Chip Shop Competition Is On Again

Media Release
2 July 2009

Chip Shop Competition Is On Again

The search for New Zealand’s top chip shop kicks off this month, with registrations opening for shops wanting to take part in the ‘That’s Life! Best Chip Shop Competition 2009’.

This year, competing shops can gain extra points in the Competition if at least one employee has their Chip Group Online Training certificates on display.

Chairperson of The Chip Group, Glenda Gourley, said judges will be on the look out for certificates, as a way of identifying chip shops that are putting into practice the ‘New Zealand Standards for Deep Fried Chips in Independent Fast Food Outlets’.

“Shops that complete the online modules, which cover all aspects of the Industry Standards, will not only increase their odds of winning the Competition, but they’ll also be serving up healthier chips to their customers. Furthermore, our research shows that they’ll enhance customer satisfaction and achieve greater business efficiencies.”

There are seven online training modules covering chip size, oil temperature, cooking/deep-frying, drainage, oil maintenance, filtering and cleaning, and salt.

“It only takes 5-8 minutes to complete each module and once a module is completed an employee is then able to print out their certificate.

Heart Foundation nutritionist, Judith Morley-John, said last year, 70% of the 89 finalists achieved the Chip Group’s aim of an average fat content of 9.2%.

“It’s encouraging to see that shops around the country are adopting the Industry Standards and serving healthier chips to their customers.

“In the last two competitions operators’ standards have been really high. More shops are now offering salt sachets to customers instead of automatically salting them, plus certificates gained by completing the Chip Online Training modules are increasingly on display in stores,” Judith said.

As with previous years, a combination of public texting voting, mystery judging and chip fat analysis will determine the 15 regional finalists from each of the six regions across New Zealand, as well as six regional winners and a Grand National winner.

Public text voting runs from 1 August to 30 September and mystery judging will be carried out in October with the regional and Grand National winners announced early in November.
Also, chip shops that entered last year’s Competition are automatically entered to go in the running to be named this year’s best chip shop and will be receiving their Competition packs during July.
Shops can check if they are registered, sign up for the Competition and complete the Chip Group Online Training modules by visiting www.thechipgroup.co.nz.
The ‘That’s Life! Best Chip Shop Competition 2009’ is the country’s only national chip shop competition and this year is supported by: That’s Life!, ‘Goodman Fielder’, ‘Bakels’, Food2Go Magazine, McCain Foods (NZ) Ltd, ‘Mr Chips’, ‘Potatoes New Zealand’, ‘Alfa One’, ‘Eurotec’ and the ‘Heart Foundation’.

ENDS

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