US company eyes fish and chips

The mainly independent UK fish and chips sector is being threatened by the US business behind restaurant brands KFC and Pizza Hut. Yum, formerly known as Tricon Global Restaurants, which was spun off seven years ago from soft drinks giant PepsiCo, last month launched its US-based Long John Silvers brand of fish and chip restaurants in the UK.

Paul Stephens, manager of the UK arm of Yum, surprised the annual conference of the Catering Equipment Suppliers Association by announcing the news at the Alton Towers conference centre in Staffordshire last month.

Yum plans to run American diner brand A&W in the same units as Long John Silvers.

The first Long John Silvers opened in Walsall in the West Midlands two weeks ago.

The conference was held in conjunction with Foodservice Consultants Society International (FCSI), whose members design commercial kitchens.

FCSI UK chairman Bob Plumb warned that UK kitchen designers were increasingly finding work overseas because all the big development work in kitchens was taking place there. Likewise, he added that many UK-based independents were losing out on big international contracts to international businesses.

Steve Wilkins, managing director of London bar chain Lewis & Clark, said spare parts still cost too much and that equipment service engineers should work the same hours as the hospitality industry, not office hours.

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 9 December 2004