we owe fried potato chip recipe to the French or the Belgians. We are almost certain that it was the Jews who introduced fried fish in the 17th century. Fish and chips were long sold separately until 1860 when a Jewish immigrant called Joseph Malin came up with the idea of marrying the two and selling fish & chips dish in his East End London shop. However, some food historians argue that there is no clear winner as this fact about Joseph Malin can be contested. During the reign of Queen Victoria fish and chips gained huge popularity and it was sold as street food. So much so that in 1839 Charles Dickens mentioned a “fried fish warehouse” in his novel Oliver Twist.

Fish and chips remain one of the UK’s favourite takeaways, since fish and mushy peas make it a healthier option than many other takeaway choices. Tradition prevails, and most Brits still prefer to enjoy their fish and chips the old-fashioned way with plenty of salt, vinegar and mushy peas. However, preferences do vary depending on where people live: curry sauce in Birmingham, tomato ketchup in Newcastle, gravy in Manchester and salt ‘n’ sauce in Edinburgh. Please follow the link to familiarise yourself with the How do you like yours? map.

For any further information, please contact Corporate Communication of Norebo Group at contact@noreboeurope.com, call +44 1628 594 000 and visit our website: www.norebo.com