As Graham prepares to pass on the silverware to a new winner, he reflects on how passion, patience and luck have all played a part in Bells’ success
As our year as the winner of Fish & Chip Restaurant will soon come to a close, I’ve found myself looking back on what has been an extraordinary time. Despite all the challenges facing the industry and the general gloom, we’ve had a good year. I firmly believe the investment we made several years ago, when we re-established the business into what it is now, has truly paid off, or certainly is paying off.
That investment centred on building new shops from scratch. We grew from one small takeaway to multiple sites, not by purchasing existing shops, but by creating purpose-built ones entirely ourselves. A blank canvas gave us the chance to design something unique, but it also brought significant risk. There was no ready-made customer base, we were starting completely fresh each time.
I remember when I bought the old car garage at Framwellgate in 2017, a lot of friends and colleagues wondered why I was doing it. The building alone cost nearly a million pounds, and no fish shop had ever traded there before. But it was a fresh start I believed in. Today, that site has 120 seats plus a substantial takeaway area, and it’s the one that won Fish & Chip Restaurant of the Year. It shows the importance of having foresight, passion and the willingness to push forward even when others doubt you. And, of course, patience, because none of this happened overnight.
Luck plays its part as well. Had Covid struck a year earlier, we would likely have been wiped out because we were heavily stretched at that point. Luck plays a bigger role in business than people like to admit.
The industry right now is tough. Fish prices, in particular, have been unbelievable. Smaller shops must be struggling enormously, but the costs affect us too as we use close to 100 cases a week, so the increase is brutal. But we remain positive. We keep a close eye on margins, and if we can save even a penny, we do by sending staff home early when possible or adjusting rotas with the weather at our seaside shop. Every saving counts. People are the biggest expense after fish, and you must manage staffing sensibly without compromising the customer experience.
Across all four of our shops, we track costs on a weekly basis. We calculate the exact cost per portion from every box of fish and if prices rise, then our prices have to rise. There’s no point being a busy fool. We’ve even spread some of the increased fish cost across other products, putting a few extra pence on items like sausages so the impact doesn’t fall solely on fish. I can see a time where we present fish and chips separately on the menu, so have fish as the main item and chips listed below, much like an Indian takeaway lists rice. Fish at £9.50 looks better to the customer than fish and chips at £13.50.
As for January, we won’t be offering any deals as things are too tight to give away margin, and the last few Januarys have actually been better than expected. Instead, we’ll encourage our staff to take their holidays and schedule any maintenance work while things are naturally quieter so we are ready for a busy Easter.
Finally, I just want to say good luck to all the finalists heading to London in February for the National Fish & Chip Awards. I’m sure they’re excited and nervous as we were. We look forward to handing over the silverware with just as much pride as we received it.
