Yarm Road Fish & Chips in Darlington, County Durham, has received the green light for an expansion project that will add a 45-cover restaurant to the business
Just eight months ago, Will Burrell was at The National Fish & Chip Awards in London, celebrating his shop’s second-place finish in the Fish & Chip Takeaway of the Year category. Now, he’s celebrating again, having picked up the keys to what used to be a convenience store next door. In January, work will begin to transform the space into a 45-seater fish and chip restaurant, catering to the growing demand for a sit-down dining experience in the area.
It has been a long-time dream for Lee, ever since he opened Yarm Road Fish & Chips seven years ago, to acquire the shop next door if it came up for sale. Now, supported by a team of 11 and his parents — who owned a fish and chip shop for around 15 years while growing up — Lee is ready to expand and offer more to his customers.
“There’s a huge calling, we believe, in Darlington for a nice restaurant,” says Lee. “There’s nowhere in the area where you can go for your fish and chips and sit down. Our customers keep saying, when are we going to open, we’ll be there, which is encouraging.
“We feel like we can turn it into something special. Because it is just one big detached property, when we have all the new shop frontage on there it will feel like a little fish and chip palace hopefully.”
New challenges
Will is well aware that adapting to a full-service restaurant when it opens in March brings a new set of challenges, such as managing table service, ensuring consistent quality for both takeaway and dine-in customers, and the need for more staff to cater to seated guests. But they are challenges he and the team are ready to face.
“We go into everything with a bit of apprehension, however, we really do feel like there is a lot of confidence in the product and the industry, and we don’t feel it is going anywhere. We’ve had lots of long chats about whether it was the right thing to do and we’re 100% sure it is. I feel we’ve got the takeaway side locked down, we know exactly what we’re doing and how we’re doing it there. And there are 11 of us now – the biggest team I’ve ever had. So I think, for me, and the business, it feels like a very natural progression and I’m really excited to get our teeth stuck into a new challenge.”
Agreeing he will start the new business slowly, “doing the simple things right and then expanding our horizons as we go”, two new additions will feature on the menu: grilled fish and gluten free options. These are two markets that Yarm Road is getting asked more and more about but with the current capacity can’t deliver upon.
The expansion will also involve hiring additional staff and investing in new technology including fully integrated EPOS systems and kitchen screens to help the staff manage orders efficiently, as well as digital menu boards and self-service kiosks to enhance the customer experience. These upgrades aim to improve workflow, reduce wait times, and create a more modern, convenient environment for staff and diners.
“They have been a long time coming, but because we’ve known that the restaurant is on the horizon, we’ve been holding off doing all these jobs to get them all done together,” says Will. “You’ve only got to look around the hospitality sector and see technology is everywhere.
“Also, from what we’ve been reading and the research I’ve been doing, the self-service kiosks help average spend when people have a bit of time to scroll. We’ve seen that on click-and-collect versus in-store orders: the difference is astronomical. So if we can replicate that on a self-serving kiosk, then great.”
Managing costs
The expansion into next door has been made much easier to plan now that prices for key raw materials have dropped. Just last year, Will was paying £14.50 for a 10kg bag of prepared chips, a cost that has now fallen to £7.50. With the business going through 200 bags of chips each week, this reduction makes a huge difference in managing costs and supporting the restaurant’s growth.
“The material costs have stabilised a lot. It makes everything feel more achievable when you’re not just worrying about the bottom line day in, day out, which is, without sounding dramatic, what it got to. It was quite concerning at times.
“Those small savings everywhere have allowed us to plan for the upcoming expansion. It’s also allowed us to progress staff through the ranks, to give them a bit more responsibility and remunerate them accordingly.”
For Will, the best part of taking on this new venture is having his mum and dad by his side. Both are actively involved in the business, bringing their years of experience and support to the table.
“You really can’t beat family,” he says. “My team are amazing, they always have been, but there’s nothing better than that immediate support from your family. And it works really well. We’re all singing from the same hymn sheet. We’ve all got our strengths and our weaknesses, and we all help each other along.”
