UK chip shop leaders probe threats to future in Belfast mini-summit
The serious challenges facing the food and catering sectors in the United Kingdom were explored at a recent meeting in Belfast by leaders of the nation’s fish and chip industry.
By Sam Butler - Farming Life, 4 Jan 2024
Taking part at the conference in Fish City restaurant in the city’s Ann Street were Geoff and Sam Whitehead, owners of Whitehead’s Fish and Chips of Hornsea in Yorkshire, winner of this year’s Fish and Chip Takeaway of the Year in the industry’s National Fish and Chip Awards, and husband and wife team John and Grainne Lavery, owners of the multi-award-winning restaurant Fish City.
“We discussed a range of issues relevant to the trade, including inflationary pressures on the cost of materials, services, energy and labour, as well as the cost-of-living crisis,” explains John.
“A particular issue affecting us is the collapse of Stormont over the past two years.”
John Lavery, centre, owner of Fish City in Belfast, with Sam Wright and Geoff Whitehead, directors of Whitehead’s in Yorkshire.
He continues: “The viability of hospitality businesses here, a key player in Northern Ireland’s economy as the fourth largest private sector employer with an annual turnover of £2 billion, is being threatened.
“We’ve already seen a number of closures,” he adds.
“These pressures are not only felt in Northern Ireland but broadly across the whole of our industry in the UK.
“We also discussed economic pressures to be faced in the year ahead and how our industry can navigate a way through,” he says.
Fish City Belfast is also the reigning Fish and Chip Restaurant of the Year and winner of the Environment and Sustainability Award.
Whitehead’s Fish and Chips, located on the Yorkshire coast, is a family-run fish and chip takeaway and restaurant that serves fully traceable Marine Stewardship Council-certified (MSC) sustainably sourced cod and haddock, as does Fish City, the first on the island of Ireland to achieve this sustainability accreditation.
Continues John: “I’ve always found those within the fish and chip industry provide support to one another and are happy to exchange knowledge, information and market conditions within their area or region for the benefit of all.”