After fat sampling and 2 rounds of mystery shopping… the prestigious title of Grand National Winner went to So Fine Seafoods in Lower Hutt, Wellington. It’s pleasing to note that So Fine Seafoods were a regional finalist in 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2009!
The mystery shopper had this to say about So Fine Seafoods… “The store was well lit and welcoming. I was asked for my order immediately by a well-groomed team member wearing branded clothing. The food grade (A) was on display and clearly visible. The team member cooked the chips, shook and banged the basket before they asked if I wanted extra seasoning. The food was hot, fresh and tasty. Easily the best chips I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating.”.
Anthony Cho (Owner/Manager) of So Fine Seafoods said… “This was such a surprise. We are delighted to have won this amazing award. We place a big emphasis on our customer service and quality of our chips, fish and other foods served. We’d like to thank Potatoes New Zealand and the Chip Group for organising this competition. The Chip Group Training was very good for teaching us how to make healthier chips that still taste great.”
Potatoes New Zealand Chief Executive Chris Claridge offered his congratulations to the finalists and winner… “Fish & Chips is a Kiwi tradition. New Zealanders love hot potato chips and there’s all the more reason to love the healthier chips served by our regional winners. Congratulations to So Fine Seafoods they are renowned for producing great tasting, healthier chips”
The competition was open to any business or operator that served hot potato chips to the public. To enter they had to have completed and passed the Chip Group’s Best Practice Frying training, then simply filled out on online registration form then…
1. Entrants submitted a sample of their cooked hot potato chips to Hill Laboratories for scientific testing of the fat content percentage.
2. Stores whose chips were 9% fat or less received Highly Commended Chips awards and became ‘Regional Finalists’. Those whose chips were more than 9% fat were eliminated from the competition.
3. All 51 Regional Finalists were then mystery shopped by Hoed Research. They mystery shopper assessed chip taste & quality, cooking process, salt options, customer service and store presentation.
4. The highest scoring store in each region became the ‘Regional Winner‘.
5. All 7 Regional Winners were then mystery shopped with the with the highest scoring store being crowned ‘Regional Winner’.
The 7 regional winners were;
- Northland & North Shore: Northcross Takeaways, Browns Bay
- Auckland: Oceanz Seafood Botany, Auckland
- Waikato/Bay of Plenty: Welcome Bay Takeaways, Tauranga
- Central Regions: Okato Takeaways, New Plymouth
- Greater Wellington: So Fine Seafoods, Lower Hutt
- Lower South Island: The Naked Chip, Waimate
- Upper South Island: Gourmet Seafoods Shirley, Christchurch
So what about the Bidfood People’s Choice Best Chips Award?
The Bidfood People’s Choice Best Chips Award (decided by public voting) went to Mr Chips, Masterton.
Mr Chips Masterton owners Steve & Monica Fair were understandably delighted with the news… “We and our staff are feeling very proud and elated to have been voted as having the best chips in New Zealand. We’ve been in business 6 years and have never needed to advertise. The best part is receiving daily praise from our customers who have stood behind us so we can receive this public recognition award.”
“Bidfood are proud to support the re-emergence of the Best Chip competition; celebrating excellence in the art of ‘chippery’. We see the people’s choice award as an integral part, because we understand first-hand how nice it is to have accolades on the wall. People’s Choice truly is the judgement of your customers, as such it is the defining call of success.” – Dan Parsons, Head of Marketing, Bidfood Limited
For more information and photos please contact:
Steve Sheppard
Engagement & Communications Manager
Potatoes New Zealand | The Chip Group
[email protected]
phone: 027 863 1246
It is with great excitement that we announce the 7 Regional Winners for the Best Chip Shop Competition 2017…
- Northland & North Shore: Northcross Takeaways, Browns Bay
- Auckland: Oceanz Seafood Botany, Auckland
- Waikato/Bay of Plenty: Welcome Bay Takeaways, Tauranga
- Central Regions: Okato Takeaways, New Plymouth
- Greater Wellington: So Fine Seafoods, Lower Hutt
- Lower South Island: The Naked Chip, Waimate
- Upper South Island: Gourmet Seafoods Shirley, Christchurch
These 7 regional Winners will now go on to compete for the prestigious supreme title of Grand National Winner 2017. All 7 stores will be revisited by a mystery shopper with everything from chip quality to salt options to service and store appearance being assessed.
