Chip shop warning: half could close as the cost of living crisis bites

Chip shop owners have been hit by a raft of cost rises with warnings from industry experts that many stores may become insolvent.

Transcript

00:00When we talk about fish and chips, we're talking about largely cod and chips.

00:06Now, what we've got to remember is before the Industrial Revolution, the idea of eating cod,

00:11certainly for the people in inland cities, it was just a non-entity

00:15because, of course, it took so long to get the cod it would have gone off.

00:19So that sets in context the train of events of the Industrial Revolution,

00:23and people wanted a cheap meal on a Friday.

00:26But nonetheless, we have fish and chips,

00:28but, of course, they've got to be made somewhere,

00:30and, of course, it requires labour,

00:32and, of course, it requires energy to get the fat fryers going.

00:36So, unsurprisingly, the marginal costs of producing the fish and chip,

00:40therefore, of course, those costs either have to be passed on.

00:43And if they can't be passed on and people do not want to pay the higher costs,

00:46then they're going to see more and more closure of fish and chip shops.

00:49The National Federation of Fish Fryers reported a 47% rise in sunflower oil prices

00:56and higher tariffs on imported fish, creating significant challenges for businesses.

01:02Industry experts, including representatives from the federation,

01:06warn that closures could escalate without support

01:09as businesses struggle with high rents, rising energy bills and reduced customer spending.

01:16We've got a great dish and people come through and we work on volume,

01:19so everyone's trying to keep the prices as low as possible.

01:22Nobody wants to put prices up, but we have got increased costs,

01:25wages went up and, quite rightly so, because people that work in the hospitality industry

01:30should be paid well. They work unsociable hours, they work long hours,

01:33and it's busy and it's hard work.

01:35So, we do support wage increase, but, unfortunately, it's got to come from somewhere.

01:39And this is why we've been saying to government that they'll start looking at the VAT system

01:43and realise that it doesn't work for hospitality and it needs a rethink.

01:47I just think, at the moment, they don't know what to replace it with,

01:49they don't know what to do with it.

01:51And I think bringing hospitality out of it and giving hospitality a special rate,

01:54as they have done in many other countries, is the solution.

01:56And that will give us the ability to create more jobs and create growth.