Quayside of Whitby, North Yorkshire, on Wednesday took the flagship award at the Seafish-organized 26th annual National Fish & Chip Awards.
The awards were initiated in 1988 to raise standards across the industry and to reward individual “chippies” judged to be going that extra bit further. Today, it’s a major social event, pulling in hundreds of guests and attracting considerable media attention.
Participation in the competition is also good for trade. The 2013 winner of the main prize — The Bay Fish and Chips, in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire — saw its turnover double last year, while some regional finalists and regional winners have seen their takings rise by 30 percent and 50 percent, respectively.
The National Fish & Chip Shop award wasn’t Quayside’s only accolade at this year’s ceremony; it also won the Marketing Innovation Award. Both awards were collected from the host, celebrity chef Jean-Christophe Novelli, by company director Stuart Fusco.
Fusco and his family took over Quayside in 1999, since when he has scooped the Young Fish Frier of the Year and Fish and Chip Restaurant of the Year awards.
Other big winners at this year’s awards ceremony included: Poppies Fish & Chips, London, which took the Independent Fish and Chip Restaurant of the Year Award; George’s Tradition Ltd. of Derby, which won the Best Multiple Fish and Chip Operator Award; and Leigh Foster of Patrini’s, Whitley Bay, Tyne & Wear, who was awarded the Young Fish Frier of the Year Award.
The United Kingdom’s fish and chips market comprises 10,000 businesses, mostly independent outlets, that generate annual sales of around GBP 1.2 billion (USD 2 billion, EUR 1.5 billion), the industry is of huge importance to the country’s economy too. The fish and chip market also accounts for around 25 percent of all the whitefish and 10 percent of the potatoes consumed in the country.
