Traditional charm

Superfish is a family-run fish and chip shop business and is traditional in every sense of the word from the food it serves to the decor of its sites and the customers that come through its doors.
Formed in 1971 by Michael’s father, Alan, it took a capital of just £4,000 to open the first Superfish in Isleworth, Middlesex. “My father had an upholstery business which wasn’t doing very well,” explains Michael. “His uncle had a fish and chip shop and it appealed to him, so needing to feed his family he put an advert out asking for holiday relief and from that he was offered a job.”
Wanting to be his own boss, Michael’s father worked every hour under the sun and carried out most of the shopfitting himself in order to get the Isleworth business up and running. From there it steadily evolved over the years to form the seven strong chain it is today, employing 130 staff and generating an annual turnover in excess of £3,000,000.
The original aim, Michael explains, was to have hundreds of sites across the country, but as time went on that became more and more difficult. “Back in the ‘70s it was a lot easier opening up than it is now. We used to do everything on a relatively small budget, carrying out a lot of the work ourselves. Now we’re looking at around £250,000 a site, which is a big investment.”
Instead of buying further sites and expanding the Superfish empire, Michael and his team have been busy in other areas of the business, for example they’ve just bought out the last outside director, which means the company is now 100% family-owned.
They’ve also bought a number of freeholds and just completed a refurbishment programme which has seen every single site get a face-lift.
“We looked at the recession and what we think customers now want and it was clear that really good looking sites were important,” explains Michael.  With that, all seven sites have been redecorated, the kitchens have been fitted out to very high standards and the branding has been uniformed so as to offer instant recognition to its customers.  
“That’s the hardest part of operating a chain I think - trying to reproduce something seven times so that it’s virtually identical. Each restaurant has its slight differences – they are all ran by different managers so it’s unavoidable – but they are all very subtle and the general feel is that you know when you go into one of our restaurants or takeaways that it’s part of our chain.”
With Superfish being very much a destination – people either come out for lunch or dinner – there is little passing trade and so all seven shops close between 2pm and open again at 5.30pm until 10.00pm.
The customer base is predominately a mix of two demographics, the elderly in the mornings and then families in the evening, which means despite the makeover, the chain has retained its traditional look. “We always try to be about a decade behind in terms of colours,” says Michael. “We are trying to say that we are traditional rather than modern and funky as that suits the markets that we are serving.”
And traditional is clearly working for this Surrey-based chain which serves on average 14,000 customers per week, getting through 420 tonnes of potatoes and 120 tonnes of fish a year. Its menu includes one size of haddock, plaice, rock salmon, skate or scampi. Cod, however, is available in three sizes – small, large and ‘mobey’, which at 12oz and with a £9.15 price tag is one hefty piece of fish.
Interestingly enough the chain serves its fish with the skin on, not because it’s what customers prefer but because the fish appears larger. “With the skin on it gives the fish about 8% more in weight, so the perception is that customers are getting more,” says Michael.
As with many restaurants, dining in commands a premium – here it’s on average £2 on top of the takeaway price. However, customers do get unlimited hot French bread and butter, sauces and pickles and even a free small prawn cocktail starter. “We had the idea about 20 years ago and we’ve been doing it ever since,” says Michael.
As the first fish and chip shop in the country to obtain a licence to sell alcohol, customers can enjoy a range of beers and wines. Although it wasn’t a huge hit at first, it’s something that is really boosting the business’s bottom line now. “People didn’t expect to drink alcohol with their meal when we first started, but the whole eating out concept has changed and now it’s part of enjoying a meal. Alcohol now accounts for about 10% of our sales and in the current recession we are actually selling more wine than we ever have done before as people are trading down from some of the more higher-priced establishments.”
Beginning to attract a new customer-base, at its West Byfleet branch Superfish has been introducing alternative species of fish such as Dover sole, halibut, rainbow trout and marlin and offering it grilled or pan fried. “It’s taken the restaurant to another level, it really has,” explains Michael. “It’s probably accounting for about 10% of sales now, which is quite something.”  
The restaurants may well have moved with the times in regards of healthy eating, offering customers the option of having potatoes instead of chips as well as a salad, but when it comes to the frying medium it’s good old-fashioned dripping all the way.  
“My father came from Yorkshire and we sell ourselves very much as a traditional Yorkshire fish and chip chain and it’s the fat that gives the fish and chips their flavour,” explains Michael.
A solid fat also assists with the higher than normal cooking temperature that Superfish fries at – 205°C. “Frying at this temperature means we are cooking about a minute quicker. We’ve actually run various tests and fat analyses, which have shown that by frying at the temperature we do, the fish is sealed very quickly and therefore absorbs less fat.”
One of Michael’s many roles as MD is to look at ways that he can make Superfish more efficient, and so when an opportunity arose a few years ago of an interest free loan from the Carbon Trust to buy more efficient frying ranges, Michael jumped at the chance.  
“We purchased five Florigo ranges and two KFE ones. Because they are high efficiency they give us power combined with quicker fry times. They also use less gas and since we’ve installed them we’ve been saving about 5% of our energy costs a year, which is a significant saving as its our third biggest cost after food and staff.”
Michael’s also been keen to tackle rising food costs, firstly by eliminating all waste. “Food inflation is running at about 10% at the present time so I’m very hot on my managers to cut down on waste and work with suppliers on sourcing products that have a better shelf life so that we’re not throwing away as much.”
Savings have also been made by moving the purchasing away from individual shops and carrying it out from one centralised point. “It’s beneficial in so many ways because we are more in control, for example we are able to run on half week stock levels, which means we don’t have money tied up in stock and it helps with our aim of reducing waste because we don’t have the problem of sell by dates.
“Rising food costs is definitely our biggest challenge at the moment as we can’t just put up our prices, but what we can do is to make sure we are as efficient as possible.”
It’s a job that sees Michael cover many miles visiting potato fields in Essex, to fish markets in Grimsby and trawlers in Norway. “It’s all part of trying to up our game and to do this you need to know what’s happening in the industry and what new products are available,” concludes Michael.