Entries are open and New Zealand chip shops are going head to head as they vie to be crowned champion of the 2013 Best Chip Shop Competition.<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re 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,\u201d says Chair of the Chip Group and food educator Glenda Gourley.<\/p>\n

Similar to 2011, all entrants will compete for one of six regional titles before regional finalists contend with New Zealand\u2019s best for the national title of 2013 Best Chip Shop Competition Champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year we\u2019re 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,\u201d says Glenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis award makes it easy for customers to identify the good operators cooking lower fat hot chips.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The Chip Group was behind Matamata\u2019s recent hot chip \u2018Town Makeover\u2019, 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat 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,\u201d says Glenda.<\/p>\n

Current Best Chip Shop Competition Champion, Michael Huang from Oppies Takeaways in Rotorua, says winning the 2011 Best Chip Competition was great for business. \u201cWe have people from all over the place coming to try our better, tastier and lower-fat chips!\u201d<\/p>\n

The six regions for the 2013 competition are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

1\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Northland \u2013 North Shore<\/td>\n	2\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Rest of Auckland<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
3\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Waikato \u2013 Bay of Plenty \u2013 Hawke\u2019s Bay<\/td>\n	4\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Manawatu \u2013 Wellington<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Nelson \u2013 Christchurch<\/td>\n	6\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Timaru \u2013 Southland<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Registration for the 2013 Best Chip Shop Competition, as well as free online industry training, can be found at www.chipgroup.co.nz<\/a>. Entries must be received by 1st<\/sup> June and winners are expected to be announced in August.<\/p>\n ENDS<\/b><\/p>\n For more information, please contact:<\/p>\n Kate Underwood<\/p>\n Training and Education Manager, The Chip Group<\/p>\n 022 066 8711 or [email protected]<\/a><\/p>\n or<\/p>\n Dan Walraven<\/p>\n Ideas Shop<\/p>\n 027 433 6373 or [email protected]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Entries are open and New Zealand chip shops are going head to head as they vie to be crowned champion of the 2013 Best Chip Shop Competition. The competition, an initiative from the industry-led Chip Group held every second year, … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3730,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"kt_blocks_editor_width":""},"categories":[9,5],"tags":[12,13,16,19,20],"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"Gemma Carroll","author_link":"https:\/\/thechipgroup.co.nz\/author\/gemma\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":9,"name":"Press Releases","slug":"press-releases","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":9,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":1,"count":28,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":9,"category_count":28,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Press Releases","category_nicename":"press-releases","category_parent":1},{"term_id":5,"name":"Product News","slug":"product-news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":1,"count":11,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":5,"category_count":11,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Product News","category_nicename":"product-news","category_parent":1}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":12,"name":"chips","slug":"chips","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":12,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":55,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":13,"name":"competition","slug":"competition","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":13,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":12,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":16,"name":"industry news","slug":"industry-news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":16,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":42,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":19,"name":"The Best Chip Shop Competition","slug":"the-best-chip-shop-competition","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":19,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":22,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":20,"name":"The Chip Group","slug":"the-chip-group","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":20,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":51,"filter":"raw"}],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":9,"label":"Press Releases"},{"value":5,"label":"Product News"}],"post_tag":[{"value":12,"label":"chips"},{"value":13,"label":"competition"},{"value":16,"label":"industry news"},{"value":19,"label":"The Best Chip Shop Competition"},{"value":20,"label":"The Chip Group"}]},"yoast_head":"\n