Kirby’s Fish & Chips: How Andy Crombleholme Manages Two Thriving Shops

Andy Crombleholme has been in the fish and chip trade since he was 15. Now at 39, he owns and operates two successful shops - Kirby’s of Meanwood and Kirby’s of Horsforth. 

He bought Meanwood five years ago and Horsforth two years later. Andy has a track record of revitalising underperforming shops, having previously built up and sold two other businesses before settling into these two locations.

“I always wanted Meanwood,” Andy recalls. “I’d been chasing it for a while, and when it became available, I took the opportunity.”

Jumping from running one shop to two was more demanding than Andy anticipated. “Your workload doesn’t just double; it probably triples,” he explains. “You think it’s just a case of running another shop the same way, but you’re doing that while also overseeing both, and that adds a lot more responsibility.”

When Andy took over Horsforth, it coincided with the start of the war in Ukraine which sent commodity prices soaring - especially energy costs. Successive price increases across key ingredients made the first year particularly challenging. However, with Andy’s expertise in managing struggling shops he maintained a clear head. He comments: “It was a difficult nine to twelve months that first year, but we came out the other side of it as we expected we would and just continued to build, and now both shops are busier than they've ever been.”

Andy attributes his success to maintaining consistency and quality across both locations. “We use the same menu and pricing in both shops, which makes operations smoother. But we also ensure we do the same things at both shops: buy the best quality products, have full traceability of the fish, and make sure when we prepare anything we prepare it the same way day in, day out so the customers are getting the same quality all the time.

“When you get inconsistencies is when you get complaints. We want our customers to know we'll be open when we say we’ll be open, and that whenever they come we’ll offer what we offered the week before, the week before that, and the weeks going forward as well.

“I quite often refer back to the likes of McDonald's, Subway and Nando’s because everything that they do is the same and, yes, it's a bit regimented in a way, but you've got to be consistent. That's what people expect now.”

While Andy remains committed to traditional fish and chips - haddock and chips being both shops’ best-sellers - he also experiments with new menu items. Last summer, he trialled loaded fries and shortly he’s introducing a seafood basket.

“I don’t think offering new items is essential, but it helps keep things fresh and keeps customers interested,” Andy says.

Like most operators, Andy embraced click and collect in 2020 to survive Covid. When he changed to a different online ordering system two years later, he used the opportunity to introduce his own app and a built-in loyalty scheme. Both have had a vast impact on customer retention. “It’s been fantastic,” says Andy. “A high percentage of customers are signed up for our loyalty scheme and we can send offers out via push notifications anytime we want to. Customers accumulate points per pound spent, some will use them straight away while others will save them up for a big order.”

With fish and chips Kirby’s core products, Andy buys several key ingredients from Ceres, starting with Curry Sauce Mix eight years ago, and more recently switching over to its Gravy Mix and Gluten Free Batter Mix.

“We trialled multiple gluten free batters, but most were quite bland,” says Andy who runs gluten free days on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at the Horsforth shop. “I wanted something that wouldn’t taste too different from our regular batter. I spoke to Stelios, he sent me a sample of his gluten free batter and I really liked it. We’ve got the separate pan with separate filtration built into our range so we can do it right and our sales continue to grow.”

Using Ceres Curry Sauce at a previous shop, there was no doubt Andy was going to bring it over to Kirby’s, explaining: “It is just so tasty and we get so much feedback from customers saying so. We sell a Chinese curry sauce as well and sometimes customers think we’ve given them the wrong one because it’s so tasty in comparison to a standard chip shop curry sauce — but in a good way! I like the fact it’s made from fresh ingredients, it makes a real difference and sales of our curry sauce have steadily grown.”

Another product Andy switched to is Ceres Gravy Mix after requesting a free sample two years ago. “We did a trial by offering free samples to customers that already bought gravy and those that didn’t,” he explains. "It went down a treat so we made the switch and, again, our gravy sales have grown significantly since then.”

Andy highlights how the ease of preparation of all the Ceres products helps maintain consistency, adding: “Everything is weighed out to the gram, ensuring the same consistency every time. For us, it means customers are getting the same peas, curry, gravy, etc., all the time.”

To maintain his Florigo frying range, Andy uses Ceres Deep Fryer Cleaner, which replaces a previous labour-intensive method. “We used to use soda crystals which were a nightmare and would take us forever,” he says. “I used to dread boiling my pans out. Now I don’t because it’s simple, and the product works brilliantly, pulling off carbon buildup in clumps.”

Buying from the Ceres online store to get the best value on his purchases - particularly during promotional periods like Black Friday - Andy also makes sure he tunes in to the Ceres podcasts to hear how others are managing similar challenges. 

“Listening to the Ceres podcasts can give you confidence in your decisions, especially around pricing,” says Andy. "Everyone has to raise prices at some point. We adjusted ours slightly this month from £9.60 for regular haddock and chips to £9.90. It’s not ideal to keep having price increases, but it is what it is, and people seem to be accepting of it as long as the quality stays high.”