Watch this space for developments in the Chip Fest gallery!
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By Gemma Carroll, Communications & Engagement PNZ
Thursday 20th September saw the culmination of 6 weeks of voting and over 3000 votes cast, by chip-lovers across the nation.
Last year’s champions, Steve & Monica Fair, cooked for the Chip Fest event and showcased their continued skill at producing a golden chip, crispy on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside.
As TV1’s Emily van Velthooven said with delight the next day, when she filmed her own private chip frying segment with Steve, “It tastes just like potato!”
Clarification for anyone worried/concerned by these moves on @Breakfaston1 this morning – they are vital for making hot chups @jordyn_rudd @wilsonlonghurst @onewilliamsj pic.twitter.com/CtusjCIt2T
— Emily van Velthooven (@emvanvelthooven) September 20, 2018
Not a single, greasy fat floppy chip, to be seen at our festival.
The hub of growers, processors, chippies, media and invited families with kids in tow, grew more excited as the time for the 2018 winner approached. Halfway through the evening, Bidfood’s Jaqueline Jones, presented the framed certificate and array of prizes, to the unsuspecting Steve & Monica Fair.
Yes, last year’s winner, did it again. Reigning champion in the eyes of their customers, Steve & Monica Fair took out the competition, with the highest number of votes from the people of Masterton, for their fare to be found at Mr Chips, Masterton.
- Over 500 stores were nominated and the top 15, in no particular order were:
- Mr Chips, 22 Chapel St – Masterton
- Pirimai Chippy, 15 Allen Berry Ave, Pirimai, Napier – Hawkes Bay
- Oceanz Seafood Silverdale, 17 Hibiscus Coast Highway, Silverdale – Auckland
- Tommy Haddock’s, 16 Bledisloe Rd, Maraenui, Napier – Hawkes Bay
- Victory Square Fish & Chips, 176 St Vincent St, Toi Toi – Nelson
- Chip n Dayals Fish and Chips, 71 Marua Road, Ellerslie – Auckland
- Oceanz Seafood Botany, 451 Ti Rakau Dr, Huntington Park – Auckland
- Okato Fish and Chips, 63 Carthew St, Okato – Taranaki
- Ruby Bay Kitchen, 172 Stafford Drive, Ruby Bay, Mapua – Nelson
- Fish Stop, 4 Glendale Rd, Glen Eden – Auckland
- Spudz Fish and Chip House, Unit 4/1 Caslani Lane, Tauriko – Tauranga
- Sheff’s Takeaways, 714 Grey St, Hamilton East – Hamilton
- Master Fish ‘n’ Chicken, 24 Bureta Rd, Bureta – Tauranga
- Ric’s Galley Takeaways, 1 Harington Point Rd, Portobello – Dunedin
- Northcross Takeaways, 178 Carlisle Rd, Northcross – Auckland
- With reigning champion:
Mr Chips Masterton
The Chip group appreciate all the support from across the nation, from our growers, our processors and suppliers on the night; Bidfood, McCain, Balle Brothers/Mr Chips and Talleys.
Guests enjoyed fried chips of course, alongside an array of other goodies, supplied by Talleys, Mr Chips, McCains & Bidfood, much of which was cooked by the unsuspecting winner.
It was clear from the happy faces of munching and chatting chip-fans, that the potato, in it’s globally-known form of the chip, is right at home here in New Zealand.
Potato NZ’s Chip Group alongside the Ministry of Health, promote healthier chips, using a simple and free online or face-to-face course, which provides methods to reduce the fat content, salt content and serving size of our chips, for the betterment of kiwi health and to reduce costs for business. Our method aims to drop the oftentimes 22% fat content, down to 9%, with simple frying techniques. The course sees at least 240 participants each year and can be easily accessed via our website www.chipgroup.co.nz
Every second year, Chip Group holds the Best Chip Shop competition which involves more rigorous testing of chips and secret judging. For now though, the chip fans have had their say and the Fair family will be heading home to further serve happy customers, what is in popular opinion, the best chips in NZ.
Congratulations Mr Chips Masterton!
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Who cooks NZ’s best chips? This year the people of NZ put their favourite chippie forward and voted for the 2018 People’s Choice Best Chips…and the winner – Mr Chips Masterton.
Continuing their winning streak from 2017, Mr Chips Masterton beat out over 500 chip shops to be named reigning champion of the 2018 People’s Choice Best Chips – taking the award for the second year running! The award was announced at the inaugural Chip Fest in central Auckland on Thursday 20th September – an industry event for media, industry and hot-chip lovers celebrating all things deep fried chips. A list of the Top 15 ‘Finalists’ were also announced.
