Fish and Chip Shop Owner Installs Self-Service Tills to Shield Staff from Price Complaints

A fish and chip shop owner in Pembrokeshire said he is installing self-service tills to protect staff from customers asking abrupt questions about price rises.

Rhys McLoughlin, co-owner of Môr Ffres in Dinas Cross, said there were lots of questions being asked. He added that people did not seem to understand incoming prices were going up and up.

"We have no control over that, so either we work for no money, or we follow the price increase and, unfortunately, we have to pass it on," he said.

The average price of takeaway fish and chips rose to £11.17 in March, according to the Office for National Statistics. In 2019, the average cost was £6.48.

The National Federation of Fish Friers said rising prices had affected frequency of visits and footfall in the majority of fish and chip shops.

"The word on the street is cod could actually double in price by September," McLoughlin said. "That would just be unfeasible for us to even entertain selling it because, ultimately, it's cod and chips. It's not a fillet steak."

He listed other cost pressures. "National minimum wage has gone up, oil is going up, the price of fuel," he said. He added that he feared potato costs could also rise because the price of diesel had gone up.

"If these prices continue to go up, who's going to buy fish and chips for £21? Who can afford that?"

McLoughlin said he would install digital kiosks where customers can place and pay for their own orders. He cited the small building size, which gets full in summer, but also the pressure on staff about costs.

"With prices, there's a lot of questions being asked," he said. "We have got young staff working here and at the end of the day, sometimes this is their first port of business, this is their first stepping stone out of school."

He added: "It's no fun for a boy or girl to come to work to be asked, not abused, but asked pretty abrupt questions on the spot with 20 people in the chip shop. We have actually lost a few members of staff through that."

Sy Crockford at Marina Fish & Chips in Saundersfoot said offering the traditional seaside classic at an affordable price had become very challenging.

"Fish alone, we've never seen anything like it. Cod alone has gone up 50%," he said. "One thing we don't want to do is out-price fish and chips. It's a nostalgia, it's a romance, to come to the beach and have fish and chips, we definitely don't want to outprice."

Crockford said cod and haddock were becoming a luxury not a necessity. He added that offering more sustainable fish options at a budget everyone can afford could change chip shop menus.

Nicola Bratherton, 54, visiting Saundersfoot from Northampton, said she generally would stick to cod as she's not that experimental.

Pauline Webb, 71, on holiday from the Midlands, said: "I have realised that [the price] has gone up, but of course, everything is going up. I know fish has gone up tremendously."

Chip shops in rural villages face similar issues. "About a year and a half ago I was paying about £36 a box [of cod]," said Sioned Phillips, owner of Cegin-24 in Crymych, Pembrokeshire. "Now you're paying between £50, and some places £60, a box for cod."

Like many, she has raised prices. "When I opened, it was £6.95 for a piece of cod. I've had to raise it to £9, and that's being quite reasonable. If I wanted to make a normal amount of profit that I should be making, it should be about £11-£12 for a piece of cod."

"For me, we're in such a rural community area here in Crymych, to justify charging your elderly people, your local people so much for a piece of cod is just absolutely ridiculous."

Having tried alternative fish options, Phillips said customers remained loyal to cod. "We were telling them, look, the haddock is cheaper and it's bigger and they were like, 'no, we still want the cod, it's fine'. But you can see where people are trying to save money. They will order less chips."

Andrew Crook, president of the National Federation of Fish Friers, said the majority understand that fish is a premium protein and therefore should not be cheap. He said people are happy to pay for quality, but it has affected frequency of visits and footfall in general in the majority of shops.

He suggested shops should keep a close eye on their portion sizes and explore alternative fish species.