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VAW Newsletter
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International Mushy Pea Day Returns
It’s time to get Mushy once again and celebrate the much-loved accompaniment to the Great British Fish & Chip supper… International Mushy Pea Day is BACK!!
On Friday 8th November, the Mushy Pea party begins with the spotlight turning to the best side dish in the world. For International Mushy Pea Day 2017 and 2018, an array of both Fish & Chip Shops and Fish & Chip Suppliers joined in, with shops as far as Hong Kong, New York, Singapore, Canada and Australia, taking part.
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National Fish & Chip Day 2019
7th June marked National Fish and Chip Day 2019 with hundreds of shops up and down the country celebrating, with this year being the BIGGEST AND BEST one yet!! Social Media was a hive of positive stories and posts from shops with #NationalFishandChipDay being a top trend all day!! As well as shops doing their own promotions, coverage and support - crowds of people were drawn to various locations set up the length and breadth of the country with custom made gazebos - filled with Fish and Chip Props and Photo Frames.
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Fold It Bin It - Corrugated Boxes
INTRODUCING our NEW collapsible, corrugated Fish and Chip box which has been created by the hard work of The Q Partnership (V.A.Whitley, Friars Pride and Henry Colbeck’s) primarily to address the issue of overloaded bins.
Our new range of boxes, printed to high quality in the Hook and Fish Design, has been created in response to local councils’ complaints of overloaded bins which attract seagulls as well as feedback from inland shops where waste disposal outside shops is an issue.
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HAVE YOU GOT THE BEST CHICKEN FILLET ON YOUR MENU?
HAVE YOU GOT THE BEST CHICKEN FILLET ON YOUR MENU? Generously sized at 120g, the 42nd Street Chicken Fillet is a succulent Chicken Fillet produced from whole muscle chicken breast and coated in a delicious, crispy golden batter. It’s great between a bun and finished off with fresh lettuce and cool mayonnaise or simply cut up and added into a wrap.
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To Market or to Not Market - Can you really afford not to?
A recent visit to Mark at Henry Street Fish & Chips, in Accrington, led to a very interesting conversation about the marketing that he does. Mark is in his 7th year of owning and running Henry Street Fish and Chips and says that marketing is the key to its success.
Mark sponsors his son, Harry, who is a race-winning jockey and, as part of this, the ‘Henry Street Fish and Chips’ logo appears on his sons riding breeches. This is a great advert not only for Mark’s shop, but also Fish and Chips in general.
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Tony's Talk... Please don't shoot the Messenger
For decades our Trade has been well served by a range of trays, cups and boxes made out of expanded polystyrene (EPS). They provide portion-controlled packaging with excellent levels of insulation at a reasonable cost.
However, prompted by ‘Blue Planet’ and environmental pressures “the powers that be” across Europe have legislated to ban the use of EPS from April 2021 stating that it is ‘bad’ plastic that cannot easily be recycled. They have chosen to ignore the fact that EPS has a tremendous latent thermal capacity that could produce much energy once incinerated (probably because we have insufficient incinerators!).
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Keep Your Shop on the Menu at Lunchtime!
Following on from the feature on the front cover of this issue, and the growing importance for Fish and Chip Shops to compete with the High Street and Supermarkets for Lunchtime trade, we have put together some ’Lunchtime options’ for you to think about.
If you work to the fact that Lunchtime trade would be looking at spending approximately £4 for their meal and tailor your offerings to this.
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Tony's Talk - Make your Fish far healthier with Whitley's Pulse Batter
Tony's Talk - Make your Fish far healthier with Whitley's Pulse Batter...
Pulses are widely recognised for containing high levels of protein, fibre, essential vitamins and minerals. They are also extremely valuable to Farmers for they replace nitrogen in the soil reducing the need for artificial fertilisers whereas other crops take nitrogen out of the soil.
Traditionally our Trade has cooked fish very healthily by steaming it and retaining all its inherent nutrients within its fried batter coating. Whereas grilling fish can lose many of these benefits for they can drift away during cooking.
To further improve the advantages of battered fish during the 1980’s we sought to reduce the level of oil absorption during frying. We tried many proprietary starches and natural gums that purported to do exactly this. Many showed a degree of improvement but at a cost that would have made our batters totally uncompetitive.
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Innovations 2019 - Bringing the Innovators to you!
Innovations 2019 - Bringing the Innovators to you!...
Innovations, the North West’s major exhibition for the Fish & Chips and Fast Food Trade, returned on Sunday 14th April when V.A.Whitley hosted the widest range of Exhibitors so far. Held at the University of Bolton Stadium, the show was again a great success with a busy, constant flow of visitors throughout the day.
Innovations 2019 brought together a huge number of first-class exhibitors who presented outstanding product innovations and concepts covering a range of Food Products, Drinks, Packaging Developments, Hygiene Solutions and all of the latest Catering Equipment.
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SEAFISH - Flexible Training that suits you and your Business
SEAFISH - Flexible Training that suits you and your Business...
Do you want to motivate your workforce, improve the experience of your customers and ensure your business reputation is first class? Successful food businesses are often the ones that invest in developing their people with regular learning and training. Seafish, the public body supporting the £10bn UK seafood industry, offer a variety of flexible food safety and health & safety training programmes to suit the needs of people working in a busy fish frying business.
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