Summer is a busy time of year for us Chippies! So get trained now and start the year fresh, with an up to date certificate and a few ideas to make your business more money over this festive season.
It’s those small changes, that make the world of difference in a fish and chip shop – or anyone cooking deep fried chips. Oil temperature, ‘Shake, Bang and Hang’ and taking a few chips off each portion size can save you a substantial amount of money over the busy times.
To complete the training – Go here!
Check out our SUMMER 2014 NEWSLETTER below which will be hitting inboxes shortly!
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Our first group training session was held two weeks ago at well-known potato grower, Balle Brothers in Pukekohe. A handful of shops attended including: Royal Horse Takeaway, Hill Takeaways, The Galley Takeaway and Botany Road Seafood & Takeaway -who came all the way from Botany to do the training.
A second session was held this week with two businesses hosting a joint training session for all ten of their staff – Vertigo Bar and Paasha Turkish Kitchen.
Both Columbus Coffee and The Coffee Club have also completed one-on-one Chip Group Training sessions.
We are making our way through the town training all operators and businesses serving hot chips. So if you own a Pukekohe business that sells chips and may be interested in training, or know somebody that does – Get in touch!
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Here is a wee snippet from the article…
It’s no secret that the best quality chips are cooked in the best quality oil.
But hot oil can be seriously dangerous if it’s not being well looked after. Which is why it’s so important to ensure your oil is safe to use for deep-frying.
The Chip Group’s list of Approved Oils have been tested to ensure they meet a strict criteria – they are suitable for foodservice deep frying and are better for your customers health. Here are a few reasons why choosing an Approved oil is a worthy investment.
Why is oil a safer option than fat?
- Operators agree that oil is far easier to handle than solids.
- Oil takes less time for the heating process.
- Using liquid oil gives you more flexibility in your busy schedule for when you discard it.
To read the rest of the article check it out here.
Remember if you would like some copies for yourself or a bunch for your ‘customer waiting area’ let me know and I can send them your way!
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We are chuffed to be sharing the page with other Industry Groups, who work hard to support businesses and improve the food supply:
Food and Hospitality Hub – Heart Foundation
Check out the article on their website here!
Hello Chippies. Isn’t that summer sun doing a great job of sticking around!
Here is a copy of our 2014 February Newsletter (click on the image below to see a larger version). If you would like me to email you a PDF copy of this newsletter, get in touch and I am happy to send you one – that way you can print and share it for your staff and customers!
Lots of exciting opportunities ahead, but in the mean time keep cooking those lower fat chips so your customers can enjoy them on these hot summer evenings. 
After feeding hungry holiday makers, this is the perfect time to reflect, up-skill and revamp the ins and outs of your business. With our brand new website layout the aim is to make things easier for you. The inclusion of our new Business Training Module – has ways to provide a better product, look after your customers and ultimately increase your profit. 
On the back of the success of the 2013 Best Chip Shop Competition it was clear that winning shops displayed the whole package. So we want to help you all improve every aspect of your business.
We recommend you re-do our Online Training – each video is aimed to be more straight forward and easier to understand.
One final change that we have added to the training modules – is an updated 2014 Training Certificate. Even if you have done the training before, we encourage you all to do it again! There is always something new to learn.
I look forward to seeing and working with more of our great operators in 2014 and wish you all the best for the year ahead!
From Kate and the team at The Chip Group. 
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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Bright and early on a Monday morning, operators from Golden Lantern Takeaways and Hong Kong Takeaways learnt the tricks and techniques about cooking chips to Industry Standards. Covering topics such as oil temperature, serving or portion size, chip size, salt and drainage they left feeling like experts in their field!
Champion Chippie – Michael Huang was also in attendance, and his bi-lingual abilities meant he was able to help one of the asian operators work through the training. He was also able to share advice on building business, and making changes for the better or the customer. A big thanks to Michael for making the effort to attend.
Many other local operators in Te Kuiti have completed our online training or had at least one of their staff complete it. Everything we do at the training seminar is the same as the online videos – but it is the conversation and interaction with other businesses and in particular – Michael that most operators find invaluable.
We will be following up with Te Kuiti operators to see how they are doing after working through our training. So keep an eye out for these.
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This small rural town in the mighty South Waikato are first on our list! With a number of bakery, fish and chip stores and cafe’s selling chips, it is the perfect road-trip pit stop for many travellers and a popular food source for the locals.
‘Everyone loves a good chips’ says Kate Underwood, Training and Education Manager, ‘but when you cook chips to our Industry Standards, they actually taste better!’
Champion Chippie, Michael Huang will be attending to help teach operators the importance of ‘better practice frying’ and how it can benefit their business. He is also fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese so will be able to communicate with some of the Chinese owned operations.
The Te Kuiti Makeover Training Session will take place on:
Monday 26th August at the Maniapoto House, Taupiri Street, Te Kuiti. To allow shops to open their business for the lunch rush the session will be held at 8.30am-10.30am.
If you are in the area and are interested in attending, feel free to get in touch with Kate – 022 066 8711 or Email [email protected].
Reminder – for those involved in the 2013 Best Chip Shop Competition, judging is still taking place and you will be informed of results as they come to light. Thank you for your patience.
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