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British fish and chips


Jony001

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To be honest after 11 years here these things like English fish and chips or other English foods become totally unimportant and you adjust to what is on offer. I often find that expats worry to much about things that are meaningless and don't concentrate on the important aspects like adjusting to the Australian way of life and what it has to offer rather than making a mini UK for you to be comfortable in. I have lived in numerous countries around the world and found that Australian food is some of the tastiest and freshest around and that includes the local fish. You tell me were you can have a beautiful Snapper or Barra and the best prawns I have ever tasted which is the Exmouth prawn. Sorry if any one finds what I say offensive but honestly it reminds me of when I used to live in Spain and would be amazed at the amount of people who were on a 2 week holiday who went out of their way to find a English fry up or a good old steak and kidney pud ...........what the! So really all I am trying to say is get on with it and you will be suprised as to how easily you forget about irrelevant things like English fish and chips or English chocolate and so on. I know Jony001 is looking for feedback regarding his business idea and I do hope it goes successfully for him but people going on about good chips etc please give it a rest.

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To be honest after 11 years here these things like English fish and chips or other English foods become totally unimportant and you adjust to what is on offer. I often find that expats worry to much about things that are meaningless and don't concentrate on the important aspects like adjusting to the Australian way of life and what it has to offer rather than making a mini UK for you to be comfortable in. I have lived in numerous countries around the world and found that Australian food is some of the tastiest and freshest around and that includes the local fish. You tell me were you can have a beautiful Snapper or Barra and the best prawns I have ever tasted which is the Exmouth prawn. Sorry if any one finds what I say offensive but honestly it reminds me of when I used to live in Spain and would be amazed at the amount of people who were on a 2 week holiday who went out of their way to find a English fry up or a good old steak and kidney pud ...........what the! So really all I am trying to say is get on with it and you will be suprised as to how easily you forget about irrelevant things like English fish and chips or English chocolate and so on. I know Jony001 is looking for feedback regarding his business idea and I do hope it goes successfully for him but people going on about good chips etc please give it a rest.

 

You seem to have moved around a bit. I take it that you were not employed by the British Diplomatic Authority :biggrin: :biggrin:

 

I actually agree with you re being here and not yearning for the past hence the reason that all my posts have tried been constructed to influence Jony001 to consider it all from a business angle and to think more about where he is coming to, who he could potentially hack off and how it would affect his income. However my approach has been a tad more delicate albeit it a bit boring :biggrin:

 

That all being said if somebody wants to come here, open a shop and stick Union Jacks and other Britsh memoribillia all over the walls then they have the right to do so. It simply means that some people will enter the premises but the vast majority, from both sides of the fence, will not. As you say good luck with the business venture either way.

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To be honest after 11 years here these things like English fish and chips or other English foods become totally unimportant and you adjust to what is on offer. I often find that expats worry to much about things that are meaningless and don't concentrate on the important aspects like adjusting to the Australian way of life and what it has to offer rather than making a mini UK for you to be comfortable in. I have lived in numerous countries around the world and found that Australian food is some of the tastiest and freshest around and that includes the local fish. You tell me were you can have a beautiful Snapper or Barra and the best prawns I have ever tasted which is the Exmouth prawn. Sorry if any one finds what I say offensive but honestly it reminds me of when I used to live in Spain and would be amazed at the amount of people who were on a 2 week holiday who went out of their way to find a English fry up or a good old steak and kidney pud ...........what the! So really all I am trying to say is get on with it and you will be suprised as to how easily you forget about irrelevant things like English fish and chips or English chocolate and so on. I know Jony001 is looking for feedback regarding his business idea and I do hope it goes successfully for him but people going on about good chips etc please give it a rest.

 

I think it is unfair. We have lived and worked in a range of countries as well, including China, Peru, Israel and even the Congo and others, so do know a bit about being an expat and i think it is completly normal to want tastes from home. Every expat of every nationality in every country i have met does. If we didnt we wouldnt have italian restaurants in Oz - they were set up to feed fellow italians.

 

As for the food. I disagree entirely, I find the food in Oz to be very poor. Of all the places i have been, only the Congo (DRC) is worse.

 

Yes, i think it is stupid for the Brits to go to Spain and want fish and chips, but when you are in a country for years, it is normaly to pine for home food.

 

The food i had in China stands out as some of the best i have ever had, but even there, i had to get some breakfast cereal sent to me because after living on steamed buns in chili sause everyday breakfast for months, i was pretty sick and wanted something that liked. Nothing wrong with that.

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I tend to agree that aiming it at both markets would be tricky and this could be a flawed business aproach however if it could work I would see something like the Pommie Pack complimenting the business and not something that would come across as a blatant attack on Aussie style f and c's. Like you say though probably a little too difficult to set up 100% correctly and it would be a bit of a fudge.

 

I also think there are more than enough business in WA that specialize in UK custom and have done so for many years to prove it can work. Look at the several British sweet shops that are about.

