Numbering around 50,000 and often the centre of the communities they serve, the UK’s takeaways are a large part of the economy. I have been honoured to represent the Fish and Chip Industry as President of the National Federation of Fish Friers for the last nine years, through arguably some of the most challenging times the sector has faced, but time and time again we have demonstrated the resilience needed to adapt and overcome everything we faced.
Granted, during the pandemic we were allowed to continue trading, but in reality, the majority of operators closed where they could not keep their teams and customers safe. With restaurants and the big chains closed we had to find a way to manage our queues as we were getting overrun by demand but as soon as we had the technology to operate with collection time slots we worked hard to get as many onboarded as possible and got the industry moving again. Why? Because we wanted to be trading, we wanted to provide jobs, and we wanted to play our part in the economy.
During this period the Hospitality Sector Council was formed to be a council of action for the parts of the sector who were severely affected by lockdowns. It was the right thing to do at the time, but the world has moved on and the challenges are now very different.
The very day restrictions were lifted Russia invaded Ukraine. I was travelling to Iceland that day to meet with Seafood from Iceland and some of their Stakeholders. It soon became clear the impact this aggression was going to have on my industry with Russia controlling a large proportion of the Barents Sea quotas and Ukraine supplying a lot of edible oil, fertiliser and flour. The media calls came thick and fast and we worked closely with DEFRA when it came to sanctions, which put pressure on the supply of fish but that paled into insignificance compared to what the people of Ukraine were going through, so we took the stance to back government with any steps they felt would help bring the conflict to a speedier conclusion.
The energy crisis then started which kicked off the cost-of-living crisis, not only hitting businesses but impacting the spending power of our customers. It really did feel like the perfect storm but again we adapted, offering a choice of portion sizes to try to hit a price point and kept our businesses going, we kept our teams in jobs, and we kept our part of the economy going.
Our latest challenge is a reduction in the Total Allowable Catch of cod in the Barents Sea. This has gone down from 1,000,000 tonnes in 2019 to 340,000 tonnes in 2025 with a further reduction expected in 2026 which we will learn in the coming months. This has seen wholesale cod prices double, had a knock-on effect on haddock prices, and with consumers still struggling and other costs increasing the operators margin is being squeezed until the pips come out.
The increase in NICS and wages in the last budget has compounded that. Now we certainly agree that workers in our sector should be well remunerated for their hard work, but it has to be sustainable for the business. The last budget cost one of my largest members £500,000 per annum, that means they have delayed expansion plans, and they have delayed plans to refurbish one of their sites. That means fewer direct jobs being created, less work for shop fitters, equipment manufacturers and the other suppliers to the industry. This is being played out throughout the entire independent hospitality sector. I recently had my own business valued and if I was to sell today, I would achieve around 40% less than I would have done this time last year, another effect of the environment we have found ourselves in.
This sector is heavily reliant on labour but 70% of my members have reduced their workforce or operational hours. A more worrying statistic is the 96% that think the government don’t care about small business. I know that isn’t the case but that is the frustration that is born from years of providing data for successive budgets and seeing nothing change to address the issues the sector faces. It doesn’t help that hard working business owners are not recognised by the government as ‘working people’, when I can say with confidence that we are some of the most industrious people around.
I recently met with Gareth Thomas MP, the Minister for Small Business, and had a very candid discussion about my industry for around an hour, and I thank the Minister for his time. He asked many great questions, and I hope he went away with greater insight into my industry and the wider sector, but we are at a crucial point. The economy needs growth, and my sector needs the government to make the brave decisions to give us the ability to deliver it.
With the Hospitality Sector Council being a legacy of Covid there is little or no representation of the takeaway sector, this means the government is not getting a complete picture. Whilst reform of business rates would be welcome it only benefits around 50% of my members and would suit the large national pub chains, making it more difficult for small independents. These businesses often provide the first place of employment for young people, giving them confidence and shaping them for their future working lives. We cannot afford to lose them.
So, other than business rates what can be done? I have long campaigned for reform of the outdated VAT system, it’s a tax system that nobody would set out to design now and some 50 odd years old it is certainly ready for change. It doesn’t work for a sector that has most of its inputs that are zero rated, slim margins and is reliant on a large workforce. It was recently said by one of the other trade associations that the sector can appear tone deaf by continually talking about VAT but if they read the comments from the independent operators on their social media posts, I suggest they may be the ones not listening.
VAT is a large source of revenue for the exchequer, and the system has become so complicated over the years that I think nobody wants to tackle it but at some point it is going to need fixing. Yes, it would have been better if it had been started years ago but we are where we are and sadly time and money is running out for many businesses. With the Republic of Ireland reducing the headline rate of VAT to 9% for hospitality and many other European countries applying a lower rate to their hospitality businesses our government needs to consider something similar to give a vital lifeline until permanent reform can be implemented.
I understand this is a big ask so an even more targeted measure would be to extend the flat rate scheme to bring it in line with inflation, allowing businesses with turnovers up to £300k and below £500k to avail themselves of the scheme. This would create employment, get the business transfer market moving and vitally generate much needed economic growth. It’s okay for the government to talk about growth in the tech sector, but it is the small businesses out there that are the backbone of the economy and we need to be listened to about how we can play our part. My message to the government is we are here to work with you; we want to help you succeed but you need to give the independent hospitality sector the respect and encouragement it deserves.
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By Andrew Crook
President – National Federation of Fish Friers