Any Fish and Chip shop owners here?
Any Fish and Chip shop owners here?
Author
Discussion

kurt535

Original Poster:

3,560 posts

134 months

Monday 23rd October 2017
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Have my eye on one; it states turnover is £3k pcw. That seems pretty reasonable. I anticipate gp of @40% but, what do i know!

So, any owners/backers on here of a fish and chip shop? If so, Id be interested in your opinion of the market place.

Ty

Cyberprog

2,258 posts

200 months

Tuesday 24th October 2017
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Standard sort of two till operation smile

uber

860 posts

187 months

Tuesday 24th October 2017
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Was in the business , family still are.

This film could be a documentary into how 95% of chip shops seem to operate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZI4B9TtMFo

One you pay the huge utility bills, account for staff giving out freebies, wastage, then deal with paying the staff you will be lucky to get any change out your 3k

Don't forget the long hours, everybody treats you like crap, suppliers are all muppets, fight HMRC when they accuse you of skimming and staff who all seem to only be there because they have exhausted every other avenue and need to keep 16 hours so not to mess with the benefits.

Finally the fryers all seem to think they are gods and most have alcohol or substance abuse issues. They are also prone to doing a harvey weinstein number on half the staff.




Wacky Racer

40,018 posts

264 months

Tuesday 24th October 2017
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Depends on the fish and chip shop, I'm sure some do very well indeed.

Like all retail businesses you have to keep your overheads to a bare minimum, someone who owns their own property outright is more likely to succeed than someone who pays out £50k per annum rent.




There was a big fight in my local chippy last night, two fish got battered.

cashmax

1,358 posts

257 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
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£3k pw is right at the very bottom of takings for a F&C shop and selling one at this level is not easy. A buyer should be able to name his price and also be confident he can significantly improve that number.

AJB88

14,541 posts

188 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
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Dad owned 2 at same time for about 5 years, very very long hours. Family spent most of the hours there.

Sold them both as businesses separately, both closed down within 2-3 years after we sold them. Both had been on the streets for 30+ years as well.

Think parents made a little bit of profit in the end but most of that came from the building being worth more than when they were purchased.

uber

860 posts

187 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
quotequote all
cashmax said:
£3k pw is right at the very bottom of takings for a F&C shop and selling one at this level is not easy. A buyer should be able to name his price and also be confident he can significantly improve that number.
Agree 100%, and take that with caution because its easy to inflate TO using Just Eat promos. Less than 10k a week and your buying someone elses nightmare

Yipper

5,964 posts

107 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
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Looked into buying a small chain of chip shops a few years ago.

Conclusion... It is a brutal industry. You're very unlikely to become a millionaire selling ~£5 bags of fish and chips.

Despite many hyped-up stories, the average UK chippy only takes a tiny ~£75k revenue and £10-30k net profit per year. For the long hours, dirty work, meddling councils, ripoff landlords and rude customers, it is really not a good living.

Recommendation... Don't bother.

Bristol spark

4,467 posts

200 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
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Ive never understood how my local can sell pie and chips for £3.20.

The margin on that must be small?


StevieBee

14,318 posts

272 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
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Chips shops are sparse in our neck of the woods and our fish and chip needs are served by a truly excellent 'chippy van' that pitches up on Thursday and Friday evenings. The owners seem to be doing very well out of the business.

arfur

3,963 posts

231 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
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Bristol spark said:
Ive never understood how my local can sell pie and chips for £3.20.

The margin on that must be small?
My local one does an OAP cod n chips at lunchtimes for 2 quid ... My dad partakes once a week ....

markcoznottz

7,155 posts

241 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
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AJB88 said:
Dad owned 2 at same time for about 5 years, very very long hours. Family spent most of the hours there.

Sold them both as businesses separately, both closed down within 2-3 years after we sold them. Both had been on the streets for 30+ years as well.

Think parents made a little bit of profit in the end but most of that came from the building being worth more than when they were purchased.
People don't understand the hours involved. Also recently there seems to be a case of shops out blinging each other with refits, either remortgage or bank money no doubt, can't end well. A lot seem to have more and more staff behind the counter.

Frimley111R

17,452 posts

251 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
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I think this has been covered before, try a search

Frimley111R

17,452 posts

251 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
quotequote all
markcoznottz said:
AJB88 said:
Dad owned 2 at same time for about 5 years, very very long hours. Family spent most of the hours there.

Sold them both as businesses separately, both closed down within 2-3 years after we sold them. Both had been on the streets for 30+ years as well.