From this mystery judging, a Grand National Winner will be decided and the award presented the at the Potatoes NZ Conference Awards Dinner on Wednesday 26th July.
As well as the kudos of being a Regional Winner, each of the 7 stores will receive 10 boxes of chips, a Best Chip Shop Competition Regional Winner pavement sign, aprons & caps, a Framed Certificate and $500 travel allowance to attend the Awards Dinner.
How was the competition judged?
- All stores had to submit a sample of their cooked chips for fat testing. If the result was 9% fat content or less, they received a Highly Commended Chips Award and became ’Regional Finalist’.
- The 51 Regional Finalists were mystery shopped by Hoed Research with the mystery shopper’s score deciding the Regional winner.
- The Regional Winners are now being mystery shopped (for a second time) to assess the overall winner.
So what about the Bidfood People’s Choice Best Chips Competition Award?
The Bidfood People’s Choice Best Chips Award is purely a public popularity contest – decided only by public voting. Congratulations Mr Chips Masterton for winning this award.
Stay tuned next week to find out who will take out the title of 2017 Best Chip Shop Competition Grand National Winner…
]]>As the saying goes… The customer is always right! So this year a People’s Choice Best Chips Award, sponsored by Bidfood, was introduced. This award is simply decided by public online voting.
115 businesses across New Zealand were nominated for the Bidfood People’s Choice Best Chips Award, attracting over 4,100 public votes. (Limited to 1 vote per customer). Despite being located in a regional town… One store attracted over 11% of the total votes finishing with a clear winning margin.
So… without further ado… the winner of the inaugural Bidfood People’s Choice Best Chips Award is Mr Chips Masterton. So, head on down to 22 Chapel Street in Masterton to taste New Zealand’s favourite hot potato chips, as voted by you the public.
All the Best Chip Shop Competition Awards will be presented at the Potatoes NZ Awards Dinner on Wednesday 26 July at the Pukekohe Indian Association (PIA) Events Centre. Renown opinionist and comedian Te Radar will be MC for the evening and dinner speaker. Limited tickets for the Awards dinner are still available – book online at www.potatoesnz.co.nz/register.
Mr Chips Masterton owners Steve & Monica Fair were understandably delighted with the news… “We and our staff are feeling very proud and elated to have been voted as having the best chips in New Zealand. We’ve been in business 6 years and have never needed to advertise. The best part is receiving daily praise from our customers who have stood behind us so we can receive this public recognition award.”
“We would like to take this opportunity to thank The Chip Group for providing the platform for the competition, and Bidfood for sponsoring this award. The Chip Group online training has provided a fantastic accessible knowledge base for our staff to cook tastier, healthier chips. A huge thanks to the public out there who have taken time to vote for us!”
Potatoes New Zealand Chief Executive Chris Claridge offered his congratulations to Steve, Monica & the team at Mr Chips Masterton. “We are delighted for Mr Chips Masterton. They were the runaway winners which shows how much their customers love their chips. Friday night Fish & Chips is a great Kiwi tradition that New Zealander continue to enjoy.”
This award was made possible the generous support of Bidfood. “Bidfood are proud to support the re-emergence of the Best Chip competition; celebrating excellence in the art of ‘chippery’.
We see the people’s choice award as an integral part, because we understand first-hand how nice it is to have accolades on the wall. People’s Choice truly is the judgement of your customers, as such it is the defining call of success.” – Dan Parsons, Head of Marketing, Bidfood Limited
The Bidfood People’s Choice Best Chips Award is part of the 2017 Best Chip Shop Competition organised by The Chip Group – a division of Potatoes New Zealand Inc.