With over 3000 votes cast it is clear New Zealanders are fiercely passionate about who they think cooks the best chips. The competition was organised by The Chip Group (a division of Potatoes New Zealand Inc.) and supported by Bidfood Limited, along with McCains, Mr Chips and Talleys. Free voting took place via The Chip Group’s website and it was open to any business that cooks and sells hot chips in New Zealand.
To be eligible to win, at least one staff member must have completed The Chip Group’s Best Practice Frying training in 2018 – a free online course covering how to cook chips with less fat and sodium (salt). The winner received a range of prizes including flights and accommodation to attend Chip Fest in Auckland, an Air NZ Mystery Weekend, $500 grocery voucher, framed certificate, aprons, caps and a footpath sign along with several cartons of free chips and of course the invaluable 2018 title.
Steve Fair (owner) of Mr Chips Masterton was 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 7 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.”
Potatoes New Zealand Chief Executive Chris Claridge offered his congratulations to the winner and finalists… “Fish & Chips is a Kiwi tradition. New Zealanders love them and as an industry organisation it is our mission to help provide better frying practices. Congratulations to Mr Chips Masterton for taking out 2018 People’s Choice Best Chips Award.”
The Chip Fest event included stalls from chip suppliers – Mr Chips, Talleys, McCains and food distributor – Bidfood Limited, who supported the competition. “Bidfood are proud to support People’s Choice Best Chip Shop 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.
With a promotional Facebook post about the 2018 People’s Choice Competition reaching over 90,000 New Zealanders – we envisage next year’s full 2019 Best Chip Shop competition (which will include mystery judging) to be a hotly contested affair. Congratulations to the following finalists…
Top 15 Finalists:
- Mr Chips, 22 Chapel St – Masterton
- Pirimai Chippy, 15 Allen Berry Ave, Pirimai, Napier – Hawkes Bay
- Oceanz Seafood Silverdale, 17 Hibiscus Coast Highway, Silverdale – Auckland
- Tommy Haddock’s, 16 Bledisloe Rd, Maraenui, Napier – Hawkes Bay
- Victory Square Fish & Chips, 176 St Vincent St, Toi Toi – Nelson
- Chip n Dayals Fish and Chips, 71 Marua Road, Ellerslie – Auckland
- Oceanz Seafood Botany, 451 Ti Rakau Dr, Huntington Park – Auckland
- Okato Fish and Chips, 63 Carthew St, Okato – Taranaki
- Ruby Bay Kitchen, 172 Stafford Drive, Ruby Bay, Mapua – Nelson
- Fish Stop, 4 Glendale Rd, Glen Eden – Auckland
- Spudz Fish and Chip House, Unit 4/1 Caslani Lane, Tauriko – Tauranga
- Sheff’s Takeaways, 714 Grey St, Hamilton East – Hamilton
- Master Fish ‘n’ Chicken, 24 Bureta Rd, Bureta – Tauranga
- Ric’s Galley Takeaways, 1 Harington Point Rd, Portobello – Dunedin
- Northcross Takeaways, 178 Carlisle Rd, Northcross – Auckland
Voting will be open for six weeks, closing on September 12th. But customers will need to choose wisely – as there is only one vote per email address. In order to be eligible to win the award, at least one staff member from each chip shop must have completed the Chip Group’s FREE online training in 2018 – either the full or refresher. This will be checked against all nominations.
The winner will be announced on the 20th September at the inaugural Chip Fest event held in central Auckland. Which will be a celebration of all things deep-fried chips. The winning prize pack includes: an Air NZ mystery weekend, $500 grocery voucher as well as flights and accommodation to attend ChipFest in Auckland and of course the highly acclaimed title. A list of the top 15 chip shops will also be published.
It’s no secret, Kiwi’s love their hot chips. Eating our way through around 4 million servings every single week! So we know everyone will have their favourite – get behind your local and support those operators who are working hard to produce the best chips.
Head over and vote now! www.thechipgroup.co.nz/votenow
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What do hot chips and an early morning winter breakfast at the Kohewhata Marae in Kaikohe have in common? Another successful Chip Group training workshop where engaged locals learnt how to prepare healthier hot chips. Working together as ‘prevention partners’ The Chip Group and Healthy Families Far North helped empower attendees about the role and responsibility they have to improve the health of their community.
The Far North and Kaikohe in particular is known to have an over saturation of food outlets which is having a negative impact on the health and wellbeing of the local population.