Think parents made a little bit of profit in the end but most of that came from the building being worth more than when they were purchased.
People don't understand the hours involved. Also recently there seems to be a case of shops out blinging each other with refits, either remortgage or bank money no doubt, can't end well. A lot seem to have more and more staff behind the counter.
Indeed, often a normal job would pay more and be far less hassle.

In my mum's town they have a new blingy fish and chip shop which appears to be doing very well. Posh fish and chips, its all the rage. Probably,

hyphen

26,262 posts

107 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
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Frimley111R said:
Indeed, often a normal job would pay more and be far less hassle.

In my mum's town they have a new blingy fish and chip shop which appears to be doing very well. Posh fish and chips, its all the rage. Probably,
As a frequenter of both posh and traditional chippys, I don't have a preference for takeout as long as the food/Service is good - portion sizes tend to be larger in the latter. For 'eating in' the posh one wins as it is modern, interior designed and so a nicer pace to be.

Posh one also does alternatives such as grilled fish/roasted potatoes and so on, which means you can also take along people who don't fancy fish&chips that day/want to be healthier.

hyphen

26,262 posts

107 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
quotequote all
markcoznottz said:
People don't understand the hours involved. Also recently there seems to be a case of shops out blinging each other with refits, either remortgage or bank money no doubt, can't end well. A lot seem to have more and more staff behind the counter.
Are the hours any different from any other takeaway, probably close earlier on the weekend too?

And most chippys are closed on Sundays whereas the other takeaways are not.

Sheets Tabuer

20,442 posts

232 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
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hyphen said:
As a frequenter of both posh and traditional chippys, I don't have a preference for takeout as long as the food/Service is good - portion sizes tend to be larger in the latter. For 'eating in' the posh one wins as it is modern, interior designed and so a nicer pace to be.

Posh one also does alternatives such as grilled fish/roasted potatoes and so on, which means you can also take along people who don't fancy fish&chips that day/want to be healthier.
Indeed, I can't even step foot in a place if it doesn't serve triple cooked chips, beer battered monkfish and minted peas.

BoRED S2upid

20,779 posts

257 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
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uber said:
cashmax said:
£3k pw is right at the very bottom of takings for a F&C shop and selling one at this level is not easy. A buyer should be able to name his price and also be confident he can significantly improve that number.
Agree 100%, and take that with caution because its easy to inflate TO using Just Eat promos. Less than 10k a week and your buying someone elses nightmare
This. £3k pw would be Saturday night for a busy one or Friday if it’s traditional to have a chippy tea on a Friday in the area. The lines of people outside the door of our village chippy on a Friday each spending close to £20 would add up to a lot more than £3k a week.

Our local has been in the same family for decades does very well indeed supports the family of 3 generations and going by their house they aren’t on the poverty line. No just eat promotions or anything like that very old skool with a line of people out of the shop onto the street on a fri and sat. This is a quiet village not city centre they open mid day and close at 10 I think.

PugwasHDJ80

7,620 posts

238 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
quotequote all
Op PM me

I built a chain of 6 over 8 years which i sold in 2007 (so i'm a little out of date)

Now work in corporate finance. earnt much more in fish and chips......

Countdown

45,122 posts

213 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
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BoRED S2upid said:
uber said:
cashmax said:
£3k pw is right at the very bottom of takings for a F&C shop and selling one at this level is not easy. A buyer should be able to name his price and also be confident he can significantly improve that number.
Agree 100%, and take that with caution because its easy to inflate TO using Just Eat promos. Less than 10k a week and your buying someone elses nightmare
This. £3k pw would be Saturday night for a busy one or Friday if it’s traditional to have a chippy tea on a Friday in the area. The lines of people outside the door of our village chippy on a Friday each spending close to £20 would add up to a lot more than £3k a week.

Our local has been in the same family for decades does very well indeed supports the family of 3 generations and going by their house they aren’t on the poverty line. No just eat promotions or anything like that very old skool with a line of people out of the shop onto the street on a fri and sat. This is a quiet village not city centre they open mid day and close at 10 I think.
I'm not sure if £10k per week is that common tbh. A quick google suggests that would be very much at the top end of the market and you'd be paying a significant amount in rent to pay for the location.

https://www.daltonsbusiness.com/buy/restaurants-fo...

In my limited experience (accountant up north) a decent takeaway will be turning over £6k per week. Out of that you'll have £1500 to pay yourself and staff. That's very rough figures and a lot depends on location/reputation.