Harry Ramsdens sold for around £5million

[FourWheelDrift]

The world's biggest fish and chip chain that has 36 owned and franchised outlets throughout the UK and Irish Republic and serves around 4 million meals annually has recently been sold for (quite a low price IMHO) a believed less than £5million to Boparan Ventures Limited. This is a business owned by Birmingham businessman Ranjit Boparan who made his money by supplying Tescos with Chickens (his Two Sisters company).

His plan is to take the brand further by adding another 100 branches and to overseas into the big fish friendly regions of India, China and the rest of South East Asia.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/re...

So do we see a piece of genius here, even a potential future rival to the US Burger franchises? As the Telegraph piece says, fish is very popular and religion friendly in those parts. Rather than Cod & Haddock they could produce local speciality battered fish.

"er.....can I have..er...One Battered Dolphin & chips, one Angel Fish & Chips and two Blowfish & Chips with a side order of mushy Starfish please".

[Magog]

Isn't decent fish and chips traditionally fried in Beef Dripping or Lard, not going to go down well in various parts of the sub-continent.

[jas xjr]

Magog said:

Isn't decent fish and chips traditionally fried in Beef Dripping or Lard, not going to go down well in various parts of the sub-continent.

all they do is adapt to the local market. mcdonalds is very big in india , they just sell lots of veggie stuff and chicken based meals. not sure if the fish and chip thing would work though. but they do love anything from the uk and us.

[Bing o]

FourWheelDrift said:

So do we see a piece of genius here, even a potential future rival to the US Burger franchises? As the Telegraph piece says, fish is very popular and religion friendly in those parts. Rather than Cod & Haddock they could produce local speciality battered fish.

"er.....can I have..er...One Battered Dolphin & chips, one Angel Fish & Chips and two Blowfish & Chips with a side order of mushy Starfish please".

Let me see, I'm sat on the beach in Thailand, what do I decide to eat - some freshly caught fish cooked on a barbeque in front of me accompanied with a bucket of sam sam, or do I eat some imported frozed tasteless deep fried st from HR's? It's a toughy!!

[Escort2dr]

£5m does not sound a lot. F&C at the original place in Guiseley used to be great but I've tried their stuff elsewhere and it was st.

[FourWheelDrift]

Bing o said:

FourWheelDrift said:

So do we see a piece of genius here, even a potential future rival to the US Burger franchises? As the Telegraph piece says, fish is very popular and religion friendly in those parts. Rather than Cod & Haddock they could produce local speciality battered fish.

"er.....can I have..er...One Battered Dolphin & chips, one Angel Fish & Chips and two Blowfish & Chips with a side order of mushy Starfish please".

Let me see, I'm sat on the beach in Thailand, what do I decide to eat - some freshly caught fish cooked on a barbeque in front of me accompanied with a bucket of sam sam, or do I eat some imported frozed tasteless deep fried st from HR's? It's a toughy!!

That's the whole point of it, it won't be frozen imported fish, it will be local produce.

[anonymous-user]

I went to the original HR in Guisley once back in the 80's, before it was a chain, and it was excellent. The "branches" look like any other cheap and crap fast food dump.

[Magog]

jas xjr said:

Magog said:

Isn't decent fish and chips traditionally fried in Beef Dripping or Lard, not going to go down well in various parts of the sub-continent.

all they do is adapt to the local market. mcdonalds is very big in india , they just sell lots of veggie stuff and chicken based meals. not sure if the fish and chip thing would work though. but they do love anything from the uk and us.

Fair enough. I've never really understood the Harry Ramsdens thing. Decent fish and chips is about having a nice independent local chippy. They're all a little bit different, different batters, different fish, different frying mediums, different potatoes for the chips etc. A chippy isn't really a scalable business beyond having two or three local branches, its like a local pub.

Also anyone remember what this guys son did?

[DBSV8]

In the Moscow times recently ,

powers that be considering opening up the market for Fish and chips in Russia with the limitless supply of fresh fish , would make good business sense .

Whatch this space

the first Burger King opened in Moscow last week !!!

[AndrewW-G]

FourWheelDrift said:

"er.....can I have..er...One Battered Dolphin & chips

Wouldnt that be mammal and chips, not F&C

[markcoznottz]

They have gone downhill a lot in the last ten years, its like the markets changed but they havent. A lot of small independent fish and chip shops sell much tastier fare, in fact most small chippies seem to have raised thier game recently, its either do that or die.

[Bing o]

FourWheelDrift said:

Bing o said:

FourWheelDrift said:

So do we see a piece of genius here, even a potential future rival to the US Burger franchises? As the Telegraph piece says, fish is very popular and religion friendly in those parts. Rather than Cod & Haddock they could produce local speciality battered fish.

"er.....can I have..er...One Battered Dolphin & chips, one Angel Fish & Chips and two Blowfish & Chips with a side order of mushy Starfish please".

Let me see, I'm sat on the beach in Thailand, what do I decide to eat - some freshly caught fish cooked on a barbeque in front of me accompanied with a bucket of sam sam, or do I eat some imported frozed tasteless deep fried st from HR's? It's a toughy!!

That's the whole point of it, it won't be frozen imported fish, it will be local produce.

Good luck sourcing potatoes in Thailand then.

Anyone who's been out to SE Asia will vouch for how much better the local dishes are than the ste HR dish up.

