With the frying trade accounting for 12% of the Great Britain potato crop, ensuring quality across the sector has never been more important. In a bid to help the chip shop industry keep customer satisfaction high and compete in the increasingly aggressive quick service restaurant (QSR) sector, AHDB Potatoes has invested in a new online resource www.bestchips.co.uk.
The site delivers good potato management and best practise procedures, as well as marketing tactics and insights into takeaway and chip consumption patterns, to provide chip shop owners and staff with invaluable, long-term business benefits.
The site is split into four easy-to-navigate sections, including:
· Good potato management – practical advice on buying potatoes; including varietal information, correct storage and stock rotation practises to maximise profit and minimise waste, as well as best practise peeling and frying procedures to deliver consistent results;
· Chip tips – simple downloadable guides with quick reference tips for great tasting and healthier chips, as well as advice on how to run successful promotions;
· Marketing and promotion – ideas to help successfully build local PR and social media profiles;
· Understanding the market – delving into consumption habits and the offers which most excite customers.
Kate Cox, marketing manager for AHDB Potatoes, said: “We recognize that the fish and chip shop industry is unique, and as such it requires market-specific information. We have collated all of the material from our exisiting ‘chip skills’ portal from http://potatoes.ahdb.org.uk/ and added information about market influences and consumption patterns, to create a dedicated, one-stop-shop for the sector.
“As we know, competition in the QSR sector is intense and this means we must do all we can to help chip shop businesses stand out for the right reasons. Top quality chips and simple promotional tools and techniques can make a real diffrence and have significant impact, in terms of sales, awareness and customer retention – both in the short and longer term.
“We developed www.bestchips.co.uk to be the go-to hub for best practise information for chip shop businesses; we believe it will add real value to the sector and help improve chip quality and boost sales back down the chain as a result.”
