I did it my way

Setting off to visit Harbour Fish Bar in the seaside town of Teignmouth in Devon was always going to be exciting for me as this is where I used to holiday as a child some 25 years ago. I have fantastic memories of those days when the sun seemed to shine continually and the days went on forever.
Much to my surprise and delight, this traditional seaside resort hasn’t changed at all. Although it has moved with the times – the pedestrian area now houses a skate park and a children’s play area – the main fabric remains the same. The smell of salty sea, the sound of squawking seagulls and the old-fashioned pier sprawling out into the sea. Even the hotel we stayed in year after year is still there, although not a hotel anymore but apartments.
So I was equally pleased when I arrived at Harbour Fish Bar to see it was a traditional fish and chip shop – very fitting for this walk down memory lane. Ok so it didn’t have a modern, gleaming shop front but it oozed charm and character and you had a feeling even before you walked through the door that it served quality fish and chips.
Owner Russell Gray bought the shop in 1989 from a Greek family and made some immediate changes. Not only did he strip the menu of kebabs and pizzas to focus purely on a handful of fish, he also reduced the opening hours which had a dramatic impact on trade. “The previous owners went for the late night market, staying open until 2.30 sometimes 3.00 in the morning. It worked but it wasn’t the way I wanted to do it. I changed the menu and closed at 11.30pm and my turnover halved,” he remarks.
But this didn’t matter to Russell who wanted to strive for a high quality, traditional fish and chip shop run the way he was taught from the early age of 12. “If owners took a much more caring approach to fish and chips and stuck to it instead of dabbling in everything, I don’t think the trade would struggle as it does sometimes. I just don’t think we should neglect what got us started in the first place. So yes, I could have done it the way the previous owners had done, but I knew I wouldn’t have been happy,” says Russell. “And I was confident that my way would work.” And it clearly has because while the previous owners were here for five years, Russell has been here for 21 years.
Russell, who at the age of 16 was already managing his first fish and chip shop, certainly has his own way of doing things and admits he doesn’t fit the mould for this part of the country. For one, he serves his fish with the skin on. “It’s not what people round here generally like and it’s taken some time to win people over, but it’s the way I was taught to do it,” he adds. Of course, if customers ask for the skin to be taken off Russell is only too happy to oblige.
Even when it comes to frying on his automatic three pan Preston and Thomas (www.prestonandthomas.co.uk) range, Russell can’t resist doing his own thing, changing the temperatures for example and using it more like a manual one. But with a firm grounding in the business from someone who had six fish and chip shops, you can see why Russell likes to do things the way he was taught back then. After all you don’t get to own half a dozen shops without doing something right.
In terms of potatoes, Russell won’t stick hard and fast to maris pipers, believing they are the easy option and not necessarily always the right option. “Too many people in my opinion come into fish and chips these days thinking it’s easy. They stick a manager in who hasn’t got a clue really and they know that maris pipers are a safe bet as they are pretty indestructible.”
However, with maris pipers getting dryer and loosing much of their flavour, Russell has switched to maris bards. “There are times of the year when pipers are very good, but for the extra money you can find others that taste far better.”
Using other varieties has meant embarking on a reeducation programme with the customers who Russell believes have been brainwashed by the likes of McDonald’s into thinking every chip should be pale in colour and of a perfect size. “I’ve not only had people complain that their chips are burnt but I’ve also had one customer complain that the chips all had pointed ends rather than being flat! Again, it’s something that takes some time, but it’s all about that word again,” he says as he points to the window graphic that reads ‘traditional fish and chips’.
A product that Russell has found to have a profound effect on his business, taking him from serving great fish and chips to what he believes are now fantastic fish and chips, is Sunrise Batter Mix from Kerry Foodservice (www.kerry-foodservice.co.uk). “There are very few things that come into this market for fish and chips that take us back to that traditional taste, but Sunrise does. It’s how batter used to be made 30 years ago,” he raves. “It’s crispy, has a nice, light texture, and we have people actually coming in saying that’s how their fish and chips used to taste when they were a kid.”
I was keen to find out where Russell thought things went wrong then as he continually refers back to those golden years. And he certainly didn’t hold back with an answer, laying the blame at the lack of skilled staff in the industry today. “I think over the years batters have changed quite a lot. There are more and more managers in shops, and so the batters have become more and more fool-proof so that anyone can make them up.
“This batter is absolutely fantastic, but it’s a batter for professionals. You have to know exactly what you are doing – and everything has to be just right, not just in terms of how the batter is prepared but the temperature of the oil as well.”
Over the years, Russell has made a number of changes to the shop. As the high street has got quieter and drinking hours have been extended, there’s been less and less of a night-time trade so the shop now closes at 9.30pm. “Most fish and chip shops, especially English-owned ones, are shut by 9.30pm and we found people assumed we would be, so in the end we closed too and I’m not taking any less money through cutting back on the hours,” says Russell.
Surely Russell is envious of those fish and chip shops on the seafront attracting tourists by the coach-load? “Not really,” says Russell in his frank manor. Although very appreciative of the extra trade the holidaymakers bring, for Russell he has enough of a local following to keep him going throughout the year. “Put it this way,” he says. “If we had no holidaymakers I wouldn’t have a new car this year, but I would still be here. I see the holiday trade as a bonus really.”
Like most shops, Harbour Fish Bar has had to give in to customer demand and diversify the menu slightly over the years and it now includes saveloys and two sizes of burgers, a 4oz and a 2oz. When the smaller size failed to sell, Russell looked to the high street for inspiration and on noticing McDonald’s selling burgers for 99p decided he would match it. Rounding the price up to an even £1 and offering cheeseburgers as well, he’s gone from selling just over 20 a week to selling nearly 200. “I just put it in the window on a chalkboard and I couldn’t believe the amount of people that were coming in. The aim here wasn’t to beat people on price, but to get customers in the habit of coming here as this means they aren’t going somewhere else.”
Everyone from builders to families ordering ten at a time for their dinner are taking Harbour Fish Bar up on the offer, but what it’s also doing is driving sales of other items such as chips, sides and drinks. “I don’t think I can really ever stop selling them now,” adds Russell.
Another winner has been cheesy chips, which were recommended to Russell by one his younger members of staff. “I just didn’t get it at first,” he remarks, “but my colleague said his dad was serving them in his pub and they were doing really well.”  The deal was that if the pair could find a clean way of serving cheesy chips then on the menu they would go. After much experimenting they came up with the simple process of using an upside down chip box, adding in the cheese, then the chips before closing the lid and turning it back up the right way. “It works perfectly,” says Russell, “And they are really popular especially with the children who are used to having them at school.”
Two new additions to the menu have been curry sauce and gravy for which Russell uses Dinaclass (www.kerry-foodservice.co.uk). And not surprisingly, Russell has his own unique preparation method. “I know I’m not meant to do it the way I do but it works really well for me.” And it certainly works in financial terms as well because as soon as the shop sells it’s very first portion of sauce, it pays for the rest of the mix. “The profit potential is just fantastic,” says Russell, “and it’s so quick and easy to make.”
It’s been refreshing meeting Russell. While a traditionalist at heart, he’s not afraid of doing things differently and bucking the trend. “It’s my shop and people come here for my food,” he says. “We all have our personal ways of doing things and that’s what makes us all different. My way is as close as I used to do it when I was 16 and I know it’s not right for everyone, but it works for me. I’m making a living and I’m happy with that,” he concludes.