The Healthy Families Far North team have been investing in a ‘Whole of Community’ approach – enabling them to create a healthier food system. Starting with providing better choices and opportunities to assist in reducing obesity and other health-related conditions experienced by the Kaikohe population. Shirleyanne Brown, Manager of Healthy Families Far North shares her feedback about the session below…
“Gathering insights on the food system across the community has guided our approach to bringing about a system change that recognises and invests in local leadership through settings such as Marae. Our partnership with The Chip Group enabled us to help address the below insights gathered:
- Many whanau value convenience over good, healthy kai
- Convenience food can be seen as a reward for working hard
- Fast food is visible and popular and perceived to be affordable
- Fast food outlets are part of the social fabric of Kaikohe
- McDonalds has become a hang-out for whanau and young people
- Some people value commercially bought food over local food
- Particular fast foods are highly valued by children and young people
- Food marketing is pervasive and has shaped expectations of how food should look taste
We were so thankful to Kate for conducting a training at Kohewhata Marae. This added to our partnership with the Marae as they are making significant changes to the food they serve, while promoting healthier options with other Marae and across their community.
Kates delivery was extremely informative and engaging. The feedback was positive with the participants sharing they learnt so much in such a short time. They all would encourage food outlets, marae and sport clubs to attend this training.”
– Shirleyanne Brown, Healthy Families Far North.
Education around potatoes and dispelling myths about hot chips and their ‘fattening’ status was a huge part of the session. Attendees left with the skills required to know what it takes to cook chips with significantly less fat and sodium. As one of the operators pointed out, “I will never look at a potato the same way again.”
Part of the Chip Group’s contract with the Ministry of Health is to work closely alongside the ten different Healthy Families groups across New Zealand and this was our first time engaging with the Far North team. We look forward to continuing this relationship and hosting similar sessions throughout the country.
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It’s no secret New Zealand is a land of chip-lovers, but these days your standard deep-fried chips are being transported to new heights everywhere you turn. Enter: “Loaded fries”. Essentially, an extravagant and seriously crave-able combination involving hot chips of varying forms, covered in an array of meat, cheese, sauce, pickles and other tempting toppings and served up as a one-dish wonder.
Hailing from the Americas, through the influence of “cheese fries”, and Canada, where the nationally acclaimed dish is “poutine” (involving cheese curds and gravy, poured on top of crunchy fries). The trend has trickled down through the food world, gained momentum, and eventually made its way onto our shores. Proven by its presence on QSR restaurant menus, to brunch hot-spots and the classic diner-style establishments such as Auckland’s popular ‘Federal Street Deli’.
Being topped with everything from Turkish meat and tzatziki, to beef brisket, chorizo and chilli cheese, while somewhat fancified versions include ingredients such as truffle salt, sauerkraut and confit duck. It is this form that hot chips are transformed from a potentially standard side dish to glorified, instagram-worthy, edible works of art. With the addition of fiery sriracha, pink pickled onions and secret sauces adding both visual and taste-appeal. It’s smart for business too, as a few extra toppings can turn a relatively cheap snack-food into a higher-value and comforting meal.
For those in the know, ‘cheesy-weezies’ may well be our NZ claim to fame in the loaded fries department. A popular ‘<em>off-the-menu’</em> item that can be ordered from your local chippie. It is essentially a scoop (or two) of deep-fried chips, covered in classic sauces, (such as tartare and tomato) and sprinkled with melted cheese. They are wrapped up in the standard newsprint and after just a few minutes the cheese melts and you are left with an absurdly messy, moreish and finger-licking feast. Not glamorous, and certainly not oozing with health – but a novel treat all the same.
But the key to achieve ultimate satisfaction is that the chips themselves, as the core of the dish, need to be cooked well, ideally following the <a href=”http://thechipgroup.co.nz/industry-standards-2/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Chip Group’s Industry Standard</a>. That means deep-frying at the correct temperature, for the right time, in high quality, clean and well-maintained oil to ensure a crispy, golden and satisfying base for all of your loaded fries combinations. For more information on what it takes to cook the best-tasting, lowest fat chips, head to – <a href=”http://thechipgroup.co.nz”>www.thechipgroup.co.nz</a>.
Kate Underwood
Potatoes NZ / The Chip Group
This award will be purely a popularity contest, done by online voting on the Chip Group website. The only requirement for stores to be eligible is that at least one staff member must have completed The Chip Group’s FREE online training in 2018 (either the full training or the shortened refresher). The winner will be announced at a special event in Auckland in September – stay tuned for more details…
NB: This is not to be confused with our full ‘Best Chip Shop Competition’ – which includes fat testing and mystery judging. This will run again in 2019.
Keep an eye on the Chip Group website and Facebook page for updates.
Kate Underwood
Potatoes NZ / The Chip Group