Jul 2011 - Issue 5 - National Federation of Fish Friers

THE fish friers REVIEW
18
Young Fish Frier of the Year:
Where are they now? By Thomas Pick
2#. Nigel Tindall: Kedgeree,
Welton, Lincolnshire
Following on from last issue’s introductory feature, we once again delve into
the Young Fish Frier of the year archives. We catch up with 1998 champion
Nigel Tindall, who shares his memories of winning the title and the positive
impact it has had on his career, recalling a different type of competition to
the one we know today.
Hooked
Upon phoning Nigel he immediately announced that the interview couldn’t have
come at a more fitting time as he had just recently celebrated the 15 year
anniversary of making that initial decision to enter the fish frying trade, way back
in June 1996. Being a restaurant chef since leaving education at 18, it was Nigel’s
now father in law who made him aware of the local fish and chip shop coming up
for sale, with the previous owners entering retirement.
An NFFF training course followed and as Nigel admits, it was the enthusiasm of
the course tutors that helped him make that crucial decision to enter the trade,
“Arthur Parrington, the late Arnold Scholes and Dennis Tate took the 3 day course
and I was so taken by their passion for the trade that coming away from it I was
hooked and straight away we made the decision to purchase the shop!”
Taking over the shop signalled a new era for Nigel’s food service career and with
an extensive refurbishment of the shop completed (it was housed in a 200 year
old building after all); it was his relationship with suppliers that brought the
competition to his attention, “This was still an era before e-mail, before websites
or text messaging, so I very much relied on talking to reps who had decades of
experience. The Young Fish Frier of the year competition had been running for 3
years and I had been made aware of it through the Fish Friers Review but it was
actually my sales rep Vince Willows of Friars Pride who encouraged me to enter
and handed me the forms. He had been impressed by the changes we had made
to the shop and saw potential in me as a young frier, so it was really down to Vince
why I entered it”
Once was all it needed
Encouraged by this recommendation, 1998 was the first and only year that
Nigel entered and in his own words, “I entered it once, won it once and that was
all it needed.”
Comparing the judging process to a modern day
talent show such as The Apprentice, his shop was
visited by Briar Wilkinson and Kelvin Lee of Drywite
along with the NFFF President at the time Terry
Griffiths, “the three visited me on the site for about
four hours, grilling me! I was very nervous but they
made me feel relaxed at the same time.”
For Nigel, winning at the time was really a reward for
all the hard work he had put into the shop,
empowering him with the self-belief and impetus to
go further in the trade and confirming he had made
the right career decision. Nigel recalls that winning it
back then was far more of a personal challenge than
a commercial opportunity, “for me personally it was just a competition and I think
that’s how the competition has changed, in 98 the suppliers didn’t really get
involved, so after winning it I didn’t really get approached by suppliers, it was a
different time.” Although he still benefitted from the free publicity. Initially
promoting his achievement locally, Nigel was soon being courted by the national
media which led to him being the first winner to appear on national television,
setting an inspiring precedent for the level of media coverage which has followed
the award ever since.
Making an appearance on the iconic Channel Four morning show, ‘The Big
Breakfast’, the opportunity had a real impact on Nigel at the time, “It was a huge
thing, it was one of the biggest TV shows of its time, we cooked fish and chips at
8 in the morning with Chas and Dave! It was a fantastic experience; for sure the
highlight of the year and it’s still talked about today.”
Nigel has since continued to build Kedgeree as a forward thinking shop, with year
on year growth, “It was the reward for the effort that you put in, I was able to feed
my success back into the shop. Each year I set challenges and succeed.”
Tips for success
So 15 years on, the industry may have changed but Nigel still believes it’s the
passion of a young frier that will set them apart in the competition, “I know its
clichéd but it’s down to passion, you’ve got to have it inside you. We can all cook
fish and chips, it’s fairly straight forward and we’ve all got the same ingredients
available to us, so the key is passion because that drives
you to be creative.”
Nigel gets the star
treatment on The
Big Breakfast with
Johnny Vaughn
Est.
1913
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF FISH FRIERS
Although with increasing competition from other
takeaways and more recently pubs and supermarkets, he
concludes that winning the competition in 2011 is now
tougher than ever, “These days they need to bring a lot
more to the table. The young fish friers today have it far
tougher than we did and I think we see that in the people
that are competing in the finals today.”
Thanks to Lynn Price at Drywite and Nigel for
sparing his time.
www.kedgeree-welton.co.uk