News
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Tony's Talk... Please don't shoot the Messenger
For decades our Trade has been well served by a range of trays, cups and boxes made out of expanded polystyrene (EPS). They provide portion-controlled packaging with excellent levels of insulation at a reasonable cost.
However, prompted by ‘Blue Planet’ and environmental pressures “the powers that be” across Europe have legislated to ban the use of EPS from April 2021 stating that it is ‘bad’ plastic that cannot easily be recycled. They have chosen to ignore the fact that EPS has a tremendous latent thermal capacity that could produce much energy once incinerated (probably because we have insufficient incinerators!).
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Keep Your Shop on the Menu at Lunchtime!
Following on from the feature on the front cover of this issue, and the growing importance for Fish and Chip Shops to compete with the High Street and Supermarkets for Lunchtime trade, we have put together some ’Lunchtime options’ for you to think about.
If you work to the fact that Lunchtime trade would be looking at spending approximately £4 for their meal and tailor your offerings to this.
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Tony's Talk - Make your Fish far healthier with Whitley's Pulse Batter
Tony's Talk - Make your Fish far healthier with Whitley's Pulse Batter...
Pulses are widely recognised for containing high levels of protein, fibre, essential vitamins and minerals. They are also extremely valuable to Farmers for they replace nitrogen in the soil reducing the need for artificial fertilisers whereas other crops take nitrogen out of the soil.
Traditionally our Trade has cooked fish very healthily by steaming it and retaining all its inherent nutrients within its fried batter coating. Whereas grilling fish can lose many of these benefits for they can drift away during cooking.
To further improve the advantages of battered fish during the 1980’s we sought to reduce the level of oil absorption during frying. We tried many proprietary starches and natural gums that purported to do exactly this. Many showed a degree of improvement but at a cost that would have made our batters totally uncompetitive.
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Innovations 2019 - Bringing the Innovators to you!
Innovations 2019 - Bringing the Innovators to you!...
Innovations, the North West’s major exhibition for the Fish & Chips and Fast Food Trade, returned on Sunday 14th April when V.A.Whitley hosted the widest range of Exhibitors so far. Held at the University of Bolton Stadium, the show was again a great success with a busy, constant flow of visitors throughout the day.
Innovations 2019 brought together a huge number of first-class exhibitors who presented outstanding product innovations and concepts covering a range of Food Products, Drinks, Packaging Developments, Hygiene Solutions and all of the latest Catering Equipment.
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SEAFISH - Flexible Training that suits you and your Business
SEAFISH - Flexible Training that suits you and your Business...
Do you want to motivate your workforce, improve the experience of your customers and ensure your business reputation is first class? Successful food businesses are often the ones that invest in developing their people with regular learning and training. Seafish, the public body supporting the £10bn UK seafood industry, offer a variety of flexible food safety and health & safety training programmes to suit the needs of people working in a busy fish frying business.
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FISH FACTS - Did you know?
FISH FACTS - Did you know?...
The 2019 Barents Sea cod quota is down 6.5% to 725,000 tonnes
The 2018/19 Icelandic cod quota is up 2.6% to 264,000 tonnes annual cod quota
EU’s Cod Quota in 2019 has been cut by 35% to 23,000 tonnes
UK needs almost ONE THIRD of the annual world supply of atlantic cod every year. Fish & Chips demand is a large part of this
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Tony's Talk - You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!
Tony's Talk - You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!...
When eighteen-year-old Vin Whitley started supplying Fish ‘n Chip Shops in 1899 he believed firmly that there should be no short cuts when dealing with foodstuffs. From ‘Helping’ him out from a young age, he drummed into me this maxim and we strive at Whitley’s to live up to his ethos.
We all know that we are being hammered by price increases on our Trade’s essential raw materials. Whitley’s aren’t immune to these increases resulting from last year’s disastrous harvests which gave us much lower yields of wheat, potatoes and other vegetables. Growing global demand has also increased pressure on our fish supplies to add to the mix.
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The National Fish & Chip Awards - Winners 2019
The National Fish & Chip Awards - Winner 2019...
This year’s National Fish and Chip Awards, the 31st Anniversary of the event, culminated in a prestigious ceremony at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London. Krispies in Exmouth, Devon scooped the prestigious title of the Fish and Chip Shop of the Year.
To secure the ultimate accolade, Krispies had to fry at the top of their game while progressing through a rigorous, multi-stage judging process over a seven-month period; encompassing several mystery shopping assessments and in-depth audits by industry experts, reviewing everything from responsible sourcing policies to menu diversification - and of course, customer service and the quality of the fish and chips being served.
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Protecting Britain's National Dish of Fish & Chips
Protecting Britain's National Dish of Fish & Chips...
With increasing pressures which have been caused by increased prices we have created a poster which you can display in your shop to help to explain the price increases in the key areas of your business.
Posters are being sent out with deliveries in the coming weeks. If you haven’t had yours, please request one from the tele-sales team when placing your order.
The text in the letter reads...
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Have a Squirt of what everyone's talking about!
Have a Squirt of what everyone's talking about!
SQUIRT IT ON. DIP IT IN. STIR IT THROUGH! - Great range of Crucial Sauces available from V.A.Whitley.
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