Award-winning The Cod’s Scallops in Wollaton, Nottingham is proud to have piloted a new Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification scheme via the National Federation of Fish Friers (NFFF). This means the high-quality takeaway and restaurant can now proudly display the blue ecolabel alongside MSC fish on their menu to customers.

John Molnar, owner of The Cod’s Scallops, is a chef by trade, having previously worked in high-end restaurants and five star hotels. Opened in 2011, and having held the NFFF Quality Award since 2013, The Cod’s Scallops is a fresh take on fish and chips; "We have a huge range and variety of fish, offering about 20-25 different fish species on a daily basis and a wet fish counter so our customers can see the different types and freshness of our fish.”

John believes for a great fish and chip shop you need to maintain high standards; "It^s three things; you^ve go to have the right ingredients from a good quality source, the products have to be well sustained and you^ve go to have good staff!” Following the recent success of The Cod’s Scallops, reaching 3rd place at the National Fish and Chip Shop Awards this year, John has mastered all three!

Getting MSC certification is something that John finds very important for his shop and his customers; "I also think it^s important if I want my children and grand-children to keep serving fish and chips. It’s a British dish that^s been going for hundreds of years and needs to keep going!

It’s important for our industry that more people are made aware of it [MSC]. I had always bought sustainable fish, so getting MSC certified seemed to be the right thing to do for the future of our industry.”

John found the new certification process via the NFFF very straight-forward and easy to complete and now sources frozen-at-sea (FAS) MSC cod and MSC haddock for his menu from certified supplier, Smales. John uses the MSC ecolabel to draw attention to his dishes using MSC fish, including a healthy baked MSC fish served with salad. On the menu for those with smaller appetites are MSC cod fish fingers and MSC mini fish served in a small seaside bucket! 

George Clark, MSC UK Commercial Manager, is delighted that such a successful takeaway and restaurant was one of the first to pilot the MSC’s new certification process."The Cod’s Scallops certainly have a distinctive and successful business – it’s great to see them taking the lead in the region, helping their customers enjoy quality certified sustainable fish, with the assurance that it’s sourced from certified sustainable fisheries.”