Who is New Zealand’s Best Chip Shop?

Media release

29 April 2013

The Chip Group Ltd

Who is New Zealand’s Best Chip Shop?

Entries are open and New Zealand chip shops are going head to head as they vie to be crowned champion of the 2013 Best Chip Shop Competition.

The competition, an initiative from the industry-led Chip Group held every second year, is a chance for chip shops to showcase the quality of their product and their commitment to serving tastier lower fat chips.

“We’re a nation that loves hot chips. The 2013 Best Chip Shop Competition is a great way for chip shops to show their customers how their chips stack up against those from others in their community and across New Zealand,” says Chair of the Chip Group and food educator Glenda Gourley.

Similar to 2011, all entrants will compete for one of six regional titles before regional finalists contend with New Zealand’s best for the national title of 2013 Best Chip Shop Competition Champion.

“This year we’re focusing on reducing the fat content of chips. All entrants must have completed our free online training course, and everyone whose chips align with industry best practice and contain less than nine per cent fat will receive a highly commended award,” says Glenda.

“This award makes it easy for customers to identify the good operators cooking lower fat hot chips.”

In addition to assessing fat content, entrants will be judged on chip taste, quality, adherence to industry standards for cooking, display of training certificates, shop cleanliness and customer service.

The Chip Group was behind Matamata’s recent hot chip ‘Town Makeover’, which saw a reduction in average fat per gram of hot chips from 9.6 per cent to 7.8 per cent following industry training. The national average is 10.8 per cent.

“What we proved in Matamata was that small, effortless changes in serving hot chips can result in significant payoffs, both in terms of happier customers and an improved bottom line,” says Glenda.

Current Best Chip Shop Competition Champion, Michael Huang from Oppies Takeaways in Rotorua, says winning the 2011 Best Chip Competition was great for business. “We have people from all over the place coming to try our better, tastier and lower-fat chips!” 

The six regions for the 2013 competition are:

1      Northland – North Shore

2      Rest of Auckland

3      Waikato – Bay of Plenty – Hawke’s Bay

4      Manawatu – Wellington

5      Nelson – Christchurch

6      Timaru – Southland

Registration for the 2013 Best Chip Shop Competition, as well as free online industry training, can be found at www.chipgroup.co.nz. Entries must be received by 1st June and winners are expected to be announced in August.

ENDS

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