General News
23 January, 2023
Local fish and chip shops getting by on minimal chips
Minimum chips have never looked so minimal in fish and chip shops across the country, including locally, as businesses feel the brunt of a nation-wide potato shortage. Flooding and consistent wet weather last year has dramatically impacted potato...
Minimum chips have never looked so minimal in fish and chip shops across the country, including locally, as businesses feel the brunt of a nation-wide potato shortage.
Flooding and consistent wet weather last year has dramatically impacted potato yields, with crops either too wet to be harvested or planted in line with usual growing periods.
Prior to Christmas, some supermarkets had introduced temporary purchase limits on frozen potato products — with some brands still not in stock at local supermarkets — however fresh spuds were not impacted.
It’s meant that demand for potatoes and potato products is exceeding available supply, with local businesses feeling the pinch.
Among the local businesses most affected are Maryborough’s fish and chip shops, with Bill’s Fish Shop in High Street owner Mick Gianacopoulos explaining potatoes are the businesses “number one seller”.
“Our supplier said they’ve got about 12 boxes of potatoes for me and my other supplier doesn’t have anything basically,” he said.
“Those 12 boxes are below half of what we need for a week, it’ll get us through a couple of days at best. It’s not just potatoes, I haven’t been able to get pickled onions for a month.
“Chips are my number one sellers, they just walk out the door because they’re with every order. It’s always chips, potato cakes, dim sims and fish.”
Mr Gianacopoulos’ suppliers have told him it may be three or four weeks before supply levels meet demand, with customers already feeling the pinch.
“I’ve got to reduce my portion sizes so we can stretch it a bit further because otherwise there are no chips and we want to try and help everyone,” he said.
“Another three or four weeks and things should start to come good but at this stage, we’re grabbing what we can and doing what we can — we haven’t run out of chips just yet.
“Prices are creeping up as well which is hard because it’s a cost we have to pass on to the customer, dim sims have doubled in price and it’s looking like chips might go up by as much as 40 percent when they start coming in.
“We just have to play it by ear and see how we go.”
Across the road at the Maryborough Seafood Bar, owner George Dellis said the business has been feeling the potato shortage for several months, due in part to the busy school holidays, Christmas and New Year.
“There’s been a shortage on a lot of things for a while, it’s not just chips, but we’ve felt that shortage for two or three months now,” he said.
“The quantity of chips and potatoes that used to be there just isn’t there now, plus we’ve had Christmas, it’s the holidays and generally one of our busiest times.
“I don’t know when the shortage will end, it’s impacted a lot of things, not just spuds.”
Mr Dellis said he’s not looking likely to run out of potatoes any time soon, but is monitoring stock levels.
“We’re lucky in that we haven’t had any days where we’ve run out of chips, it has happened around the traps though,” he said.
“We’ve got a good supplier who looks after us which is good, but it’s something we’re keeping an eye on.”