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Fish Friers

Taking the lead in Leeds with MSC certification!

Article Date: 2016-05-09

Croft Street Fisheries in Farsley is delighted to announce they have been awarded Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification, and is the only MSC certified fish and chip shop in Leeds. For owner Rafael Chandler, this is confirmation of the award-winning chip shop’s ethos; he is passionate about the health of the oceans and believes that customers interested in the provenance of their fish will be pleased and assured by the MSC ecolabelled sustainable haddock they now serve.

Rafael explains his reasons for getting MSC certification for his fish and chip shop;

"I have always sourced the haddock we sell from sustainable fishing grounds since I took ownership of Croft Street Fisheries in 2006. Although we have promoted this in the shop using a provenance poster, I felt achieving MSC certification would reinforce our efforts, ethics and an opportunity to reassure and educate customers. MSC certification offers the assurance of independently audited fish sustainability and is traceable from the MSC certified fishery through a certified supply chain to our certified fish and chip shop menu. The Marine Stewardship Council through their certification programme and use of the ecolabel has provided me with the opportunity to promote sustainable fish in a way customers will recognise and understand.”

Croft Street Fisheries is an award winning, small village fish and chip shop, having been named ‘Britain’s Best Chippy’ by Morrisons magazine, gained a quality award firstly from the Seafish Authority and having won and retained annually the NFFF’s Quality Award. To ensure the experience in the shop matches the quality of the food available, the chippie has undergone two major refurbishments since 2006, and currently incorporates a state of the art Dutch frying range.

 

A Straightforward Process

Rafael explains the process of getting MSC certification;

"The process of getting certified was rather straight forward - as we were already holders of the Quality Award from the National Federation of Fish Friers a lot of the systems required were already in place. I tweaked a couple of the systems we had such as taking note of deliveries and all that was left to do was to train the staff and fill out the application form.

We used Ruth Westcott at the ROC Group to complete our chain of custody application. The MSC materials available to me to help train my staff were excellent and made the process really straightforward.

All the fish currently sold at the shop is MSC haddock; this is from certified supplier Xpress Fish, is FAS and caught in the North Atlantic or Barents Sea. We currently do not have any plans to introduce new species as I am a great believer in consistency and matching customers expectations - here in Leeds the customer expects haddock in their local fish and chip shop! I have always been a firm believer that what works in one business does not necessarily work in another.

In the shop we now promote our MSC certification on our menu boards, provenance poster and leaflets, along with the logo being displayed at the entrance and all the staff wear ecolabel pin badges. We will also use the ecolabel on future marketing campaigns and on our website and social media.I’m really pleased that we’ve gained MSC certification, and very much look forward to promote our certified fish dinners to new and existing customers."

George Clark, MSC UK Commercial Manager congratulated Croft Street Fisheries;

"It’s great that Rafael and his staff are so proud of their unique status in Leeds. The business is helping to ensure there’s a wild fish supply for generations to come and are a fantastic example of how a local chippie can take the lead and realise the benefits of gaining MSC certification – I hope many more will follow."

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