The top 15 stores in the Bidfood People’s Choice Best Chips voting were;
- Mr Chips Masterton
- Oceanz Seafood Silverdale (North Shore)
- Fox Street Takeaways (Temuka – Lower South Island)
- So Fine Seafoods (Lower Hutt – Greater Wellington)
- Double Dutch Fries (Auckland)
- Pirimai Chippy (Napier – Central Region)
- Victory Square Fish n Chips (Nelson – Upper South Island)
- Halfway House Takeaways (Hawkes Bay – Central)
- Big Gary’s Riccarton (Christchurch – Upper South Island)
- New Funky Fish (Blenheim – Upper South Island)
- Grey St Chippery (Hamilton – Waikato & BOP)
- Oceanz Seafood Botany (Auckland)
- Queen Vic Chippy (Cambridge – Waikato & BOP)
- Kiwi Taste (Thames – Waikato & BOP)
- Okato Takeaways (New Plymouth – Central Region)
The 51 Highly Commend Chips stores (and now Regional finalists) are;
Northland & North Shore – Kippers Takeaway, Kuna Quality Takeaways, Oceanz Seafood Silverdale, Northcross Takeaway, Porthouse Bar & Eatery and Realfresh Seafood Birkenhead.
Auckland – Bunters Takeaway, Choice Food Bar, Double Dutch Fries, Fish and Ships, Fish Pot Cafe, Fishy Business, Kohi Fresh Fish, LJ’s Waitakere, Mangere Bridge Takeaways, Oceanz Botany, Panmure Fish & Chips and Waves Seafood.
Waikato & Bay of Plenty – Coromandel Oyster Company, DK’S Burger Bar, Grey St. Chippery, Kiwi Taste, Master Fish ‘n’ Chicken, Queen Vic Chippy, Springfield Takeaway, Welcome Bay Takeaways, Wong’s Kitchen and Young’s Kitchen.
Central Region (including Gisborne, Hawkes Bay and Taranaki) – Halfway House Takeaways, Hawera Seafoods & Chinese Fast Foods, Okato Takeaways, Pirimai Chippy and Elgin Fish & Chip Shop.
Greater Wellington (including Manawatu & Whanganui) – Corfu Seafoods, Fish King (Pahiatua), Fish King Fielding, Fish Masterton, Fishtown Takeaways, Mac’s Fresh Fish & Chips and So Fine Seafoods.
Upper South Island (including Nelson, Marlborough, Tasman, West Coast & Christchurch) – Big Gary’s Riccarton, Gourmet Seafoods Shirley, The New Funky Fish, Victoria Seafood Bar, Victory Square Fish n Chips, Cashel Street Takeaways and Village Foods Oxford.
Lower South Island (including South Canterbury, Otago & Southland) – Fox Street Takeaways, Padi Kitchen, The Naked Chip and Waimate Takeaway.
For more information please contact:
Steve Sheppard
Engagement & Communications Manager
Potatoes New Zealand | The Chip Group
[email protected]
phone: 027 863 1246
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Having already completed over 280 training in the 12 months ending 30 June we will be back in action over the coming year providing online training and group training to Fish ‘n’ Chips stores, operators, restaurants & cafes – in fact anyone who wants to learn how to cook healthier chips.
A focus this year will be training the future generations of cooks and chefs, by working in partnership with the various culinary training institutions and polytechnics across New Zealand. We will continue to work closer with the Healthy Families regional trusts to encourage sports clubs and groups to complete the chip group training.
A big shout out to all the potato growers who provide the quality New Zealand potatoes we enjoy consuming as hot chips. Having high quality potatoes is important because it ensures the recommended cooking times and methods work consistently well.
They chose a handful of our previous year winners from the 2013 Best Chip Shop Competition Auckland/Bay of Plenty region.
Including:
Oceanz Seafood in Silverdale.
Queen Vic Chippy in Waikato.
Greenwoods Fresh Catch in Epsom.
