Fish n' Chips and other fast food question: IMPORTANT!
Well, for a Business studies/economics assignment (40 pages!!!!!!) I was given the task of setting up a hypothetical business. This is basically doing everything APART from actually doing it, if that makes sense.
Anyway, I'm setting up a (hypothetical) Fish n' Chip shop and I just wanted to know what would make you want to visit a Fish n' Chip shop, from the outside I mean. What kind of shopfront aesthetics would make you think "wow, let's go there!" There are no Mcdonalds, Burger King or KFC etc. where I live, so there are no big brands to compete with: just 2 pubs and a chinese take-out.
Also if you could think of a good name for my shop, that would be great! I thought of: "House of Cod" and "The best Plaice in town" but I couldn't think of any others that aren't already established Fish n' Chip companies.
Comments
11 years ago
Well, Hypothetically, I wouldn't use the name "House of Cod," because it only takes one bored teenager to change that D to something else(If you know what I mean)
What about, "The fish Plaice"?
"The plaice of chips"?
Reply 11 years ago
and "The CodFather"
L
Reply 11 years ago
and "In Cod We Trust"
L
Reply 11 years ago
Yeah I thought about "In Cod We Trust," but I preffered "House Of Cod." As for the "CodFather," there is already a registered company under that name.
Reply 10 years ago
Yeah i've a fish and chip shop named "The Cod Father" near me.
Reply 11 years ago
I think all of them have been used previously, I didn't think that one up you know...
House Of Cod has not been registered as a limited company (T/A perhaps), so that's yours for the taking.
L
CODFATHER LIMITED
THE COD FATHER LIMITED
CODFATHER HOT FOOD LTD - THE
COD FATHER (J.S.) LTD (dissolved)
THE CODFATHER OF SOLE LIMITED
THE CODFATHER 1 LIMITED (also 2 & 3)
CODFATHER (ROMFORD) LIMITED (dissolved)
THE CODFATHERS PLAICE LIMITED (dissolved)
CODFATHER (TELFORD) LIMITED
COD FATHER (UK) LTD
COD FATHER (WALES) LIMITED
'COD' FELLA'S LIMITED
Reply 11 years ago
Wow people seem to like that name!
Reply 11 years ago
Yes, but I was surprised not to find a House of Cod.
L
Reply 11 years ago
The Cod Piece, perhaps?
Reply 11 years ago
Win. winwinwinwinwin!!!
Reply 11 years ago
He has to do 40 pages on this - I think he could spend at least two of them discussing the psychology of naming small food outlets...
Reply 11 years ago
Maybe look up for some tips on subliminal messages / colors? I heard that they did a survey and found that people though that that cigarette packets with lighter colors and no name sayings such as "lighter tar" were healthier.
Maybe a little research could end up with an extra page or two.
Reply 11 years ago
In a similar vein, it has been found that stimulant medications "work better" if the tablets are blue.
Reply 11 years ago
Yeah. I do know that:
We think that bigger tablets are better than normal size, unless they are tiny, in which case we think they work best
Coloured tablets produce better results than white ones
Reply 11 years ago
Sedatives work better if they are red or yellow.<br /> <br /> Have a read of <em>Bad Science</em> by Ben Goldacre - fascinating stuff. It's a <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/series/badscience">newspaper column</a> and a <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bad-Science-Ben-Goldacre/dp/0007240198">book</a>.<br />
Reply 11 years ago
What's the difference between a sedative or a stimulant?
Reply 11 years ago
Where you find yourself when it wears off. ;)
Reply 11 years ago
Ha ha, haven't heard that one before. I'ma imagining stimulant is dumpster / some one elses bed, stimulant is your own couch / bed / where ever you were last.
Reply 11 years ago
Think of them as downers and uppers. Sedatives calm you or tranquillise you, stimulant perk you up.
Alcohol is a sedative, caffeine is a stimulant.
Reply 11 years ago
Could well be. To get this evidence, every drug (each with a different size, shape and colour) was in fact only a placebo.
