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]

From Waimate right up to the North Shore – each shop celebrated their hard-work and were presented awards from The Chip Group team.

We have had plenty of positive media around this years competition – particularly with the addition of the Highly Commended Awards. These are being distributed gradually throughout the country, delivered where possible or sent by post – so please be patient and we will get these to you as soon as we can. When you do receive your awards we would love it if you could take a photo of yourselves, with your award and your shop and email it through to: [email protected]! And I shall looking forward to seeing your smiling faces!

Here is a wee snippet of the images and celebrations from our Regional Winners last week…Just under a week to go now before we find out the results for our GRAND NATIONAL WINNER! Watch this space.

Photo’s in the order as below…

Northland-Northshore: Oceanz Seafood Silverdale

Auckland-wide: Greenwoods Fresh Catch, Epsom

Waikato-BOP-Hawkes Bay: Queen Vic Chippy, Cambridge

Manawatu-Taranaki-Wellington: Fish King Takeaways, Fielding

Timaru-Southland Region: The Naked Chip, Waimate

Nelson-Christchurch Region: Victory Square Fish and Chips, Nelson (Image for these guys coming soon!)

We will also be sharing plenty of photo’s of our Highly Commended Awards as they come through!

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!!)

Our first set of Chip samples have been sent off to the lab for fat-testing…We are just on the remaining Chip samples to come through and then we will be get them sent off too. 

As part of this year’s competition we are celebrating your hard-work with our Highly Commended Awards! Chips in NZ can contain up to 22% fat. But when you cook to our Industry Standards you can achieve around 7-9% fat.

Upon viewing the lab results – All Operators whose Chips contain LESS THAN 9% FAT will receive a Highly Commended Award

• These participants will go on to the next stage of the Competition, which we will keep you informed of over the next month or so.

• In addition to the Highly Commended Award we will be announcing Regional Finalists, Regional Winners and a Grand National Winner, as well as holding a Public Choice Award – via our Facebook Page.

In the mean time – just keep doing what you do best, following our Industry Standards and providing your customers with the best-tasting, lower fat chips! 

If you haven’t entered yet then please head over to this page on our website and fill in the Entry form. ENTER HERE.

ENTRIES CLOSE this SATURDAY 15th JUNE!

You do not want to miss out on this awesome opportunity to showcase your business and all your hard work!

Any questions send me an email or give me a call: [email protected] or Ph- 022 066 8711

With help from the Manawatu Heart Foundation Heart Health Advocate Sally Daragh and Volunteer Mariana Alletson local chippiers were invited to learn about how to better quality chips that are lower in fat.

Training and Education Manager, Kate Underwood presented the training. “Operators learn that even small changes can make a big difference to the quality of their chips.” says Kate,  “Those who attended the session were all very excited to take their new tips back to their stores and put it into practice.”

Chips cooked following The Chip Group’s Industry Standards will be crisp, lower in fat and kiwi’s prefer the taste.

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:

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 1^st 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]

This year our focus is based on lowering the FAT CONTENT in our chips, so all entries whose chips contain less than 10% fat will receive a Highly Commended Award! To improve your chances of winning our advice is for you to get clued up on our Industry Standards, encourage all your staff to go and do the Online Training and start practicing.

Shake, Bang & Hang is one of the most simple ways to reduce fat from a serving of chips. So get excited and make sure you keep an eye on our Facebook Page for the latest tips and info so you can put your BEST chips forward!

The competition will be running mid next year with dates to be confirmed in the new year. In preparation for this bi-annual award be sure to brush up on our Industry Standards using your Training login here. To find out more keep an eye on our Facebook page as well as our website.

As you have probably noticed we have been busy clearing out the E-newsletter database of invalid/expired email addresses. So if your email has changed please email me your new address so I can add you to the list and keep you in the loop.

We know you will all be preparing for the busy-season with the classic Kiwi summer of jandals, swimming and Fish and Chips by the Beach. So work hard, spread the word about The Chip Group. Remember to share your photos and stories with us on Facebook and have a great summer everyone!

If you have any other questions or concerns please contact me:

Email – [email protected]

Phone- 022 066 8711