Flying the flag

Whether he’s championing the industry at events or keeping up a weekly family fish and chip tradition, Drywite Young Fish Frier of the Year James Ellams is always flying the flag for fish and chips

Since winning Drywite Young Fish Frier of the Year, we’ve seen around a 30% increase in trade at Fish & Chips @ Weston Grove, and the best thing is that we’ve managed to maintain that level. It’s not just been a short-term boost – we’ve kept people coming back, which is really great to see.

A big focus this year for me has been apprenticeships. Jay Potts has now completed his first apprenticeship and has moved on to his second, which is a Level 3 Hospitality Supervisor qualification. We’ve also got another apprentice, Darcy, who is doing the same qualification. I’m overseeing the apprentices now, which is something I really enjoy. It’s nice to be able to give back and support the next generation coming through the industry. A lot of that is hands-on training so I spend time showing them the day-to-day tasks and helping them build confidence in the shop. There’s also a written side to their learning, with professional discussions and coursework to prepare for.

National Fish and Chip Day was a huge highlight recently. It was an incredibly busy day for the shop, but we also did something that had been on my agenda for a long time – we invited all the Year 6 pupils from a local school to come and have fish and chips with us. There were around 30 children, and it was brilliant. I’ve always thought it would be a really nice thing to do, and seeing the children enjoy themselves made it worthwhile. What got me most was hearing some of them say, “I want to work here when I’m older”. I found that quite overwhelming, it was a really proud moment.

Back in March, I attended the Friars Pride FRY I.T. exhibition in Exeter and spent time on the Drywite stand. It was great to see so many young people coming over to ask about the award. I take a lot of pride in talking to younger people about the fish and chip industry and encouraging them to enter next year. I also organised a brilliant trip to Larry’s Fishcakes and Colmans Seafood Temple for other young friers in the trade, and I attended The Norwegian Seafood Inspiration Day in London, which was another great experience. It was interesting to see alternative fish species being used in creative ways and to see how fish and chips can be presented as street food. 

We’ve recently introduced a new lunchtime menu because our lunchtime trade never really recovered after Covid, and we wanted to give people more reasons to come in during the day. We now offer lighter fish and chip meals, loaded chips, chicken bites, fishcakes and street food specials, including Thai honey sticky chicken loaded chips and salt and pepper loaded chips. The variety is attracting a wide range of customers with younger customers coming in from the Steven Gerrard Football Academy for the loaded chips, while church groups and regular customers still enjoy traditional fish and chips. It’s really diverse, and thankfully, it’s keeping us busy.

As a family of four, we’ve also made it a tradition to go out for fish and chips every Monday since I won the award. I do it because I genuinely love fish and chips, but also because I want to create memories around them. The fish and chip industry has become such a huge part of my life so I want my children to grow up with those memories, and it’s valuable family time together.