​Reimagining Lunchtime: Affordable Indulgence from the Fish & Chip Shop

Everyone will agree that we are navigating uncharted waters when running a fish-and-chip business these days. It looks like stormy seas ahead, especially when we look at commodity supply and prices – in particular, Cod, but there are many other challenges ahead, too, that require careful consideration and a measured approach.

One of those areas is the familiar battleground of lunchtime trade. The COVID pandemic blessed some businesses and ruined others when it came to lunchtimes. Working from home, social distancing, andliving in bubbles affected footfall, and those shops that stayed open and delivered benefited as restrictions were lifted. In the future, supermarket sandwiches, crisps and drink deals for a fiver, Greggs not having to charge VAT and Subway being in every petrol station all started taking nibbles out of the lunchtimes business that was historically destined for the chippy 10 years ago.

Many operators have concluded that lunchtimes are no longer viable and closed during the day (or they never opened them again after the pandemic). Some have reduced their hours and only do Friday and Saturday lunchtimes. I figured that I needed to sell fish differently at lunchtimes – preferring to compete on a lower price point menu and with readily available items to speed up service and increase footfall so that customers with only half an hour and a fiver are happy and frequent. With the cost of replacing my fish stock increasing weekly, I've become creative at making my fish go further, cook faster and yield better returns.

I use the phrase "affordable indulgence" as my inspiration with items like fish goujons with sweet chilli dip, fish bites, fish finger sandwiches with homemade tartar sauce and various homemade fishcake recipes to tempt my lunchtime customers instead of the heavier, more traditional fish and chip portions that don't compete well during the day because of size and price needed to yield a worthy return. Loaded chips are on the way, too, and seem very on trend – I've reached out and am taking advice from my peers on how to make this land well.

I listened to episode 195 of the Ceres Podcast, with Cem Oktem and Charlie Collins – two experienced and respected operators discussing how they approached various challenges differently. Their knowledge-sharing makes for enjoyable listening indeed.

They also discuss Cod prices, which perfectly highlights how this industry celebrates differences in how they approach sourcing their Cod going forward.

Another area that is tweaking my interest and presents a potential growth market is the debate on working from home and returning to work hub offices. I sense a shift from some employer's attitude towards working from home to having staff back in the office. I have always offered discounts to factories, care homes and other potential daytime bulk customers with personalised letters to leaders highlighting the goodwill you can generate from treating your group to a team-building lunchtime treat, which has worked well. Likewise, there may be an opportunity to do something unique for the working-from-home brigade. The real key is finding out exactly who your customer is or who you want to attract.

I've been a strong advocate when it comes to growing your business. The most effective route to growth is to identify who your existing happy customer is and then find more of that type of person. In many of the previous Podsquads, you will frequently hear me discuss with my fellow Podsquadders that the most common mistake in trying to grow turnover is to develop a menu to try to get more business but this only adds more cost with extra stock, equipment and labour complicating things with the same number of customers with the same amount of money to spend.

Market research doesn't have to be costly or time-consuming to get to know who you are already making happy. Once you know who your customer is, you can figure out where more of that type of person hangs out. I recently met a fish and chip shop manager who looks at the demographics around his business's post-coded area to see income levels and voting patterns as an insight into the likely disposable income for certain areas near him. He uses the information to determine where he is going to focus his advertising. This type of data is free from government websites, and I'd never thought about doing this type of research. I tend to ask my customers over-the-counter questions to build a better picture – like how often they visit a week, etc. Suppose you're interested in finding out how you can get to know your customers better to find more customers. In that case, I highly recommend listening to the Ceres podcasts because they are challenging, inspirational, and full of knowledge sharing from like-minded people like you and me who are in similar boats in the same waters.

You can also join the debate online with the Ceres Podcast Facebook page, where you can post comments (good and bad) about this article and others.