National Fish & Chip Day delivers a record breaking day

National Fish & Chip Day delivered a significant boost to businesses, with reports of record-breaking takings, higher-value orders, increased walk-ins, and greater overall awareness of the event.

Organised by NEODA, the event on Friday 6th June celebrated its 10th anniversary, which was enough to encourage more shops to get involved through discounted meals, competitions and promotions.

One such shop was Ruby’s Fish & Chip Shop near Coalville, Leicestershire, which joined in for the first time. Also celebrating its recent win as Best Fish and Chip Shop in Leicestershire, as voted by LeicestershireLive readers, Ruby’s offered 20% off all food.

Owner Andreas Demetriou said: “The day went exceptionally well for us. We wouldn’t normally run any promotions, but we wanted to give something back to our customers as a thank you for voting for us. I think in future we will always do something for National Fish and Chip Day.”

Also seeing a strong uplift was Towngate Fisheries in Idle, Bradford, which ran a “roll the dice and win your order” promotion for walk-in customers. Owner Mark Drummond was well prepared for the event: he began promoting the offer as early as Easter, decorated the shop two weeks prior, and ran a daily countdown on social media for eight days.

Mark reported that 46 customers won their orders on the day. He says: “Even allowing for the discount of the free orders, we took more than a normal Friday with volume of sales up 20%. The total cost to me was a 1.2% hit on our GP that week, plus the cost of designing and printing posters (about £80). If we gain two or three extra regular customers over the next year from it, it will pay for itself many times over.”

He also noted a 10% increase in click & collect orders, adding: “There was certainly more coverage on social media than previous years and more customers already seemed to be aware of the day.”

The Chesterford Group, which owns the fish and chip chains FishnChickn and Churchills, also saw strong results from a special offer of two medium haddock and large chips for £14.99, a £5 saving on its regular price. Waiting until the day itself to announce the deal via social media, app notifications and email to ensure loyal regulars benefited, they saw a 150% increase in sales of the meal.

Meanwhile, Frydales in Leicester stuck with its usual Friday promotions like half-price kids' meals but added a giveaway of 20 portions of fish and chips. Even this small gesture had a notable impact. Owner Charlie Collins comments: “It was a very good Friday for us — one of the top five days of the year so far. Lots of customers mentioned they had heard it was National Fish and Chip Day, mostly saying they’d heard it on the radio. We were 25% up compared to a normal Friday, with walk-ins seeing the largest increase. I also noticed an uptick in the ‘fish bites’ option.”

Over in Scotland, The Fish Works in Largs saw similar results - up about 20% on a typical Friday. The shop ran a treasure hunt, hiding 10 vouchers for a free fish supper or sum of £10 across town. Staff also gave out free haddock fish bites to sample, which could then be bought with chips for just £7.

Owner Tiffany Irvin said: “Sales were strong on the day. We had increased walk-ins and our click and collects and deliveries were up across the board too. We noticed that a lot of our online orders were bigger orders in a similar way that people were inviting friends and family around for a fish and chip night for National Fish and Chip Day. Overall, it was a great day, as it gave us a platform to shout about our product. The props, bunting, t-shirts and hats sent out by NEODA to shops were great too.”

Even shops that didn’t expect a sales spike used the event to raise awareness. Sarah Heward, owner of The Real Food Cafe in Tyndrum, explained: “I don’t believe that National Fish and Chip Day drives sales in our location on the day, largely because of how remote we are, but it isn’t about that for us. It’s a great opportunity to engage with the customers through running fun competitions and that’s why we get involved anyway.”

The café’s activities included a "wheel of fortune" competition and a savvy PR campaign. “Crucially, it also gives us the opportunity to PR our business and fish and chips using National Fish & Chip Day as a hook,” explains Sarah. “A press release we sent out a few days before the event sharing our ‘secrets’ gained us an unprecedented five articles in the national press and online.”

Sarah also scheduled a meeting with her MP, the Leader of the Council and the Manager of the Economic Development Department at the Council, on the day itself so that they could take photos of them tucking into fish and chips on National Fish & Chip Day to drive further awareness.

Across the UK, celebrations extended beyond shops. Roadshows hit London, Cardiff and Hull giving away thousands of portions of fish and chips, while schoolchildren, pubgoers and the elderly in care homes also enjoyed fish and chips on the day. 

Lynda Simmons, NEODA secretary and the driving force behind the event, said while the exact number of participants was hard to quantify, the impact of the day was undeniable. 

She comments: “The response to the day from the public, shops and the media was phenomenal. Early indications show more people than ever before would have seen, heard or read about National Fish and Chip Day. Social media was buzzing all day with seemingly more shops taking part, many for the first time. Some went all out with decorations, competitions and special offers, others put posters up, emphasising our messaging that you can do as much or as little as you like and you will still have a great day. National and regional media helped drive footfall and the response on the fish and chip forums was extremely positive. Support was also strong from pubs, care homes and cafes all celebrating the nation’s favourite dish. The evaluation will be ready within the next week or so and we are confident that people will be amazed at just how much bigger the day was this year.”