[FourWheelDrift]

Bing o said:

FourWheelDrift said:

Bing o said:

FourWheelDrift said:

So do we see a piece of genius here, even a potential future rival to the US Burger franchises? As the Telegraph piece says, fish is very popular and religion friendly in those parts. Rather than Cod & Haddock they could produce local speciality battered fish.

"er.....can I have..er...One Battered Dolphin & chips, one Angel Fish & Chips and two Blowfish & Chips with a side order of mushy Starfish please".

Let me see, I'm sat on the beach in Thailand, what do I decide to eat - some freshly caught fish cooked on a barbeque in front of me accompanied with a bucket of sam sam, or do I eat some imported frozed tasteless deep fried st from HR's? It's a toughy!!

That's the whole point of it, it won't be frozen imported fish, it will be local produce.

Good luck sourcing potatoes in Thailand then.

Anyone who's been out to SE Asia will vouch for how much better the local dishes are than the ste HR dish up.

He's targeting India and China initially then SE Asia. Considering China is the worlds largest potato grower and India is the 3rd biggest I think supply won't be a problem. And Thailand grow their own. 7,000 hectares producing 90,000 tons annually and increasing, they do import as well.

[Bing o]

FourWheelDrift said:

He's targeting India and China initially then SE Asia. Considering China is the worlds largest potato grower and India is the 3rd biggest I think supply won't be a problem. And Thailand grow their own. 7,000 hectares producing 90,000 tons annually and increasing, they do import as well.

Furry muff, I stand corrected. I still can't see it working, but then I don't have £5million either...

[FourWheelDrift]

I also don't think he's trying to be everywhere straight away. If he can get a foot hold in India then China, it might still take 10 years before he tries anywhere else. India should be fine he has his contacts there and I can see him hitting Shanghai early that should be quite easy considering Tescos, Marks & Spencer and others are already there.

[Dogwatch]

unrepentant said:

I went to the original HR in Guisley once back in the 80's, before it was a chain, and it was excellent. The "branches" look like any other cheap and crap fast food dump.

Strange but true. The original HR had a daughter who married a bloke also called Harry and he became famous for his glove puppet routine. Yes, it was Harry Corbett.

[Jasandjules]

5million sounds pretty cheap for that to me. But then again the price of fish has rocketed hasn't it? So I don't know if fish and chips is as popular as it once was, but then again my local chippy of a Friday night usually has a line of customers out the door.

[10 Pence Short]

When I was young my grandparents used to take me to Guiseley once in a while, it was very good. Once it was 'sold out', even the flagship store ended up serving sub-Harvester crap. It was a travesty.

Sadly, once the motivation was all around profiteering solely around the brand, the magic was gone.

[FourWheelDrift]

Reading up on the them it seems since 1988 they have gone through a series of buyouts, Granada, and most recently in the hands of a travel company.

business dealings said:

In 1988, the company which still comprised the original Guiseley fish and chips "palace" was bought by Merryweathers led by Chairman John Barnes who following a successful blue chip career with Proctor and Gamble and KFC led the management team which transformed the business from a single restaurant in Yorkshire to a world famous brand.

Following a decision by their bank to withdraw funding, the management pulled off an audacious move to float the company on the London Stock exchange in 1989. The public offer was over subscribed by two and a half times.The next ten years saw rapid expansion throughout the UK and worldwide through company owned and franchised restaurants. Worldwide locations in Hong Kong, Australia, EPCOT and Saudi Arabia added to the growing stature as an international brand.

A franchise deal with Granada motorway services to develop kiosk style units ultimately led to Granada Ltd buying Harry Ramsden's for £20 million in October 1999. When acquired by Granada – Harry Ramsden’s comprised 4 company owned restaurants, 25 franchises and 16 Henry Higgins units. Granada expanded Harry Ramsden’s into motorway locations. Some franchise territories infringed onto motorways so Granada bought the franchises back.

In 2000 Compass merged with Granada.Under Compass, the business was expanded into Moto service station kiosks, contract catering locations such as schools, Post Office canteens, Little Chef, Butlins and Haven Holidays.

By April 2006, Compass had spun off its motorway service stations to Moto bought by Macquarie Bank of Sydney, Australia. Its specialist airports and railways division SSP was sold for £1,822 million to EQT Partners of Sweden (who also own Findus). Harry Ramsden's was sold with the SSP business.

Under the early years of SSP ownership the business had to compete with other SSP brands for investment.

In 2008 SSP recruited industry turnaround specialist Chris Sullivan as Managing Director. During 2009 Chris Sullivan led a radical revision of the food on offer improving quality,reducing wait times and removing menu items which were more pub-restaurant than chip shop. The strategy delivered a marked improvement in sales in the food court and seaside restaurant business of Harry Ramsden's promping parent company SSP to market the business for sale.

On 19 January 2010 SSP sold Harry Ramsden's to Boparan Ventures Limited. BVL is the private investment vehicle of Ranjit Boparan.

I'd say the brand has been diluted by rubbish, I mean motorway service stations?

I think Ranjit needs to the get the quality back.

[anonymous-user]

Bing o said:

Good luck sourcing potatoes in Thailand then.

Anyone who's been out to SE Asia will vouch for how much better the local dishes are than the ste HR dish up.

I think the 'attraction' is that it's a different kind of food to what the locals have.

When the one in Hong Kong opened back in the early '90s people queued up for hours to get in. All it served was cheap imported frozen fish and imported pre cut frozen potatoes, even the batter came in big drums that was mixed with water in the back room.