Reply 11 years ago
There are two Chippies in "Town" under "Ali and sons", they fill most of your original criteria, and they fry good stuff. As local businessmen I see them following the method you have previously set out. I find it interesting that the multicultural society in which I live has incorporated the classic white-British Chippy into our Asian community in the same way as the Curry-Shop has become part of our white-European community. I don't kid on this, the crossover is there and it is unexpected to me.
L
Reply 11 years ago
On an interesting note, many franchised ethnic type and small specialty food take-out places in New York are usually owned or run by people of different ethnicity than what you expect. It really is an economic opportunity and probably reflects the changing immigrant groups in New York City.
Pizzerias: Albanian
Tacorias and Mexican Food: Chinese
Sushi and Japanese: Chinese
Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese: Chinese
Dunkin Donuts: Indian/Pakistani
Hero/Sandwich shops: Indian/Pakistani
Italian: Mexican
Greek Diners are still held by the Greeks
Turkish Kebab/Gyro/Doner: Turkish
No real Fish n' Chips across the pond, maybe one, run by a Brit expatriate, he's the guy that deep fries chocolate candy bars and anything else in batter.
Reply 11 years ago
Here in Seattle, closer to Mexico & on the Pacific rim, it tends to run:
Pizzarias: Anybody, but frequently Korean (occasionally even Italian)
Mexican Food: Mexican or other Latino/Hispanic
Other Latin American, e.g. Cuban, Chilean, Columbian: ethnicity to match
Sushi: Japanese, sometimes Korean
Teriaaki and/or "Bento Lunch": almost always Korean
Chinese: Chinese, or sometimes Korean
Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese, or other Asian: ethnicity to match
Donuts: Asian, generally Chinese or Korean
Hero/Submarine Sandwich Shops: Anybody
Italian: Italian or Greek
Greek Diner: Greek
Gyro/Kebab: Greek if shop is Greek named (e.g., "Athens Gyros"), otherwise Turkish, Middle Eastern, or Persian
Turkish, Middle Eastern or Persian: ethnicity to match
Seafood Shops (as close as it gets to Fish 'n' Chips): Anybody, but very often n-th generation "Scandahoovian"-American. ("Scandahoovia" includes Scandanavia, Northern Germany, and other places nearby.)
Reply 11 years ago
Generally true. Chinese cooks find it fairly easy to do other East Asian cooking, most "Indian" Restaurants in the UK are actually Bangladeshi / Pakistani. I'm sure Mongolian / Nepalese is a similar diversification.
Good chips are great though, it's a shame you don't have more of them (possibly).
L
Reply 11 years ago
And there are the Kosher-Chinese or Kosher-Japanese take-out places, a rabbi is actually sitting in the corner of a greasy joint overseeing the entire operation.
Reply 11 years ago
Wow, I don't know any Kosher places near me, but several are Halal-certified.
L
Reply 11 years ago
<em>...he's the guy that deep fries chocolate candy bars and anything else in batter.</em><br /> <br /> That will make him <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep-fried_Mars_Bar">Scottish</a>.<br />
Reply 11 years ago
I'm not eating there!!!!
Reply 11 years ago
lol about the Co*k thing. But yeah I'll think about those names, thanks!
11 years ago
Thanks for all of your great advice everyone! Much appreciated. I'm handing my business plan in tomorrow. : )
Reply 11 years ago
Let us know your grade...
Reply 11 years ago
Will do! But I don't think I'll find out until the end of July (argh the tension!)
Reply 11 years ago
Is this something you could / would post on the topic as an attachment?
L
Reply 11 years ago
I didn't think you can attach word documents
Reply 11 years ago
Add images - does any file.
L
Reply 11 years ago
Ah ok, maybe.
Reply 11 years ago
I don't know if it's been said, but you should definitely call it Lowney's Plaice... as in it's your place, but a pun on the fish.
Reply 11 years ago
Oh yeah never thought of that! But I've already written all the documents and forms now...
