18 FRY MONTHLY - JUNE 2011 www.fry-online.co.uk

Woody’s Fish & Chips, Barnsley, South Yorkshire 01226 249 393 www.woodys-chippies.co.uk

MULTIPLE OPERATORChris designed the Woody’s logo and the face on the fish is that of his father!

To keep morale high, Woody’s takes its staff to Alton Towers once a year

Going

Snapping up a former pub in Barnsley town centre has given Woody’s the opportunity to open its third takeaway and, in just a couple of weeks, its first restaurant

townto

JUNE 2011 - FRY MONTHLYwww.fry-online.co.uk 19

Coeliacs can enjoy gluten free fish every day at Woody’s Barnsley town centre and Monk Bretton shops

Woody’s have been awarded five stars by Scores on the Doors

Woody’s is well known for its jumbo 16-32 oz cod, which it sells for £7.95

Father and son team David and Chris Wood certainly haven’t let the grass grow under their feet. Entering the fish and chip business in 2008 when they opened Woody’s in Shafton, they quickly followed it up in 2009 with a second in Monk Bretton and are now on to their latest venture – its flagship shop in Barnsley town centre.

The 120 year old building, a casualty of the recent recession and property crash, houses a thriving takeaway in one corner and, when it’s complete, a 34 seater restaurant and bar area at the other end, with a fully equipped kitchen sandwiched in the middle. The work doesn’t stop there, however, as this old public house has two storeys above, which Chris plans to develop into a series of flats and a penthouse apartment. With parts of the building not touched in 20 years, it’s a huge project on a scale that neither Chris nor David have embarked on before. So what was it that appealed?

“It was the location, being in the town centre, but also the project itself was fantastic and was something that we’ve always wanted to do. It’s really run down and we’ve had to do all the electrics and plumbing, but it’s going to be exactly how we want it.”

Restaurant plansBehind a spruced up, brilliant white and navy blue exterior lies the shell of a restaurant. But not for long as Chris has some impressive plans for the site, including a licensed bar, a mix of tables and bar stools and possibly the smooth sound of jazz music playing over the sound system. It’s all about giving customers something that Chris believes is currently missing in the town centre.

“All the other places round here are

quite loud pubs, whereas this is going to be somewhere people can come for a coffee or a pint, and somewhere they can sit at the table or bar, have a chat and listen to some nice music. It’s what people are demanding.”

As far as the menu goes, Chris will be putting his own stamp on that too and plans to offer all the traditional fish and chip shop favourites alongside complimentary bread to start with and recipes inspired by his childhood growing up in Tenerife. “There’s one sauce called roja, which is a spicy tomato sauce that’s going to be just great,” says an excited Chris.

With one eye on the restaurant renovations, Chris is also working flat out in the takeaway, which is becoming more and more popular every day that passes. In the shop’s opening two weeks it sold over 6,000 light bite meals, which were on special offer at £1.50 and included a small cod, a cone of chips and small peas.

Frozen at sea cod and haddock are currently the only fish on the menu, although when the restaurant opens Chris is considering offering plaice. He’s already made changes to the takeaway menu adding 100% beef burgers, which are cooked on a griddle incorporated into the shop’s range, and he’s trialling spicy curry and smoked sausages.

Powering the operation is a Hopkins (www.hopkins.biz) three pan high efficiency island range. Including six bain maries, six chip boxes and a griddle, it’s one impressive piece of kit “We needed an island range as we have a lot of space in here, plus we wanted to fit two tills on the counter,” explains Chris.

With three operations now up and running, plus a hefty renovation bill to foot, Woody’s, like many restaurant chains, is looking for

ways to combat rising food costs and preserve healthy margins while avoiding significant price hikes. “It’s getting tough as the price of everything is going up from fat to batter to fish, and we are struggling not to pass the costs onto the customer,” admits Chris. Rather than increasing prices, and adamant that ingredients would never be compromised, Chris has looked at ways to improve efficiency through its utilities. “We’ve negotiated new rates on our electricity bills and a better deal on our telephone line,” says Chris.

Staff hours have also been a casualty of Chris’s cost-cutting exercise. For example, he’s reduced the number of employees cleaning down at the end of a shift. “When we looked at things more closely we noticed we had three people in cleaning who were going home at half past seven even though they were getting paid until 8 o’clock. So I reduced it to two members of staff who now stay until 8pm and it means we can make savings.”

