NEWS RELEASE
14 November 2008
Wellington Chip Shop Named Top Chippie
So Fine Seafoods in Wellington has been named New Zealand’s top chip shop after taking out the top spot in this year’s
That’s Life Best Chip Shop Competition.
Chip Group Chairperson, Glenda Gourley, said So Fine Seafoods fended off more than 400 shops from around the country in
order to be crowned top chippie.
The six regional winners are as follows:
Northland to North Shore Region
Oceanz Albany
50 Greville Road
Albany
Auckland
Rest of Auckland Region
Diamond Takeaways
166 Great South Road
Remuera
Auckland
Waikato to Hawkes Bay Region
Oppie’s Fish & Chips
259 Fenton Street
Rotorua
Manawatu to Wellington Region
So Fine Seafoods – regional winner and grand national winner
2 Tennyson Ave
Avalon
Lower Hutt
Wellington
Nelson to Christchurch Region
Lyttelton Fisheries
38 London Street
Lyttelton
Timaru to Southland Region
Oscar’s
87 Centennial Ave
Alexander
Judges unanimously agreed that the overall standards of the chip shops had improved with chips sampled this year
generally tasting better and having a lower fat content.
“This year, we saw an average fat content of 7.1% recorded across all of the samples for the six winning shops. This is
lower than the 7.6% average for the previous year, therefore, we believe the healthy frying message is getting
through,”Glenda said.
“It’s pleasing to see so many shops from around the country following the recently launched ‘New Zealand Standards for
Deep Fried Chips in Independent Fast Food Outlets’. More shops are now offering salt sachets to customers instead of
automatically salting them, plus certificates gained through completing the Chip Online Training modules which teach
owners and their staff about the Standards, are increasingly on display in stores,”Glenda said.
As in previous years, a combination of public texting voting, mystery judging and chip fat analysis determined the 15
regional finalists from each of the six regions across New Zealand. The six regional winners and grand national winner
were then chosen by a panel of judges.
Heart Foundation nutritionist, Judith Morley-John, said this year, judges were on the lookout for shops that were
working towards implementing the industry Standards.
Other areas to come under scrutiny were: chip freshness and colour, shop cleanliness and customer service.
“A chip sample from each shop was sent away for fat analysis, and only those containing a fat level of less than 11
percent made the grade,” Judith said.
“This year, over 70% of the 89 finalists achieved the Chip Group’s aim of an average fat content of 9.2%. Last year only
half of the finalists were able to reach this target.”
So Fine Seafoods owners Anthony Cho, who is originally from the West Indies, and his wife, Jian Huan Zhou, said they
were both elated with their win.
“We bought the shop in 2003 and first entered the Best Chip Shop Competition in 2006, back then we made the cut to be a
regional finalist and last year were the Manawatu to Wellington regional winner.
“It’s a dream come true to be the 2008 grand national winner of the That’s Life Best Chip Shop Competition,” Anthony
said.
He said he will continue to work hard and maintain the high standards practiced in his shop to make award winning chips
for his valuable customers.
The ‘That’s Life! Best Chip Shop Competition 2008’ is this year supported by: That’s Life!, Goodman Fielder, Huhtamaki,
Bakels, Burns & Ferrall, Food2Go Magazine, McCain Foods (NZ) Ltd, Moffat, Mr Chips, Potatoes New Zealand, Premo Filtration, Southern
Hospitality, Kauri, Alfa One, Eurotech, Burns , Groenz and, The Heart Foundation.
ENDS