Oppies Takeaways in Rotorua.
It’s great to see that many of our award winning operators are still being recognised!
Check it out here: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11379275
The Chip Group Ltd
Oceanz Seafood in Silverdale scoops New Zealand’s Best Chip Shop title
Daniel and Richard Billington, owners of Oceanz Seafood in Silverdale, are officially king of the chippies, after it was named New Zealand’s Best Chip Shop. The Hibiscus Coast Highway shop beat five other finalists to scoop the title of Best Chip Shop Competition Champion 2013.
Richard Billington said that the brothers, whose parents also owned a fish and chip shop, were absolutely delighted with the accolade. “It’s taken a while for it to sink in but we’ve all got smiles from ear to ear that we have finally done it,” said Richard. “We’re looking forward to celebrating with all our crew and thanking them for the part they have played in this success.”
The competition, run by The Chip Group every second year, is a chance for chip shops to showcase the quality of their product. Oceanz Seafood Silverdale won the national title in 2009 under previous management, took the regional title in 2011 and again this year under the Billingtons’ ownership and has now scooped the top honours once more.
A key criteria for the competition was to find shops serving the most delicious chips with lower fat content. All entrants’ chips were independently lab tested and finalists and highly-commended shops had all achieved chips with a fat content of below nine per cent.
Judges said that, while all finalists’ chips were superb, Oceanz Seafood had the edge, noting: “The chips just tasted fantastic! The operators obviously used light, clean oil and drained the chips well, so it didn’t dominate the flavour.”
Judges were also impressed that the chips were not salted, with a salt sachet provided instead to provide customers with a choice, and that the 330g portion size was stated on the menu board. Entrants were also judged on chip taste, quality, shop cleanliness and customer service and many customers provided testimonials about the great quality and taste and the friendly efficient staff. Some said that they go the extra distance to buy their fish and chips at the shop.
Cooking great chips is in Daniel and Richard’s genes. They worked in their parents’ fish and chip shop through their teens and pursued other careers before returning to the industry – they took over the Silverdale shop three years ago. Richard said that high quality product and exceptional care of oil were vital to their great product.
“Every chip is different and every batch of chips is different, and you have to be aware of that and adjust your cooking methods accordingly,” he said. “Adhering to The Chip Group industry standards is really important.
Giving a very good shake and bang gives much crisper, dryer chips. When they hear the banging our customers joke that we are panel beating our chips, but it makes all the difference to the end product.” The shop also serves its chips up in cardboard trays, rather than wrapping them, which makes them easier to eat as well as reducing condensation and keeping the chips crisper.
Judith Morley-John, Food Industry Nutritionist for the Heart Foundation, welcomed the fact that all competition participants were required to have undergone and have a current certificate for The Chip Group’s free online industry training.
“The impact of training was reflected in the lower chip fat content for the forty eight Highly Commended shops (7.8%) compared with 9.9% for the 18 regional finalists winners in the previous competition,” said Ms Morley-John.
Food educator and Chip Group Chair Glenda Gourley said that the competition was an excellent way to further raise awareness in the catering industry that, by following the industry standards you can achieve the most delicious chips with the lowest possible fat content.
“The reduction in fat content this time round is awesome,” said Glenda. “Kiwis love hot chips and this gives customers confidence that the operators displaying a current Chip Group certificate really know what they are doing. The skill of the operator has a huge impact on the chip.”
The other five regional finalists were:
• Auckland wide: Greenwoods Fresh Catch, Epsom
• Waikato – Bay of Plenty: Hawkes Bay, Queen Vic Chippy, Cambridge
• Manawatu – Wellington: Fish King Takeaways, Feilding
• Nelson – Christchurch: Victory Square Fish and Chips, Nelson
• Timaru – Southland: The Naked Chip, Waimate
For further details of The Chip Group’s free online training course on how to produce tasty hot chips with a lower fat content please visit www.chipgroup.co.nz.
