Elite’s group of three award winning fish and chip shops in Ruskington, Sleaford and Lincoln have all achieved MSC chain of custody certification to serve sustainable fish suppers to their locals. Now all the MSC certified fish on all three of their restaurant menus can be traced back to sustainable, well-managed fisheries, and promoted with the MSC’s recognisable blue ecolabel.

What inspired you to get certified?

Nigel Tindall, Operations Manager for The Elite Fish and Chip Company is very pleased with the MSC certification;"

How similar are your three Elite fish and chip shops?

Lincoln and Ruskington share a popular traditionaltheme, whereas our more recently opened Sleaford restaurant isfinely furnishedwith a comfortable contemporary feel. The latter being the home of the currentUK^s champion of Drywite^s Young Fish Frier of the Year: Rachel Tweedale. Rachel is the Manager and is the third generation in the Tweedale family to becarrying forward their Elite business.Both our MSC^ skinless cod and haddock remain sale-leaders at all outlets, haddock nudges ahead in popularity due to afavourite withinour geographic area.”Young Fish Frier of the Year Winner - Rachel Tweedale commented: "Withour familybusiness now embracingthe MSC ecolabel across all our outlets, we are pleased to be supporting a more secure future for both our fishing industry and our environment." What are the benefits of MSC certification for The Elite Fish and Chip Company? Nigel believes certification is the best way forward for his three chippies; "For The Elite Fish and Chip Company, we feel MSC certification communicates the message that we support sustainable fishing practices passionately, by serving fish that is caught responsibly and sourced from sustainable fishing grounds from MSC certified fisheries and suppliers. We trust this will benefit the image of the business, add value to our menu items and further improve our relationships with current and new customers. It also notifies customers that we share similar standards and values upheld by the MSC.” How did you find the certification process?"We found the cost was minimal considering the extremely good benefits that come with the scheme, and the process simple and straightforward using the myROCGroup online MSC certification service. Our staff training already follows the high standards of the MSC and staff are excited to know our fish is now MSC certified.”How do you inform your customers about your new sustainable seafood status? "We communicate about serving MSC sustainable fish to customers via social media,using the ecolabel on restaurant and takeaway menu boards and via marketing materials such as leaflets, posters and menus.. Elite outlets also help to connect with those customers interested in fishby displayingthe trawlerdetailsof the dailyfish on sale. This information is supportedbyourbooklet; it provides individual trawler facts from our preferred handful of vesselsthat we source from.”Have you seen a difference in customer attitude since getting certified? "Now we have the MSC ecolabel displayed in our shops,our teams are observing growing interest by those customers unfamiliar with whatMSC is. However, we also have customerscommenting positively towardsourefforts, to be seen leading support for seafoodsustainability.The Elite Fish and Chip Company’s customer base is varied; we havecertain customers who are genuinely interested in seafood sustainability and follow what we do; this is great and it what helps to drive our mission.”
What MSC certified fish will be on your Elite menus and is this influenced by your proximity to the coast?"Cod, haddock and cooked prawns (served in salads) will be the MSC certified fish available on our menus. All our fish is frozen at sea (FAS) and provided by an MSC market leader supplier Smales.Our FAS MSC fishissent to usvia Hull, which conveniently isless than an hour up the road from us.Our county (Lincolnshire), is hometo the historic port of Grimsby, once a world-leaderfishing port for many decades. With Hull also being a neighbouring town port, both are steeped inhistory, which resonates through the veins of our county. Whenever we hold fishing-related charity events, we’re alwaysamazed by the genuine customer interest andhighlights the fact that people do care about the fishing industry.Children’s portions of certified cod and haddock are offered on our kids menu, and have proven to be popular – often favoured over non-fish products.We intend to expand our product range to incorporate more MSC certified products in the future, like Cornish hake and plaice.” George Clark, MSC UK Commercial Manager, is delighted that the Elite group of chippies are finding certification is benefitting their businesses and encouraging customers to support the MSC’s sustainable seafood program.Having yet another small group of MSC certified fish and chip shops just proves how the programme is working well for the industry’s shop owners. The huge availability of product, broad range of MSC suppliers and reduced cost of certification is really working well and it’s great that a company like Elite has taken advantage of this. It’s clear Nigel believes in the programme and that his customers will appreciate it too, and so do I!”For enquiries regarding group certification contact Ruth at the ROC Group; on ROCGroupUK@gmail.com and visit her website