11 years ago
2 pubs? Forget the chip shop, kebabs is what your after... You need to stay open to 2am though. ;)
Reply 11 years ago
Well unfortunately its waaay too late for me to change
Reply 11 years ago
As I bought my 85p fish-cake buttie this early-evening, I did notice very large promotional posters in the window (Ali & Sons Trinity fisheries) - quality / value balance is a key selling-point for low-end fast-food.
L
11 years ago
Okay, so I'm somewhere in Great Britain, and I'm hungry (peckish, at least), and my choices are 2 pubs, a Chinese takeout, and your Fish 'n Chips place. If I wanted pub food (or pub drink) or Chinese take-out, I'd already be in one of those places; so your job is to convince me that your Chippie shop is a better option than one of them, or than heading on to try my luck in the next town.
First, I'll second what Kiteman said about an open shopfront and hygenic-loking aesthetics: go after the look you see in TV commercials for kitchen cleaning products. Those kitchens always looking clean and inviting, but not so sanitized that you think "operating room" and wouldn't want to eat in them.
Name-wise, I'd go with someone's first name, although not necessarily your own. The impression that you're proud enough of the place to name it after yourself is a good one, and if you're proud enough to name it after your wife/sweeheart or your mother, even better. A woman's name, preferably a fairly common one and in diminutive form, has an inviting & wholesome impression - I'd happily eat at "Annie's," "Katie's," "Jenny's," etc.
(Although, as I was writing the above,"Neptune & Bolivar's" began to grow on me as a great name for a Fish & Chips place, and is probably what I'd name my own, be it real or hypothetical.)
(But a Fish & Chips place of mine, whether hypothectical or real, would be more likely to fail than not. :)
Reply 11 years ago
Thanks! That's a big help :)
Reply 11 years ago
:)
A couple more thoughts:
- Try to have at least one (ideally 3-5) low-calorie, low-fat menu option; even if it's just shredded chicked dumped over shredded lettuce with a packet of low-cal dressing one the side. That way, guys can go there with girlfriends who are watching their weight, skinny girls can go there with heavier friends who are dieting, heavier girls can go there with skinny friends who are dieting, etc.
This will equal any such competition from steamed-rice-&-veggie options at the Chinese place, and blows the pub grub right out of the water.
- Look into the cost/feasibility of making sure the coffee (and tea?) is always good coffee. That means keeping all coffee-making apparatus scrupulously clean (scrub out and then brew a pot of vinegar at least once per day - or even once per shift), and tossing (or saving for iced coffee) any coffee that's spent more than 20 minutes on a warmer. A good grade of beans helps too, even more if you can grind them fresh daily, but the true secret to good coffee is really no more and no less than fanatical cleanliness.
And if I knew of a place where I could reliably get a decent cup of fresh, non-bitter, non-burnt, tastes-good-enough-to-drink-black-no-sugar coffee for a pleasantly sub-Starbucks price; I very well might go as far as a little two-pub town somewhere in deepest, darkest wilds of the UK to get it. :)
Reply 11 years ago
Chip-shops don't work like that. Your customers are:
On the way home have their own drinks, or they get something fizzy out of the fridge
Drunk - no hot drinks
Tourists - ditto "on the way home"
Hungry but in need of a quick and satisfying fix of carbohydrates
Good coffee is catered for somewhere else, different markets. Low-calorie is right-out: they have a fryer and fryer-operatives: it's all-fried unless it's bread or sauce.
Kebab-shops will do you something with salad...
L
11 years ago
I just drove past a chippie I hadn't noticed before; Place to Plaice
11 years ago
"FoSH and CHoPS"
11 years ago
Try checking <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/spot/colors1.html">here</a> for color ideas
11 years ago
Don't make it look fancy... if it is, people will expect it to be expensive and not go... Also, have a Fishmobile. If you have a large vehicle shaped like a fish, it will make people want to come. I love fish n' chips. That's always what I order from seafood places.
Reply 11 years ago
You want to make it look fancy, but not restaurant fancy. And personally, a fish shaped vehicle really sticks in the mind, but makes me think "Cheesy!".