ENDS
For more information, please contact:
Kate Underwood Training and Education Manager, The Chip Group 022 066 8711 or [email protected] or Dan Walraven Ideas Shop 027 433 6373 or [email protected]
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The wait is over!!!
We can finally share who won our SIX REGIONAL and the 47 HIGHLY COMMENDED AWARDS!
You can see the full list HERE…
Kate gives you an update on the winners on this short video…
THE GRAND NATIONAL WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON 25 SEPTEMBER!
( The Regional Winners will have to wait a little longer to find out who takes out the top honour!!)
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Chairperson Glenda Gourley and Kate Underwood, Training and Education Manager from The Chip Group visited Michael in Rotorua to present him with this prestigious award. The award is to celebrate that Michael has trained and inspired hundreds of operators throughout NZ to follow his example and adopt the Industry Standards for best practice frying.
“Michael gives his time enthusiastically”, says Kate. “He is a true inspiration to the industry.” Through his involvement with The Chip Group he has been able to inspire operators like himself to remove a huge amount of fat from the NZ food supply.
In Matamata alone he was able to help motivate 10 operators to remove a staggering 1711kg of fat from the Matamata food supply – find out more here. This proves categorically that if a lot of individual operators make small changes to their frying techniques then cumulative affect can have a big impact on the food supply.
This is the first time The Chip Group has made any award such as this, and is reflective of his unique contribution to better the industry.
On behalf of The Chip Group we would like to congratulate Michael and his family and staff who allow Michael to get away and share his time helping others better their businesses.
Pictured is Kate Underwood, presenting Michael Huang with his prestigious 2013 Chip Champion Award.
Hold tight chippies we are very, very close to announcing the Regional Winners of this years 2013 Best Chip Shop Competition…
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The competition, an initiative from the industry-led Chip Group held every second year, is a chance for chip shops to showcase the quality of their product and their commitment to serving tastier lower fat chips.
“We’re a nation that loves hot chips. The 2013 Best Chip Shop Competition is a great way for chip shops to show their customers how their chips stack up against those from others in their community and across New Zealand,” says Chair of the Chip Group and food educator Glenda Gourley.
Similar to 2011, all entrants will compete for one of six regional titles before regional finalists contend with New Zealand’s best for the national title of 2013 Best Chip Shop Competition Champion.
“This year we’re focusing on reducing the fat content of chips. All entrants must have completed our free online training course, and everyone whose chips align with industry best practice and contain less than nine per cent fat will receive a highly commended award,” says Glenda.
“This award makes it easy for customers to identify the good operators cooking lower fat hot chips.”
In addition to assessing fat content, entrants will be judged on chip taste, quality, adherence to industry standards for cooking, display of training certificates, shop cleanliness and customer service.
The Chip Group was behind Matamata’s recent hot chip ‘Town Makeover’, which saw a reduction in average fat per gram of hot chips from 9.6 per cent to 7.8 per cent following industry training. The national average is 10.8 per cent.
“What we proved in Matamata was that small, effortless changes in serving hot chips can result in significant payoffs, both in terms of happier customers and an improved bottom line,” says Glenda.
Current Best Chip Shop Competition Champion, Michael Huang from Oppies Takeaways in Rotorua, says winning the 2011 Best Chip Competition was great for business. “We have people from all over the place coming to try our better, tastier and lower-fat chips!”
The six regions for the 2013 competition are:
| 1 Northland – North Shore | 2 Rest of Auckland |
| 3 Waikato – Bay of Plenty – Hawke’s Bay | 4 Manawatu – Wellington |
| 5 Nelson – Christchurch | 6 Timaru – Southland |
Registration for the 2013 Best Chip Shop Competition, as well as free online industry training, can be found at www.chipgroup.co.nz. Entries must be received by 1st June and winners are expected to be announced in August.
ENDS
For more information, please contact:
Kate Underwood
Training and Education Manager, The Chip Group
022 066 8711 or [email protected]
or
Dan Walraven
Ideas Shop
027 433 6373 or [email protected]
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