Chris has also clamped down on portion sizes after numerous customers said they constantly threw excess chips away. “We always had trays but now we work off scoops - one scoop selling for £1, two scoops at £1.40 and three scoops for £1.65.”

A number of high profit items have also been added to the menu, for example, battered Mars Bars, which are literally flying out of the range. In the first three weeks of being added to the menu, the town centre shop sold 75. Buying them in at around 25p each and selling them on at £1.00 that’s an impressive 300% mark-up!

And it looks like there could be another deep fried addition to the menu shortly after Chris couldn’t resist trying out a jam donut that a member of staff had bought while on their

JUNE 2011 - FRY MONTHLYwww.fry-online.co.uk 21

MULTIPLE OPERATOR

Woody’s Fish & Chips, Barnsley, South Yorkshire 01226 249 393 www.woodys-chippies.co.uk

lunch break. “It was gorgeous. The jam was really warm inside and it had a lovely texture, so we’re going to put it on the restuarant menu with custard.”

ExpansionWhen Chris and his father opened Woody’s in 2008, they had no idea that it might lead to expansion. It was only when the first shop was up and running that Chris thought they could be on to something and that it could be duplicated it into another site. “We started standardising everything as much as we could,” says Chris. “We put everything down in black and white in staff handbooks, so that everybody would know exactly what was expected of them. Only then could I think about leaving the business in another person’s hands.”

To make things foolproof, all three shops have the same opening hours and the same shift patterns, although this will change in the Eldon Street shop as soon as the restaurant comes onboard.

Chris’s father, who predominantly runs the Monk Bretton shop, is responsible for all the purchasing across the three sites. He also cuts the fish for all three shops, which Chris then distributes between the two he oversees – Shafton and Eldon Street. It helps that all three businesses are located within about ten minutes drive of each other, especially as Chris tasks himself with opening up and rumbling the potatoes in both shops every morning as well as being there to cash up at the end of every night.

Chris has an extremely close relationship with his father and describes David as his rock that has held him, the family and staff together over the past three years. “He’s my biggest inspiration and I’ll always stick by him through thick and thin,” he says.

Chris has an equally close relationship with his staff and has never had any reason to take disciplinary action. However, with the business growing and with 22 staff on the books, Chris has recently signed up Manchester-based employment law specialist Peninsula (www.peninsula-uk.com) to deal with any issues that may arise in the future. “If someone turns up late, for example, I report it to them and they send me any forms I might need and can advise me of disciplinary action should it come to it. It gives me the reassurance that I am doing everything by the book.”

Marketing magicAs well as being a full time frier, Chris also handles Woody’s marketing, dedicating a large proportion of his time to the shop’s Facebook page. With over 800 followers, it’s proving invaluable at pulling in customers. “We’ve looked at the profile of our followers and found that the largest age range is 17-30 year olds,” explains Chris. “This is really great because whenever we do something for students we just send the message out and literally that day they are coming in and mentioning it.”

An e-mail that was sent out the very morning Chris and I spoke offering a 10%

student discount, had already pulled in hundreds of customers.

Having checked out Woody’s Facebook page prior to interviewing Chris I was able to tackle him regarding a complaint from a customer who seemed dissatisfied with the size of his fish. Surely it must hurt to see comments like that in black and white for everyone to see?

“Yes it does, especially when you’ve put so much into what you’ve done, but at the same time that’s the great think about Facebook; it’s a two way thing. Customers can tell us what they think and we are able to give an immediate response.”

While some shops may be tempted to immediately hit delete and remove all traces of a complaint, Chris says it’s important to leave it in order for other customers to see that you’ve responded. “I don’t want to delete that kind of thing. I would rather someone tell us that they’ve had a problem and give us the chance to resolve it than tell someone else and lose that customer and possibly others too.”

The power of the internet could soon see Woody’s opening up state-side after a curious businessman in Los Angeles with the same name googled Woody’s and came across the Yorkshire business. “He’s seen what we do and been on our Facebook page and he’s really interested in how quickly we are expanding,” says Chris. As a result, Chris is now in talks to licence the logo and could possibly be flying out to America to help him get started. Watch out USA!

Woody’s recently delivered 17 portions of fish and chips to the Millwall Football team after a game against Barnsley

A portion of fish and chips cost £4.50