Basingstoke is a plaice to do business (From Basingstoke Gazette)

FishnChickn have opened up for business in Basingstoke

3:12pm Friday 27th July 2012 in Business By Richard Garfield

A HALF-price offer got a new Basingstoke fish and chip shop off to a frying start.
Fishnchickn saw queues of more than 100 people wait for up to an hour-and-half to take up the offer, at its Brighton Hill Parade shop.
But area manager Kylan Thompson was not surprised at all.
“It’s normal for a launch to be honest,” said Kylan. “Everything was half price to celebrate our opening –it’s a good way to get new customers from the area through the doors to try our food.
“The response was fantastic – it was out of this world. And people have been wowed by the actual look of the shop and the quality of the food, which is ultimately what our business is all about.
“It’s not rocket science at the end of the day. We serve top quality food with very good customer service, at very affordable prices.”
Kylan holds great stock in the fact that the family-run business, which has been trading for more than 60 years, only acquires its fish from sustainable sources, as the company wants to play its part in securing the future of fish stocks across the world.
Kylan, who has worked for the business for 20 years, said fishnchickn has around 12 shops in the Basildon area of Essex, with a further 10 or 12 in and around Cambridge, as well as shops in Brighton and Hove.
He said the nearest one to Basingstoke is in Bracknell, which opened two or three years ago, and Kylan foresees future growth westward with fishnchickn eventually opening a shop in Southampton.
“In the last year, we have opened four new branches,” said Kylan. As with Basingstoke, a trained team was used to open the new shops.
“We’ll probably end up taking on 15 local people – the majority of them will be part-time, working between 20 to 30 hours,” said Kylan.
“Our staff will train them how to do everything correctly and then they will move on to the next one we’re opening, which will be in Brighton in September.”
Kylan said the recent half price offer was a one off for Basingstoke, although there will be other promotions throughout the year.