News / Scotland’s best chippy
FRANKIE’S Fish & Chips in Brae has been crowned the best chippy in Scotland.
The five year old eatery, the most northerly in Britain, triumphed in the Scottish regional section of the National Fish & Chip Awards run by Seafish on Monday night.
The success comes on the back of Frankie’s Carlyn Kearney being judged Drywrite Young Fish Fryer of the Year for 2013.
Frankie’s will now go head to head with other regional winners to compete to become the best fish and shop in the UK, with the winner announced in January.
Manager John Gold said: “We’re well chuffed. Five years to get best in Scotland is quite an achievement considering that Scotland has always been one of the hardest regions to win.
“I think Scotland has won most times in the national awards.”
Owner Valerie Johnson said that when she and her husband Gary opened the shop, which employs six full time and 15 part time staff, it was never their intention to push for national recognition.
“I didn’t even know the awards existed when we built it. It certainly wasn’t built with that in mind,” she said.
“We’re very pleased but we owe a lot of our success to the quality of the fish and shellfish here in Shetland – it is all sustainable and sourced locally.
“We have great suppliers in Blydoit Fish and Blueshell Mussels and are in touch with them every day to decide on our specials menus.”
According to Gold, attention to detail and a passion for the business have helped propel Frankie’s to the top spot.
“We’ve listened to our customers and changed our menus to suit them and adopted ideas that we have picked up from people in the trade all around the country.
“We’ve also put a strong emphasis on staff training to ensure that from the first point of contact to the moment customers leave the shop they enjoy the fish and chip experience.
“You’ve got to have a passion for it as well. It’s all long day. But our goal is to keep getting better.”
Frankie’s is also a charitable business, supporting the Fishermen’s Mission by holding cycling sportifs in aid of its funds and supports local mental health charity Mind Your Head.
Among Frankie’s other accolades this year have been certification by the MSC Chain of Custody standard for seafood traceability, a two-star sustainability rating from the Sustainable Restaurant Association and a four blue star rating from Fish2Fork.
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