 

It could come down to on how much proifit is required from the business as to what style of f and c shop is set up. Best of British shops / Ye Old English Sweet Shops - do they really make a decent bottom line profit or are they more simply life style business's? How many non-Brits go into them regularly? Do they widen the market by having the opportunity for online sales? It is something that husband and wife teams can set up and run because they have savings and need a job when they get here? If the profitability is poor and the market narrow then it is simply a business risk but if it is for something to get by on then nothing wrong with that as a business aim though.

 

One key thing in all this is we have no idea what is required from this venture, i.e. is it to be a lifestyle business, must it have the opportunity to employ other family members or is it just a pure bottom line profit venture? Anyway the good thing is that opinion helps, all of it good, bad and indifferent, but the real acid test will be when Jony001 matches his business aims against solid research, figures and logic within the set up process and that should give him enough of an outcome to let him decide what to do.

 

As for butchers. Blooming heck Stormy their f and c's are regarded as poor and now their meat and butchering is inferior? Please tell me you like some things on offer here otherwise we may all be getting the feeling that you are whinging a bit :wink: LOL, OMG and all that other techo speak stuff to make sure you are giggling at this point :biggrin:

 

Dont mind being called a winger. I enjoy most of Oz and what it has to offer except the food which is generally crap

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That all being said if somebody wants to come here, open a shop and stick Union Jacks and other Britsh memoribillia all over the walls then they have the right to do so. It simply means that some people will enter the premises but the vast majority, from both sides of the fence, will not. As you say good luck with the business venture either way.

 

Some people are making the mistake that a food outlet/restaurant branded by nationality is taking a swipe at the host countries food offering and will offend the inhabitants. Is this just because it's 'British' food? I don't see a difference between Indian, Thai, Russian, Italian, French food offerings. Do Australians avoid them? What's wrong with being patriotic?

 

Ross

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sod the fish and chips sweets etc import gravy browning please ....................................... i am desperate for real gravy :cute:

so far that is the one and only thing i miss cant be doing gravy granules or ready made gravy in a bag arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

i want a traditional roast beef dinner with home made Yorkshire puds

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Guest pom on the move
Hi we are relocating to Perth next year from Nz and looking to open a real British fish and chip shop .. I will be importing all the stuff from Uk and doing real chips etc.. I have had 3 shops in the past in the uk so have good experience and can't find decent fish n chips in Oz ..can any one tell me where a good area is to open one? Is there a British fish n chip shop already there, as I have googled it and nothing comes up? Any other suggestion or advice would be good!! Thanks

 

I think you would be on to a winner, There is the odd good chippy but not seen a British one as of yet. Northern Subs like Joondalup, Woodvale, Butler, Southern Subs Rockingham, Mandurah

 

I wish you all the best

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Some people are making the mistake that a food outlet/restaurant branded by nationality is taking a swipe at the host countries food offering and will offend the inhabitants. Is this just because it's 'British' food? I don't see a difference between Indian, Thai, Russian, Italian, French food offerings. Do Australians avoid them? What's wrong with being patriotic? Ross

 

Yep you make a fair point re the other foods and of course there is nothing wrong with being patriotic. The proof in the pudding I suppose is does the British brand fare better than others when used overseas? No idea how that could be measured.

 

Anyway it still brings us all back in one big circle to an idea, and potential market, but would it succeed as a going concern? A few people on here have said "great idea" and as much as a nice a remark that may be, they have no hard evidence that a business could be formed, only a view. Importing all the equipment and all the products on an ongoing basis and then trying to break even and going onto to make profit - not sure how easy that would be based on the a whole range of issues. I will keep saying it though the sums are the key to this.

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Yep you make a fair point re the other foods and of course there is nothing wrong with being patriotic. The proof in the pudding I suppose is does the British brand fare better than others when used overseas? No idea how that could be measured.

 

Anyway it still brings us all back in one big circle to an idea, and potential market, but would it succeed as a going concern? A few people on here have said "great idea" and as much as a nice a remark that may be, they have no hard evidence that a business could be formed, only a view. Importing all the equipment and all the products on an ongoing basis and then trying to break even and going onto to make profit - not sure how easy that would be based on the a whole range of issues. I will keep saying it though the sums are the key to this.

 

hi straightothepoint sorry i not got bk to you sooner ..i thank you for your imput and have taken on board you point about seting up a business in wa..i think there is alot of potenitial in this fish and chip shop even if it is to serve british food..i cant go down the road of serving ozzy food and uk food its just not viable holding that much stock.they way i see it is if you go to a indian takeaway or chinese takeaway you go for indian or chinese food?not aussie food.so if you go to a british takeaway shop you are goin to get british food??and im sure there are alot of aussies that like pommie fish and chips,as my wife is a kiwi and she loves fish chips and mushy peas..took a while to get her to try them tho.also i dont see aussie food as that flash atall.i have lived in nz for 6 years and find the food alot better than australia and the uk.so i think its a risk,but one i am willing to take.i wont be putting union jacks up everywhere as i think this is tacky..once people know its there there wont be need for unions jack etc..

