We talk price increases, taking over social media and a £1m move to Guernsey with Antony Akathiotis, owner of Merchants of Bewdley and Merchants of Halsowen in the West Midlands
How has trade been over the last 12–18 months?
It’s been okay and generally ticking over, but with prices rising across the board, our profit has definitely taken a hit. The pricing structure isn’t where it needs to be, but there’s only so much you can do before it starts putting people off.
What have you been doing to manage rising costs?
We review our costs and margins constantly and increase prices when we have to, but we’ve reached a point where we simply can’t raise them to the level they should be. If we did, footfall would drop. So we’re absorbing a chunk of it ourselves. Your turnover might go up with price rises, but the profit doesn’t follow if customers stop coming through the door.
Have you seen any change in customer buying habits?
Not a huge change, but we adapted the way we operate a while ago. We introduced different portion sizes and a range of meal deals – mini cod, mini haddock, mini hake – and now regular haddock meals too, just to even out the pricing. A large cod meal is £15, but that includes large cod, chips and a sauce in a bio box. We find that people prefer buying a meal rather than everything separately, and with the boxes, portion control works better for us.
In Bewdley, our pension special is still the biggest seller at £12.50, and that includes a regular cod, small chips, sauce, tea or coffee, and bread and butter. The portions are smaller, but those are our weekly regulars. Families, on the other hand, aren’t coming in quite as often. They used to come every Friday without fail, but now it might be once every two weeks. They still come in for a mid-week treat, but the routine has changed.
How often do you look at your figures?
We used to review everything once a year, but now we’ve got to do it much more frequently. Fish prices are continually rising, batter is going up, everything is creeping higher, and you can’t wait 12 months in this climate.
What about staffing? Have you had to cut back?
No, across the two shops we’ve got around 30 staff, including quite a few full-timers, and you can’t just drop them when things get tight because they’ve got families. My wage bill went up by about £30,000 a year when the minimum wage and NI increased in April, which is a lot for a small business. We want to pay people well, but it’s a challenge. Our problem is that young people can go to places like Aldi, Lidl and Tesco and earn more, so you’ve got to match it to some extent. But we look after our staff and don’t treat them as numbers. Good staff are hard to find and getting rarer because fewer people want to do this kind of work.
You’ve just bought on a new shop in Guernsey, why and how did that come about?
Yes, it’s called Beetons and it’s a fantastic shop. I’ve got family in Guernsey so I’ve been going for about 15 years and I love the place. We wanted to try something different because you can get stuck in your ways. Someone recently called it “behind the range syndrome,” which sums it up perfectly. We wanted to be a bit more innovative, and I think the shop will work really well.
When we go over, we always get fish and chips from Beetons. It’s traditional, fish and chips and the owners, Andy and Kim, are lovely. They’d had the shop for 25 years and built it up from scratch, despite not knowing the trade at the beginning. It’s genuinely the best shop on the island. We’re calling it Merchants at Beetons in their honour.
Loving a place is one thing, but opening a business there is another!
True, but Guernsey is a beautiful island with a slower pace of life and around 65–70,000 people, so it’s a community in itself. What actually attracted me the most is that there are no big chains, so no KFC, McDonald’s, Greggs, nothing. I think Burger King only lasted six months. It feels like running a shop in the ’90s, when your competition was just the local chippy, Chinese or Indian. Here in the UK, we’re competing against every food place imaginable. Having said that, the standard of food in Guernsey is really, really good with everything from steaks to sushi to seafood.
What plans do you have for Beetons? Does need much changing?
Honestly, no. It’s the cleanest shop I’ve ever stepped into, and it’s ready to start trading right away. The menu is very focused on fish and chips and they already offer gluten free, which we might expand. We’re hoping to open in mid-January and we’re already getting a lot of messages from locals who are excited.
How will you juggle running a shop in Guernsey and two in the West Midlands?
It’ll be a bit tough at first. I’ll be out there for a while to get things settled, but my manager James is coming with me. I’ve got a good team lined up and ready to go. We’ll employ and train more people as we go. We’ve built a strong team here, and they’ll run the existing shops well while I focus on Guernsey.
How do you feel about making an investment of almost £1 million in the current climate?
I’m not doing it alone, I’ve got an investor, but I’m really positive about it. Like I said, it feels like going back to the ’90s but with a modern edge. You’re not battling every type of food business, and you don’t have to expand the menu to please everyone. It’s just quality, traditional fish and chips. The foundation is already great, but we think we can take it up another level.
Opening a new shop here in the Midlands would be a much tougher fight because the competition is huge. And in Guernsey, there’s no VAT, so the pricing structure will be completely different and I’m not handing over 20% of my sales straight away.
Are there many fish and chip shops on the island?
There are about five or six, plus the pubs all serve fish and chips. I still think it will do really well, and the hope is to move out there eventually.
You’re incredibly well-known on social media thanks to Destiny “the Chip Shop Diva”. How did that come about?
Yes, we set out to be the fish and chip shop on social media, because once you’ve got that title you don’t lose it. Fish and chips appeals to everyone – Americans, Australians, Chinese, Asian audiences – it’s a big thing. Our strategy was to lead on social and build it to a level where no one could catch us, and I think we’ve done that.
We’ve got 617,000 followers on TikTok and over 22 million likes. Over the last year we’ve had 230 million views just on TikTok and in the last week alone, nearly 2 million. Add in Instagram and the reach is even bigger.
Destiny has been brilliant. She’s been with me for about four years now and loves making the videos and now she’s known as the Chip Shop Diva. It’s just a different approach, a bit of fun, a bit of banter. We’ve had Professor Green do a video with us, worked with Pepsi Max, lastminute.com, Procter & Gamble. Loads of brands want to work with us and . we’ve even had people asking about a pop-up shop in New York! It’s just been incredible.
Do you think the fish and chip industry here has a positive future?
I do. Things will improve, but shop owners are getting older and it’s not like it used to be, where the kids would take over the business. So I think there will be fewer operators. And some shops are becoming more like general food outlets, serving everything. I don’t think the future is bleak – fish and chips will always be around – but I do think there will be fewer dedicated fish and chip shops.
Where you are in Bewdley you used to suffer from flooding, how is the new flood defence system working?
Yes, back in 2000, we were hit really badly. Within 15 minutes the shop was underwater, it killed is, it flooded us out, and we lost a week dealing with the damage. We had an old Middletons frying range on hydraulics so we could lift it up to the ceiling! The new barriers are up now and the flood defence system seems to be doing its job. It’s amazing when you stand by the bridge and see the power of the water. Without those barriers we would be flooded every time.
