Who is it suited to?
The classic image of a fish and chip shop depicts a family businesses, with premises above the shop; however, that doesn’t mean you have to be older or married to run one. In fact, with increased opening hours and higher standards, you’ll need the energy to put a lot of hard work into the business.
High standards have been put in place by the NFFF. The industry body now runs a highly respected training award, which inspects fish and chips in more than 200 categories, including quality of product, sustainability of produce and the hygiene of the shop.
However, if you meet the industry's high standards, the rewards are there - as Joyce Willoughby found when she and her husband Charlie started up Charlie’s Fish and Chip Shop in Amble, Northumberland.
“We started up without any experience or help but by trial and error we put together a business based not on traditional grounds but on the importance of good, trained staff. Now we’ve won national training awards and are Investors in People, which has stood the business in very good stead,” she says.
The opening hours of the chip shop have extended over the past few years. Whereas shops used to open for a couple of hours at lunchtime, for five hours in the evening and have two days off a week, now many are open all day every day. To meet these time demands, good help is important - but you could personally be working 50 to 60 hours a week.