This humble fish and chip shop in York attracts a lot of visitors -, particularly from China.
Coach parties of tourists arrive weekly and the shop has had lots of coverage in Chinese media.
Now, Scotts Fish and Chips is opening another branch – in Chengdu, China.
The idea came about after Chinese businessman, Jimmy Yu, approached the shop’s owner, Tony Webster, about opening the new branch, where the food would be made to the original shop’s own recipe.
Tony attended the official opening in Chengdu over the weekend and said he was ‘genuinely surprised’ at how good the fish and chips was.
‘I was worried before I arrived but they are very, very good,’ he said. ‘The one thing from the beginning with Jimmy Yu, he wanted to be authentic.
‘You have to tweak the menu and the flavours to the local taste – so they have Sichuan sauce, for example, as well as ketchup – but the core product has to be the authentic fish and chips and they’ve done a bloody good job on that.’
The shop started attracting tourists when Tony translated his menu into Mandarin and established a presence on Chinese social media.
Soon, coach parties of tourists from China started arriving to eat there and he gained coverage in Chinese media.
Jimmy approached Tony about the proposal last December, and since then, they worked out a licensing agreement which saw Scotts’ first Chinese branch open less than a year later – with the potential of more to follow.
‘They are looking to roll it out across China with already talk of two or three more sites next year,” Tony said. “We’ve met the investors and had dinner, and they’re really excited. You never know, but it could be the start of a good partnership.’
Although the locals seem to be enjoying the food, there have thought about a few adjustments.
‘One of the things we’ve found in the UK and they’re finding here is the portion is too big,” Tony said. “I was talking to some customers on Saturday and there were two ladies sharing one portion, so they’re going to start doing a small portion.
‘They’re in veg oil at the minute but I’ve had words with them at the weekend to say, “look, you need to try and find some beef dripping out here”.’
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source https://metro.co.uk/2019/11/26/york-fish-chip-shop-attracts-coach-parties-tourists-opened-another-branch-china-11221937/
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