A phoenix from the fryer

The Garioch Fish Bar in Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, made an impressive comeback after a devastating fire, and with a string of awards and a carefully diversified menu, is stronger than ever

A fire is every shop owner’s worst nightmare and it was no different for Murray Morrison when, in 2006, the chippy he had bought nine years earlier burnt to the ground. Worst still was when Murray learned the insurance wouldn’t pay out. “The loss adjustor came in and said they weren’t paying and my legs went to jelly,” he says. “It was devastating. It cost me £200,000.”

Murray had barely scraped the money together the first time round to buy the chippy. “I was a 27-year-old running a fish wholesale business and supplying The Garioch. When the owner decided to sell, I said straight away I’ll buy it!” At the time Murray was also running two other fish and chip shops, but gradually sold everything to concentrate solely on The Garioch.

Standing in the wreckage one day, Murray flicked through the half-burned remains of some magazines when a red admiral butterfly flew out of a charred book. Beside it lay a half-burned US $1 bill. “I thought, ‘Wow, a butterfly survived’. It was like a phoenix rising through the ashes. I said, I’m going to rebuild this shop and we will take it to the top.”

Seven months later, The Garioch reopened with everything rebuilt from scratch and all new equipment. 

Broad menu

About 60 miles north of Aberdeen, Inverurie is one of the fastest growing suburbs in the UK, so a new, broader menu was introduced to cater for this growing market. “We do a lot of pies, puddings, king ribs, chip steaks, mock chops and sausages,” Murray explains. “Then fish, we offer haddock, cod, lemon sole, rock, turbot. We’re not far from Peterhead, so get fresh fish every single day.”

Murray knows it can border on “maybe too much” at times, but fish and chips remain the bulk of sales and he makes a point of not following fleeting trends. “Shops get into cupcakes and cookies, they go with fads, but they fade out,” he says. 

He has, however, diversified into pizzas after watching three young operators in Aberdeen make a success of their Big Manny’s Pizza brand during Covid. “They were really successful with pizzas and their marketing,” says Murray. Rather than replicate it himself, he struck a franchise agreement and turned the back of the Garioch into a pizza parlour.

The impact was immediate. “Pizza has added nearly another 50% onto our business,” Murray explains. “It’s difficult to add those kind of figures to your business.”

Most pizza sales come through delivery, meaning the new product line attracted customers who rarely stepped through the chip shop door. Order values soared too with Murray recalling one for £239 worth of pizza, and says the average pizza sale sits at £31.50 thanks to add-ons like cookies, wings and drinks.

Awards 

Before the fire, awards were not something Murray had given much thought to but, following an accident where he fell and broke three ribs, that changed. His son Glen, who had grown up around the shop, stepped in to fry. With Glen involved full-time, they began looking at new ways to grow and decided to test themselves through awards.

The first submission was the Fry 50 Best Fish & Chip Takeaway Awards in 2021. The Garioch scored 94%, two marks short of a place on the list. “I was crying,” Murray admits, part disappointment, part pride that they had come so close at the first attempt.

The following year brought the breakthrough when they received that all important e-mail to say they had made the Fry Top 50. “Me, Glen, my wife and her sister were jumping up and down in the kitchen, hugging each other,” he says. “It was just a brilliant feeling to know we were in that category.”

It was a catalyst for the business with both turnover and visibility both increasing as being listed in the Fry 50 Best meant The Garioch appeared regularly in the press, from national newspapers to local radio. “It’s amazing through the year where it appears. The Sun Newspaper will suddenly run the UK’s top 50 shops or the Daily Record will often say these are Scotland’s top five chippies. So customers come from all over, it’s not just locals that hear about it,” adds Murray. 

The Garioch has since became the only Scottish shop to retain its place over four consecutive years.

Glen has also pursued awards personally, reaching the last four of Drywite Young Fish Frier on his first attempt, then winning the national title in 2025. Their most recent shop-wide success is Best Family Business at the Scottish Fish & Chip Awards earlier this month, and they have also reached the final of the Top 10 Fish & Chip Takeaways, due to be revealed at The National Fish & Chip Awards in February. Staff have risen with them too, with Keira, the shop’s manager, through to the last five in Employee of the Year at the same awards.

Murray estimates that taking part in and winning these awards have added around a third to turnover. “When you get awards in your area, you grow and grow,” he says. “People see them and say, ‘I’m gonna try them out’. And if your food is good, they come back.”

Community presence

Alongside the awards and diversification, The Garioch maintains an active community presence, sponsoring football teams, supporting local fundraisers and running promotions.

“We did a competition to win a fish supper for all the residents in the care home and we ended up supplying 50 residents with free food,” says Murray. Holiday initiatives, such as kids eat free offers designed to introduce young diners to species like hake or pollock, have proved both popular and effective. The shop also purchased the village Christmas tree, a small detail, but one locals remember.

Behind the scenes, however, operating costs have jumped. With 15 staff, many of them young, Murray says the hike in the minimum wage had a major impact. “I had four staff all turning 16 so it was a 51% increase in one month,” he says. “That change added roughly £10,000 a year to my wage bill.

“I felt like I was in control before, but now we are helpless. The government takes 20% of my sales, and now they tell me what to pay the staff. It’s like a business partner that doesn’t listen. The extra sales we’ve got to make just to get that back is ridiculous.”

Standing still isn’t an option, however, and Murray continues to invest where he sees long-term benefit.

A new till system with integrated order screens is currently being introduced, streamlining workflow and enabling targeted customer marketing. “Right now we’re reading every ticket,” he says. “It’s a little bit antiquated. The new setup will show staff exactly what needs cooked and allow promotions to be sent directly to customer phones,” says Murray.

Delivery, too, remains a significant growth area. Pre-covid The Garioch didn’t deliver at all; now they handle over 200 deliveries a week themselves, with average orders of around £25. Inverurie’s rapid expansion – another 2,000 homes are planned – means demand is only increasing. “We don’t have Just Eat at the moment as we’ve always been too small a town, but they are now exploring adding drivers in the area,” explains Murray. “That would be great for us because we’re ready and it would mean we could get to more people, more quickly.”

The next phase is chicken, which The Garioch plans to run as a dark kitchen brand once the takeaway replaces its four pan range with a new five pan model. The pizza success has given Murray confidence that another delivery-only brand could add thousands to weekly turnover. And it means he remains positive about the future of both his business and the fish and chip industry. 

“There’s a future,” he says, “but I think you do need to diversify. If you can add £3,000–£4,000 a week to your shop, the overheads are there anyway – the gas, the electricity, the staff – so it makes the business more viable.”