 

thanks

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hi straightothepoint sorry i not got bk to you sooner ..i thank you for your imput and have taken on board you point about seting up a business in wa..i think there is alot of potenitial in this fish and chip shop even if it is to serve british food..i cant go down the road of serving ozzy food and uk food its just not viable holding that much stock.they way i see it is if you go to a indian takeaway or chinese takeaway you go for indian or chinese food?not aussie food.so if you go to a british takeaway shop you are goin to get british food??and im sure there are alot of aussies that like pommie fish and chips,as my wife is a kiwi and she loves fish chips and mushy peas..took a while to get her to try them tho.also i dont see aussie food as that flash atall.i have lived in nz for 6 years and find the food alot better than australia and the uk.so i think its a risk,but one i am willing to take.i wont be putting union jacks up everywhere as i think this is tacky..once people know its there there wont be need for unions jack etc..

 

thanks

 

Yeah I agree the suggestion of trying to sell to both markets would not fly, daft idea by me, but only thinking of the middle ground as an option and probably not work in reality. There is definately potential as you say and you would sell the product for sure. Like you I see Union Jack branding as being tacky and you would be better branding the business differently. Are you going to do the figures from NZ or are you going to wait until you get to WA and start the whole process? I suppose you could work on budget figures when in NZ and firm them up on arrival. That is what we did when we were starting up our business. We were out by a bit though because of some hidden costs that we were unaware of but I suppose that is to be expected. The big thing for us though was dealing with local councils and the legal stuff, all a nightmare in terms of actually starting up. Anyway if you do go for this good luck and you should keep this site posted as I am sure conatct wise it will help.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest guest1337
So I'm thinking rocking ham or joondalup for a shop?also pricing...would people be willing to pay around $15 for cod and chips?haddock n chips $15..about $6 for a pie ?

 

If in joondalup and if great quality then yes I would!!

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Guest joanne white

Hi have a look on Chumley Warners website he is an English guy that is over east and sells franchises. He brought his fryers and everything over, he was on a tv show here a couple of years back, I think he has won a few awards too :)

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we have one in Butler but not great ....frozen chips are everywhere, curry sauce isnt good and im craving decent mushy peas!!! so around clarkson butler jindalee pleaseeeee keep us posted Can you get cod though???

 

carramar fish and chips shop were selling cod and haddock i think , dont know how good they are , i buy mine at beaumaris oceanreef and they do great fish and chips they also do curry sauce and mushy peas etc

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carramar fish and chips shop were selling cod and haddock i think , dont know how good they are , i buy mine at beaumaris oceanreef and they do great fish and chips they also do curry sauce and mushy peas etc

 

Carramar do small portions and frozen chips ,fish is left on rack above frier to allow excess fat to drain

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think when he says imported he means the frying equipment not the potatoes. it would be a marketing angle; australian potatoes, british (english?) style..

 

I live in safety bay and you know what truly annoys me about fish n chips shops here - the waiting and the size of the portions!! we waited 20 mins in one, specifically order a large portion of chips and it barely fed one of us, let alone 3.

 

My vote is rockingham

 

the problem with charging $15 for fish n chips is that for a family you are starting to look around the 50 bucks mark which means it is becoming more of an "event" purchase than impulse buy. By opening a "british" chippy, you are squarely aiming yourself at the migrant market and (after 6 months) I am still converting to £. so 35 quid for a family fish and chip meal doesnt look like great value.

 

basically I wonder if you can get the volume of customer to support the usage of fresh potatoes. Frozen chips do spoil eventually but alot longer after fresh.

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I live in safety bay and you know what truly annoys me about fish n chips shops here - the waiting and the size of the portions!! we waited 20 mins in one, specifically order a large portion of chips and it barely fed one of us, let alone 3.

 

I think what happens here is that a lot of folk phone ahead for orders and the shops are cooking those and not serving walk in's and also they cook to order. Like you I found it, well I will say different not annoying, because once you know why it makes sense. It was usually around a certain time anyway and no biggie. Of course you would not phone and order a bag of chips so you either wait awhile (WA) or stop going. The guy won't go bust if he does not sell a bag of chips so he does not care either way :biggrin:

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I think what happens here is that a lot of folk phone ahead for orders and the shops are cooking those and not serving walk in's and also they cook to order. Like you I found it, well I will say different not annoying, because once you know why it makes sense. It was usually around a certain time anyway and no biggie. Of course you would not phone and order a bag of chips so you either wait awhile (WA) or stop going. The guy won't go bust if he does not sell a bag of chips so he does not care either way :biggrin:

 

The last 5 words sum up service in WA. And these people will bleat like sheep if WA goes into recession.

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