Hooked on fish

Fish and chips remain Britain’s favourite fast food. We are still as likely to eat fish out-of-home as we are to go for a Chinese or Indian takeaway, or so government statistics tell us. In that case, why isn’t someone making a fortune from running a national fish and chip chain, takeaway or sit down? Harry Ramsden’s almost made it, and although not in the traditional “fish’n’chip” mode, Loch Fyne has established itself as an upmarket fish restaurant with almost 40 sites across the country. But we don’t have a really big scale operator. Perhaps that’s why Greene King is so keen on hooking Loch Fyne? It obviously sees the potential in building on those foundations. However, the obvious lack of a big fish chain success story is exactly why many in the eating-out business doubt Greene King’s wisdom in bidding for Loch Fyne. Fish is difficult and no-one has made it work on a national basis, or so the argument goes. Perhaps it is also down to the fact that fish and chips are so ubiquitous. We like them, but can get them just about anyway. Ask most pub restaurant groups what their best sellers are, and fish and chips will be up there. It’s hard to have a pub menu with out some version of the standard on the list. But fish and chips are changing, and fledgling chains such as Sea Cow and Deep Blue are trying to carve distinct niches for themselves in what is still principally a local market. Fish and chip restaurants offering wine, minted peas, freshly made tartar sauce and even selling batter scraps as a delicacy are now challenging the traditional chippie in more heeled parts of the nation. Today's trendy chip shops don't just supply cheap, fast food for the masses, they stress sustainability and freshness - and charge for the privilege. As the Guardian spotted last month, new foreign secretary David Miliband listed his favourite restaurant as Colman's fish and chips in South Shields. “Of course, it's a no-brainer for him to choose a place in his constituency, but his key reason for selecting Colman's is that it offers sustainable haddock.” Loch Fyne has been a passionate supporter of sustainability and it is a cause echoed by the likes of Sea Cow, whose founder Paul Rigby says that he would love to take cod off the menu, but has settled on selling just line-caught cod from sustainable sources in the west English Channel or the North Sea. Like many entering the fashionable end of the eating out market these days, Rigby is an ex-City finance man. So he sees the opportunity to make money and bases Sea Cow on fish bars he has seen in Australia. Add-ons include home deliveries by scooter, takeaway trailers on the festival circuit and turning used frying oil into biodiesel. Last year, more than 250 million meals were sold from fish and chip shops throughout the UK, and on Fridays 20% of meals bought outside the home are from a fish and chip shop. That’s no mean business. But will a canny operator – a new-wave trendy chain or a Greene King - be able to turn that undoubted popularity into a big business success? Or will fish and chips remain essentially a local story? It’s an issue that the industry hasn’t yet come up with an answer to, but nonetheless one to contemplate when sitting on the sea wall with your fish supper this month. Peter Martin is the co-creator of the M&C Report and founder of the Peach Factory.